Washington Cricket Club - 40th Anniversary Year

A long standing Washington record was broken on Saturday as George Hope achieved the highest ever individual score for the club. Playing Elthorne Park at the Civil Service ground in Chiswick, Hope struck 154 unbeaten runs to lead the Wash to victory with almost 5 overs to spare in this 40 over game. Hope's chanceless innings was absolutely worthy of the record. This fine authoritarian batsman accumulating his runs over the duration of the innings rather than bludgeoning the opposition bowling with monotonous boundaries. Hope scored six 6s and sixteen 4s in his innings, a lower percentage of boundaries than he is used to achieving. However he faced less than 100 balls, scoring from almost every delivery he faced. Hope also scored more than 66% of Washington's total, an exceptionally high proportion in cricket, as keen followers of the game will know. This was truly an exceptional innings.

The Club record had stood for 17 years and Hope was delighted to have bettered it if only by a handful of runs (the previous record was 148). He said after the match “This is a real honour for me. I was not aware of the Washington record until recently, and to have overtaken it, and in a winning cause, is a dream come true.”

Earlier Elthorne Park had their own centurion, P. McLoughlin (114*), who carried his bat through 40 overs as Washington struggled to make serious in-roads into the batting line-up. Dominic Butcher (0-20), Max Murrain (0-23) and Sandeep Kuckreja (1-30) were all economical without much success, Sandeep dismissing the opener, Miller for 29. The other bowlers suffered as the batsmen hit out with gathering confidence. Chris Davies (0-32), Pete Grzonka (1-31), Russ Pendry (1-28), George Hope (1-43) and Andy Burns (0-16) all found it difficult to contain the batsmen, especially McLoughlin. Elthorne Park were able to score at over 7 per over for the second half of their innings to set a competitive target of 231 to win for Washington. The quality of some of the Washington bowling was betrayed by the number of extras – 33, including 24 wides.

The Washington innings was opened by David Gluckman (7) and Sandeep Kuckreja (26). They took the score to a respectable 25 in the first 5 overs, but then Hope came in and inevitably the run rate increased. Hope did not have the benefit of major partnerships during his innings, the best being 54 with Kuckreja. However the other batsmen performed their role well in that they defended their wicket as Hope scored the runs. Pete Grzonka (2), Nigel Bakhai (2), Andy Burns (13) and Chris Davies (14*) all assumed this supporting role in their innings, as Hope piled on the runs and the pressure to carry the Wash towards victory.

In the end Washington's victory was an easy one, achieved with almost 5 overs to spare. However Hope's incredible innings had flattered the Wash – there was not one other individual performance which stood out.

Still George Hope's achievement in beating the Washington Club record was more than enough cause for celebration and those who witnessed it will treasure the memory for evermore.

The previous Wash batting record was 148, scored by a Kiwi, John Robinson against a team called FZYCC (Federation of Young Zionists), on 16^th July 1989. David Gluckman, who remarkably played for the Washington on that day and on this day in 2006, said “George's innings was far better in terms of opposition bowling and the state of the game.  So congratulations to him, it was a pleasure and privilege to be present when George did his thing.  Great stuff.”

Rest assured this innings will be talked about for years to come (unless it's beaten of course!).

Washington captain for the day Pete Grzonka said “I feel privileged to have been skipper at, and to have been part of George Hope's match. Congratulations to him for his achievement, he played a fabulous, controlled and measured innings which delighted us all. It is worthy of the record”

Man of the match: George Hope

Packing the kit: Pete Grzonka for getting out for 2 and having too easy a trip of it as occaisional Wash skipper

Washington: David Gluckman, Sandeep Kuckreja, George Hope, Pete Grzonka (c), Nigel Bakhai, Andy Burns, Chris Davies, Brad Hitchcock (+), Dominic Butcher, Max Murrain, Russell Pendry