Washington Cricket Club - 40th Anniversary Year

Matt Cheviott reporting

Washington pulled off one of the most remarkable results of recent years on Sunday against an excellent Kashmir side at North Midd.  Conjuring up echoes of England against Australia at Headingley 1981, or indeed Sri Lanka against India this week, Arun Prasad (60*) and Peter Kloss (17*) batted Wash from a position of apparently inevitable defeat to victory.

Speaking after the game, skipper Shawn Hill said simply: “I’m speechless”.

A game full of incident, where the balance of power swapped from one side to the other and back again at regular intervals, began with Kashmir batting first on a green-topped pitch.  Washington’s opening salvo - from the very pair, Prasad (0-36) and Kloss (2-25) that would ultimately provide salvation with the bat – was fruitless.

With the introduction of Hill (2-15) and Aftab Akram (3-25), however, wickets began to tumble.  Hill, in particular, was almost unplayable on a surface that offered a lot of movement off the seam. 

And when Russell Pendry (3-44) picked up the first of his three wickets to reduce the visitors to 103-7, an early tea seemed likely.

However, Rohan (20) and Asif (20) added a dogged 40 for the eighth wicket, and though Kloss came in to clear up the tail, Kashnir finished on a very defendable total of 161.

That ‘defendable’ total quickly came to look ‘unreachable’ when Washington came out to bat.  In a calamitous opening, they lost two wickets in the very first over- Matthew Cragoe (0) going first ball, and ‘RV’ Aravinden (0) to the fourth.

Andrew Speck (18) and Akram (13) dug deep in an attempt to rebuild the innings, but Kashmir had a surprise up their sleeve in the shape of first-change bowler, Randell (4-25).  Genuinely quick, and moving the ball away sharply from the right handers, he ripped through Washington’s middle order:  Akram, Ash Cruikshank (0) Andrew Walsh (13) and Hill (0) all succumbed, and Wash found themselves in dire straits at 54-7.

No-one could have predicted the way events would unfold from this point.  But a brave 8^th-wicket partnership of 37 between Prasad and Nick Goldreich (5) slowed the visitors’ momentum.

Nevertheless, when Goldreich was caught with the score on 91, the target still seemed a long way off.

Hesitantly at first, but then with increasing confidence and belief, Prasad and Kloss took the attack back to Kashmir. In a really superb rearguard action, full of grit and discipline, they simply refused to accept defeat. Prasad mixed elegant guiding shots to leg with some fine drives; Klossie defended doggedly, and bashed anything loose.

And, quite unbelievably, the mountain was climbed and the summit attained, fittingly with a glorious pull shot from man-of-the-match Prasad.

It was a wonderful end to a highly dramatic game of cricket, and enters the annals as one of the most heroic fightbacks in Washington’s long and illustrious history.