Washington bounced back to form after last weekend’s disappointments with a straightforward victory against Teddington Old Boys on Sunday. The Teddies had the stuffing knocked out of them by some fine opening bowling from Jimmy Wood, before fine batting from Richard Minion guided the Wash home with five wickets to spare.
Wood, skipper for the day, was delighted: ‘That was no picnic for the teddies!’ he joked. ‘But seriously, we had a very strong team out today, and a total of 88 was never going to be enough: if they’d got 120, it might have been a different story because the pitch was very uneven’.
Losing the toss was almost the only thing that went wrong for the skipper all day. Teddington decided to bat first, but within three overs were reeling at 5-3, as Wood (who finished with 4-7) and Rob Crossley (2-21) immediately hit their stride. That the Teddies got as far as they did was down to some aggressive middle order batting, principally from Hampstead-based Australian Josh; but once he had been dismissed for 33 by a shooter from Justin Gurney (2-19), there was little else left in the toy chest. There were also two wickets for the veteran Scot, Alex McNellan (2-24).
Washington’s reply was dominated by Minion. The quick bowler once dubbed by a grateful captain ‘the Prince of Pace’ became ‘The Raja of Runs’ as he struck a fluent 42. He added 22 for the second wicket with Pete Demetri (10) and 45 for the fourth with David Gluckman (10). He fell within sight of the finishing line, and it took a few stout blows from Johnny Roche (2 not out) and Crossley (7 not out) to guide Washington to an emphatic victory.
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