Sunday 26th April 2015 vs London Theatres C.C.
 
A Tough Home Win Keeps Wash Two from Two
 
Washington C.C. 186 for 9 (40 overs)
London Theatres C.C. 174 all out (39 overs)
 
Stu 'Swampy' Marsh reports:

Late April games can be a bit hit and miss with the weather; the wickets stay low, keeping your hands warm is tricky and jumpers are compulsory. At some points, I was actually wearing the Wash vest and jumper together.

Anyway, the Wash were at home against new oppo London Theatres, a good bunch of blokes (some of them classically trained apparently) who won the toss and sent us into bat. Mike and Aff opened, but both went cheaply, Turner playing on the wrong line to a straight one. Sam Clarke starred with the ball later, and with bat looked to be on good form but unfortunately was bowled for 2. Although Aff looked to be laying a good foundation, he too was caught for nine, making it 30-3 after 11 overs. What followed was fantastic to watch - skipper Clinton and Aftab worked the ones and twos and then started to look very comfortable, trading lusty blows to all corners. They would build a circa 95 run partnership and we all thought 200+ was on the cards. However, it's a funny old game and where the Wash are concerned, there are no certainties. Aftab played some marvellous strokes, but mis-hit one and was returned to the pavilion having made a splendid 74 in very quick time - well done. Debutant Abhishek stepped up and although he played watchfully, he was run out without troubling the scorers. Yours truly (5) played a couple of lucky strokes but then missed a straight one, which brought the recently returned Toby Mariner to the crease. We all know he'll never die wondering and he was duly out caught for nought after two deliveries. The Chairman Mitchell played a couple of nice strokes for his 3, but was eventually bowled by Gill, who had bowled a very consistent line and length all day. So now Clint was fast running out of partners and unfortunately he succumbed to the pressure to get the score where he thought it should be. Instead of another crunching heave, the captain was bowled on 72. Malcolm and Pendry remained not out on 3 and 1 respectively.

Whilst we thought we had enough bowling to get the better of the oppo, most thought we were about 20+ runs short of what we needed, so accurate bowling and good fielding were the order of the day.

The skipper brought Mitchell (8-2-24-2) and Mariner (8-1-27-0) on to open the bowling and both kept the batsmen well contained. Mitchell was rewarded with 2 wickets, both catches, the first by Marsh at mid off, and the next to Clarke who would take three catches today. Marsh (8-2-26-0) and skipper Dugmore (5-0-25-0) relieved the opening pair and continued with fairly accurate bowling. Marsh beat the batsmen (and the keeper) on a number of occasions but found no success. Dugmore bowled a couple of overs in his first spell, but came back later to clean up some tail-enders and help take the game away from the oppo, bowling 2 in quick succession. The oppo opener and number 4 kept the runs ticking over - knocking up 55 apiece - and tense moments ensued on the field as the spectre of our lacklustre score reared up again. However, an inspired change by the skipper to bring on Malcolm (4-0-29-1) and Clarke (6-0-30-4) brought real dividends. Malcolm tempted the big hitting opener into a slog down to long on, where Abhishek took a great catch just inside the boundary. Clarke meanwhile, was causing problems for the oppo from the southern end, getting one wicket clean bowled, and with Clint's help with a fine catch at a deepish mid-off. His other 2 wickets came from catches off his own bowling, the final (and simplest) one to close the game out completely. It should also be noted that Turner kept brilliantly all day, marshalling the troops and topping off his performance with a ruthless run out.

Skipper Dugmore was (possibly) quoted afterwards with "that was close out there; I thought we might not have enough but the fielding made the difference today - 6 catches and superb ground fielding." MoM: Toss-up between Aftab and Clarke.

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Batting
Player Runs How out
Mike Turner 1 Bowled
Aff Naseem 9 Caught
Sam Clark 2 Bowled
Aftab Akram 74 Caught
Clinton Dugmore 72 Bowled
Abhishek Thakur 0 Run Out
Stuart Marsh 5 Bowled
Toby Mariner 0 Caught
Luke Mitchell 3 Bowled
Gary Malcolm 3* 
Russell Pendry 1* 
Partnerships
Wkt Runs Batsmen
1 1 Mike Turner  &  Aff Naseem
2 4 Aff Naseem  &  Sam Clark
3 25 Aff Naseem  &  Aftab Akram
4 95 Aftab Akram  &  Clinton Dugmore
5 11 Clinton Dugmore  &  Abhishek Thakur
6 25 Clinton Dugmore  &  Stuart Marsh
7 0 Clinton Dugmore  &  Toby Mariner
8 3 Clinton Dugmore  &  Luke Mitchell
9 18 Clinton Dugmore  &  Gary Malcolm
10 4 * Gary Malcolm  &  Russell Pendry



Fielding
Player Cts Wkt Cts Stmps
Bowling
Player Overs Mdns Runs Wkts
Gary Malcolm 4.0 0 29 1
Toby Mariner 8.0 1 27 0
Sam Clark 6.0 0 30 4
Luke Mitchell 8.0 2 24 2
Clinton Dugmore 5.0 0 25 2
Stuart Marsh 8.0 2 26 0
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