Saturday 9th September 2006 vs Pirton C.C.
 
Butcher and Naseem Shine
 
Pirton C.C. 235 for 4 declared
Washington C.C. 108 all out
 
Washington cricket club were heavily beaten on Saturday by a relatively young, enthusiastic and capable Pirton side. Two Washington performances shone through however – one from a young bowler developing fast; the other from an established batsman growing with maturity with every innings. Both achieved season personal bests.

 In bright and warm conditions for mid-September, Peter Kloss won the toss and elected to bowl, hoping that with the freedom of bowling choices in a declaration game, the established bowlers might choke Pirton.  He opened with Dominic Butcher (3-26) and Sandeep Kuckreja (0-47) who both bowled well. The Pirton top order was cautious to the extent that only 41 runs were scored from the first 15 overs. In addition they had lost 3 wickets, Butcher striking with a caught behind and two bowleds once he got his line and length right. Indeed Butcher can be a handful for batsmen with good pace, in-swing and seam movement into the right hander. His height and high action also mean that the ball bounces more than expected on occaision.

 These were season best figures for Butcher, but Kuckreja at the other end was unfortunate not to take wickets with a couple of catches going down which on another day might have been taken.

Groves had come in at no. 4 and once he played himself in set about the unfortunate first change bowlers. Spinners Gary Malcolm (0-54) and debutant Andrew Wilson (0-34) were faced with an onslaught from Groves (136*) who was not at all afraid to come down the pitch to make balls into full tosses and hit them for 6 or 4. He was supported by left hander Laskowski who played more cautiously but crucially was able to stay with his more senior partner.

Peter Kloss (0-13) came on to bowl but in the middle of his second over had to retire, a shoulder injury he was carrying flaring up again. Eric Stoughton (1-26) bowled some good overs towards the end of the innings and finally took Laskowski’s wicket.

Pirton declared on 235 for 4, having scored 188 runs from the last 20 overs of the innings. They were aided by 41 extras including 25 byes conceded against some wayward fast balls from Butcher and Kuckreja.

At tea Washington were not so confident, knowing that they did not have the strongest batting line-up available. However they were willing to give it a go and do their best for the club, as always. On 70 for 2 with opener Aff Naseem (54) and Sandeep Kuckreja (19) going well things did not look so bad. Taran Persaud (0) and Andrew Wilson (3) had both been bowled early on but Aff and Sandeep then got their heads down and began to graft out some runs at just over 4 an over.

Unfortunately a collapse then ensued with Kuckreja, Stuart Sams (0), Nathan Persaud (0) and Brad Hitchcock (7) all going cheaply. Washington’s innings was devastated on 78 for 6. Naseem was still there however hitting some good cover drives and pulls for 2s and 4s. Kloss (7), batting very cautiously, stayed with Naseem for 11 overs, enough time for him to get his well deserved half century. By this stage, into the final 20 overs, Washington required 7 runs an over and the game looked well beyond them. Skipper Kloss briefly had ideas about blocking out the final 15 overs but it was not to be. Naseem was finally caught, Kloss bowled and Gary Malcolm (2) and Dominic Butcher (0) both departing quickly. Eric Stoughton (0*) was left with yet another innings which didn’t disturb the averages.

Batting conditions were not so easy, the ball keeping very low on occaision on the Pirton pitch and causing more than one batsman's downfall.

It was a shame that Naseem could not have carried his bat through the innings. He certainly deserved to, being the lynchpin for over ¾ of the innings, and carrying that responsibility well. This was also Naseem’s best score of the season so far.

Washington were all out for 108 and easily beaten by easily the better team. However it had been a good day and the Wash hoped to return next year for a more evenly matched contest.

Peter Kloss said afterwards “thanks to everyone who turned out today - I know it was a long drive.  We played the best we could but they were just too strong. We could have done with getting that Groves out a lot earlier. Hopefully we can return and give a better account of ourselves next year”.

Man of the match: Aff Naseem,  for his solid 54

Packing the kit: Taran Persaud, for setting an appalling example to his son in the field (dropped catch, 4s through his legs)

Washington: Aff Naseem, Taran Persaud, Andrew Wilson, Sandeep Kuckreja, Stuart Sams, Brad Hitchcock (+), Nathan Persaud, Peter Kloss (c), Gary Malcolm, Dominic Butcher, Eric Stoughton

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Batting
Player Runs How out
Aff Naseem 54 Caught
Taran Persaud 0 Bowled
Andrew Wilson 3 Bowled
Sandeep Kuckreja 19 Caught
Stuart Sams 0 Bowled
Brad Hitchcock 7 Bowled
Nathan Persaud 0 Bowled
Peter Kloss 7 Bowled
Gary Malcolm 2 Caught
Dominic Butcher 0 LBW
Eric Stoughton 0* 
Partnerships
Wkt Runs Batsmen
1 2 Aff Naseem  &  Taran Persaud
2 21 Aff Naseem  &  Andrew Wilson
3 47 Aff Naseem  &  Sandeep Kuckreja
4 0 Aff Naseem  &  Stuart Sams
5 8 Aff Naseem  &  Brad Hitchcock
6 0 Aff Naseem  &  Nathan Persaud
7 27 Aff Naseem  &  Peter Kloss
8 1 Peter Kloss  &  Gary Malcolm
9 1 Gary Malcolm  &  Dominic Butcher
10 1 Gary Malcolm  &  Eric Stoughton



Fielding
Player Cts Wkt Cts Stmps
Brad Hitchcock - 1 -
Peter Kloss 1 - -
Bowling
Player Overs Mdns Runs Wkts
Sandeep Kuckreja 10.3 3 47 0
Peter Kloss 1.3 0 13 0
Gary Malcolm 6.0 0 54 0
Eric Stoughton 5.3 1 26 1
Dominic Butcher 11.0 2 26 3
Andrew Wilson 2.0 0 34 0
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