Sunday 9th August 2015 vs Barnes C.C.
 
Washington win with bat and ball
 
Barnes C.C.
Washington C.C.
 

Luke was adamant this was a "must win" game. Even though Luke himself was absent from the team he did make a cameo appearance on the field and impressed everyone with his knowledge of aeroplanes and calculus. The omens were good - heavy air traffic overhead including A380s, 747s, 777s and A330s strongly represented meant that this was one of the more desirable flightpath grounds.

And so to Barnes Common - a dubious wicket sporting patchy grass, an undulating outfield, footpath running along the boundary behind the bowler's arm, no sightscreens, and plenty of blackberries and foliage surrounding. Cue the orange cricket ball.

Skipper Shawn won and toss and without hesitation sent the oppo into bat, who duly got off to a storming start, before Shawn removed their attacking opener with his first delivery. From there the Wash settled, and whilst there were some pockets of attacking strokeplay the Wash bowlers dominated the Barnes batting lineup. Arun and Shawn finished with [ ] and [ ] respectively. Toby Mariner joined the fray and immediately found his line and length taking [ ] wickets for [ ] runs. Russ finished with [ ]. Notably, on a difficult and fast outfield, all of the bowlers were backed up by the fielding - Barnes were all out for [ ] off [ ] overs despite cries from the sidelines to bat out the overs. Tony was impeccable behind the stumps, only conceding [ ] byes and [no] leg byes in the innings.

There was some hesitancy in the batting line up, but Andrew Walsh stepped up to the mark and opened with Shawn. Shawn was immediately off the mark, timing the ball to perfection and powerful strikes soon sent the Barnes attack scuttling. At the other end, wristy and elegant strokeplay from Andrew meant a perfect opening combination, demonstrated by an opening partnership of [ ] no less. Whereas the Wash were tight in the field, Barnes were leaky (and at times angry), and the ball was sent to the boundary repeatedly at a rapid strike rate.  Walsh finally succumbed on 55, having played a top innings and his first 50 for the Wash - well done. Shawn batted on, and both Tony Harris [ ] and Brian White [ ] came and went - but not until they had chipped away at the ever declining target. It fell to Aftab to score the final 2 runs, and a wide long hop first ball was gratefully chopped away for 4. The Wash had chased the target down with [ ] overs to spare, Shawn ending on 83 not out.

And so, following on from Hampton Wick, a successive dominant win, with impressive all round team performances - led by the Skipper. No words of wisdom at the end of this game - the beaming smiles told the story.

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