Washington Cricket Club - 40th Anniversary Year

It all left skipper Justin Gurney a very happy man: ‘Lovely to win again!’ he beamed after the match, ‘All the boys did a good job today, and I hope we can carry this form through to the end of the season.’

Ludlows won the toss and opted to bat first on a difficult track: it was bouncy and fast enough at one end, but dead slow at the other, with the ball not coming onto the bat at all.

The going was tough: Washington opening pair Peter Kloss (0-21) and Shawn Hill (0-12) kept things tight, and only opener Cliff Leonidou (34) was able to make any headway, playing some fine off drives and neatly turning the ball off his hip if the bowlers strayed down leg-side.

But for the rest, only Nick Haines (28) found his feet on the awkward surface. Meanwhile, Washington’s bowlers were chipping out the rest.

Star of the bowling attack was Sean Kricker who picked up three wickets for 20 in a lively eight over spell, and there was a brace each for Gurney (2-18) and Chris Ruduss (2-25), the second courtesy of a fine slip catch by Campbell. The catch was symptomatic of a decent performance in the field by Wash, which also featured a neat run out engineered by new boy Andrew Dorgan.

Chasing 117 on a pitch which still retained its eccentricities after tea was not necessarily a straightforward task. In fact, the key was not to chase at all, but to accumulate runs steadily, blocking the straight ball, leaving the wide ball, and hitting the bad ball.

Campbell deployed this strategy to particularly good effect, combining a solid forward defensive with some thunderous drives and pulls. Both batsmen had their luck, Campbell surviving a loud appeal for lbw, and Cragoe being dropped at the wicket.

However, it was a day when the ball ran Washington’s way; the job was done, and done well.