Washington Cricket Club - 40th Anniversary Year

A brilliant maiden century by Tony ‘the Kiwi’ Harris was the platform for a comprehensive Washington victory in West London on Saturday.  On a near perfect batting strip at the Trailfinders ground in Ealing, Wash piled up a massive 350-3 off their 45 overs, before bowling out their hosts for 232, Peter Kloss taking 5-23.

It all made skipper Paul Irons a very happy man:  ‘I’m a very happy man’, he said.

Wash batted first, and Harris and David Gluckman (31) put on 84 before the latter fell lbw.  This provided a secure platform for Kiwi and debutant Adrian Wroe to kick on and build a big total.  By the time Harris fell with 102 against his name in the 31^st over, Wash had 208 on the board, and the pressure never relented.  Wroe was caught for an excellent 82, but this only heralded the arrival of Irons (78 not out) who, with Steve Brown (35 not out), added 100 off the last ten overs to take Wash to a seemingly unbeatable position.

Not being beaten, however, is not the same as winning in declaration cricket, and the batting track was so good that a monster effort would be required to secure a victory.  In the event, it came from Kloss, who, like Harris, is in a rich seam of form and is enjoying his best season yet for the Wash.

In eight overs of nagging accuracy combined with considerable swing, he picked up five wickets for just 23 runs – an excellent performance on such a flawless track. There were wickets too for Dave Hobern (1-33), Neil Martin (2-31), George Hope (1-51) and Eric Stoughton (1-45), as only Marsden (81) and Rodecks (42 not out) flourished against the Washington attack. 

Harris rounded off his perfect afternoon by  adding three catches at the wicket to his century – a man of the match performance if ever there was one.