Saturday 24th April 2010 vs Honourable Artillery Company (HAC) C.C.
 
Stalemate
 
Honourable Artillery Company (HAC) C.C. 279 for 2
Washington C.C. 230 for 5
 

Ash Cruickshank reporting...

A stunning day met the Wash on it's return to the equally stunning Honourable Artillery Company ground in the 'City' where new Club Vice Captain Aff Naseem won the toss and elected to bowl first.  Luke Mitchell (8 overs, 2 mdns, 33 runs, 0 wickets) opened the bowling with Peter Kloss (8, 1, 71, 0) both of whom were unlucky with some extremely good shouts being turned down.  The first change saw Sandeep 'The Colonel' Kuckreja immediately on song and eventually clean bowl the opener with one of his classic slower balls that left the opener dumbfounded eventually finishing with (10, 2, 40, 1).  Cumming (10, 0, 58, 0) joined Kuckreja and was initially tight although the new batsman started to push the pace while the remaining opener benefitted from 3 dropped catches as well as two other difficult chances as he struck out.  New Australian Stuart Marsh (8, 1, 38, 0) joined the attack and while tight early, also suffered later as the batsmen pushed the pace.  Marshy/Swampy/Geoffrey/Iron Gloves/Stewy also showed that he'll give Gary Malcom a run for his money on the nickname front this year.  Alistair MacGregor came on with some sharp left arm pace and movement and got the second wicket finishing with 6, 0, 28, 1).  HAC pushed on avoiding a number of good lbw shouts focussing on the opener's 150 before declaring for 272/275/279 after 48 overs.

This didn't leave a lot of time for teh Wash but opener's White and MacGregor set about the target in willing fashion and were scoring at 7 an over early before White was bowled for 11.  Skipper Naseem joined MacGregor but was soon out lbw for 4 when not playing a shot.  MacGregor also followed Naseem lbw a short while later for 22 in what had looked like a promising innings.  This bought Cumming to the crease who set about teh bowling accumulating runs and punishing rubbish to keep the score ticking over.  The dream partnership of him and Sandeep had HAC concerned as Sandeep attacked the bowling and quickly scored 25 before being c&b to a full toss that he was unlucky not to have called a no ball (because it was, but that's cricket).  Simon Rider joined Cumming and followed up a committed effort in the field with some willing hitting and good running in what was his best innings with the Wash thus far and it was a pity to see it end on 26 when run out pushing for more runs (by the 14yo substitiute fielder who produced a fine piece of fielding).  Tony Harris joined Cumming batting down the order due to a finger injury sustained in the field and looked comfortable supporting Cumming as he pushed on in the last overs to ensure he earned a deserved century finishing with 102* with Kiwi on 15*.

Skipper Naseem noted that "It could have been an interesting game but I think they just batted a little too long...having said that, they had talked about declaring on 240 and had they done so, it may well have been a Wash win so who can fault their decision".

Man of the Match - Mark Cumming for his 102*

Packing the Kit - Stuart Marsh for the 2 LBW decisions...doesn't matter if they were out...we're going to give you stick anyway, especially when one is the skipper!

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Batting
Player Runs How out
Brian White 11 Bowled
Alistair MacGregor 22 LBW
Aff Naseem 4 LBW
Sandeep Kuckreja 25 Caught
Mark Cumming 102* 
Simon Rider 26 Run Out
Tony Harris 15* 
Did Not Bat
Peter Kloss
Ash Cruickshank
Stuart Marsh
Luke Mitchell
Partnerships
Wkt Runs Batsmen
1 37 Brian White  &  Alistair MacGregor
2 9 Alistair MacGregor  &  Aff Naseem
3 5 Alistair MacGregor  &  Sandeep Kuckreja
4 29 Sandeep Kuckreja  &  Mark Cumming
5 53 Mark Cumming  &  Simon Rider
6 97 * Mark Cumming  &  Tony Harris



Fielding
Player Cts Wkt Cts Stmps
Bowling
Player Overs Mdns Runs Wkts
Sandeep Kuckreja 10.0 2 40 1
Peter Kloss 8.0 1 71 0
Luke Mitchell 8.0 2 33 0
Stuart Marsh 8.0 1 38 0
Alistair MacGregor 6.0 0 28 1
Mark Cumming 10.0 0 58 0
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