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Caribbean Cricket Club vs. Washington CC The Washington cricket club were roundly beaten on Sunday in Southall thanks mainly to some good pace bowling from the Caribbean attack. The sides, playing each other for the first time, were both unsure what to expect and the game started quietly on the field with Caribbean 78-2 after 18 overs. This was in contrast to the excitement of the small, but vocal, local crowd assembled in front of the pavilion for the contest. The wicket, unusually green for late July, was producing variable bounce and seam movement for bowlers Hill (0-28), Kloss (4-44), and Jones (1-28). As a consequence the Caribbean top order played quite cautiously, although one or two wayward balls were despatched to the short boundary. Brown (0-16) unfortunately managed to bowl only one over after splitting a finger nail in dropping a sharp caught and bowled chance, the ball fortuitously carrying on to hit the stumps and run the non-striker out! The most accurate Wash bowler was new-boy Shaun Kricker (1-36) who hit the mark almost immediately with his ‘slinging’ medium pace action. Kricker held an excellent nagging line just outside off stump throughout his 7 over spell, and deserved more than his solitary wicket, the batsmen playing and missing frequently. The Caribbeans accelerated in the second half of their innings with 3 contributions of 30 from the middle order. Substitute player Rick (0-14) and Gurney (1-20) bowled 6 overs between them and Kloss’ later overs were expensive, although he did benefit with some catches in the outfield to end with 4 wickets (all caught). Not everything went the Washington’s way in the field however as there were a number of drops also. Caribbean ended at 211-9 from their 35 overs and tea was taken. Caribbean’s bowling attack was predictably pacey and the two opening bowlers bowled regular bouncers, lifting the noisy crowd and fielding team. The ball passed Washington batsmen at chin height and above, and the club batting helmet had more than the usual outings. Hill (4) was caught and bowled in the 3rd over, but Kricker and new-boy Naseem then built an increasingly solid partnership to take Washington to 57-1 after 12 overs. Naseem particularly hit a number of cover drives and square cuts to the boundary in majestic style. So far so good for the Wash. However, Caribbean’s change bowlers were also pace men and the bowlers in general began to improve their line and length from this point, homing in on the stumps. Naseem (26, top score), Kricker (19) and Brown (0) were all bowled by straight fast balls in the space of two overs, and Washington were in trouble. Strangely this seemed to subdue the excitement in the crowd and in the fielding side, both sensing perhaps that the game was already in Caribbean’s grasp. Roche (12) dug in and gave stubborn defence for a while, hitting 3 bad balls for boundaries. However the remaining batsmen were skittled out relatively easily, Gurney (4), Persaud (4), Pendry (1), Jones (5 no), Rick (0) and Kloss (0) offering little resistance against the pace bowling. Pendry was unlucky to be run out, his bat grounded on, but not behind the crease when the wicket keeper threw down the stumps. The final 3 wickets fell in successive balls for an excellent hat-trick for Caribbean bowler Andrew. Kloss was the inept third victim, trapped on the crease for his third LBW duck of the summer (out of 5 innings!). Washington were all out for 93, the final 9 wickets falling for only 34 runs. There was some talk of Rum having been slipped into tea-time drinks, but this was idle slander and there could be no excuses for the Washington. Captain Gurney said after the game “they were the better side, particularly with the ball and we are not on great form currently. We need to do some hard work before our next match starting in the nets on Thursday”. To observe Caribbean’s heated post-mortem conversation in the dressing room one would have thought they had lost the game, not won it convincingly. However they had played with loud spirit and passion and deserved their victory and to celebrate it. The Washington players left Southall quietly subdued, vowing to do better next time, and bring ear plugs. Washington Man of the Match: Kricker, for solid performances with ball and bat on debut Packing the kit: Kloss, for succumbing to the hat-trick ball
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