Washington Cricket Club - 40th Anniversary Year

Matt Cheviot reporting:

A meteor shower of orange-ball boundaries from Mark Cumming guided Wash home against Barnes on Sunday.  Victory was secured with successive sixes as Wash overhauled their target of 207 with four wickets and six balls to spare.

Those sixes were icing on the cake for a good all round team performance from the Wash.  Bowling first on a green pitch where the ball occasionally reared from just short of a length, Luke Mitchell (1-17) and Ian Relf (0-45) gave the Barnes batsmen plenty to think about.  The impressive Mitchell was spot on, and even managed to subdue Graeme Freedman, who bagged an impressive century.  

Freedman would eventually succumb to the left arm spin of ‘canny’ Cumming: he added another two to finish with 3-42, one a fine stumping by keeper Mike Turner, and there was a scalp each for Chris Davis, Lee Foggarty and Sandeep Kuckreja.

The Barnes club was among the first in the country to use a white ball for cricket:  their tree lined ground made it difficult to see the traditional red cherry.  They have now decided an orange ball is even more effective – and easier to find when hit into the bushes. 

Wash seemed a little mesmerised by the whole thing when it came their turn to bat.  The pitch was still spitting, and three wickets fell cheaply against some accurate bowling from the home side: David Gluckman (3) got one which bounced unnaturally and ballooned to gully;  Kuckreja was caught and bowled off one that stopped, and Elliot Bromley (1) feathered a catch behind from one that moved sharply off the pitch.

At 22-3 in the tenth over, the target looked a long way away. A big innings was required, and Turner (56) stepped up to deliver:  he smashed eight 4s and a huge 6, adding 70 for the fourth wicket with Matthew Cragoe (25).  Yet despite Turner's pyrotechnics, when he departed the asking rate was still aound 10 an over, and things got tougher still for the visitors when skipper Aff Naseem got under an intended cover drive and holed out at point.

With the scoreboard at 94-5 in the 23^rd, enter Cumming and Davis.  With a  combination of sharp running (Davis) and brutal hitting (Cumming) the pair added 110 in just 11 overs.  Cumming smashed eleven 4s and three huge 6s in reaching 77 from just 41 deliveries;  Davis notched three 4s in a 21-ball 28.

From the final delivery of the penultimate over, Cumming whacked a glorious straight six into the trees to seal the game for the Wash, and the players retreated to the pub, allowing the blackberrying yummy mummies of Barnes to return to their autumnal duties, and the tree-dwelling squirrels a chance to regain their composure.

Man of the Match:  Well obviously Mark Cummings, but Luke Mitchell bowled outstandingly.

Packing the Kit:  I don’t know:  Sandeep for arriving late and leaving early?