Washington Cricket Club - 40th Anniversary Year

This is one of the more colourful games I've had the pleasure of playing in for the Wash, and for some reason what I imagine game of old must have been like for the Wash back in the day. We were up against Barnes who were very hyped up and keen for a victory, but ultimately the Wash were just that bit too strong for them in all departments.

 

 

A beautiful day, 27 degrees, full sunshine, reasonable breeze, I arrived at the pitch to see Luke consuming a Snickers bar and immediately regretted not buying one for myself en route. It was great to see Toby back on the pitch, complete with his new beard. Clint was fresh out of Brighton where he'd spent the night before at a wedding and rumoured to have been the only bloke there. He wasn't saying much but just had a wry smile on his face. A military jeep was being driven across the pitch by one of the oppo to deliver the scoreboard etc - Mike explained how you can get these reconditioned units off the MOD website which sells surplus military stock - a short debate was held as to whether we should acquire an armoured troop carrier for the Wash to turn up at matches in. There were several planes overhead and lot of trains hammering by in the background. Walshy managed to make it with a minute to spare but soon relaxed as he realised there were no Sri Lankans in the oppo. Anyway, I digress.

 

 

Having managed to decipher the logistics of using the orange ball, Clint won the toss and sent the oppo into bat (35 over game).

 

 

We were at Barnes Common, for those of you unfamiliar with the setting is a very 'quaint' setting as Commons should be, but with no sightscreens, lots of foliage, a public footpath behind the bowler's arm - hence the fluorescent orange cricket ball is a must. The outfield was its usual racy self and with the small boundaries - the margin for error is slim....

 

Luke started very well and pinned the openers down but the runs soon started to come as the Barnes batsmen, familiar with the  surroundings, used the local knowledge to their advantage and picked off anything loose. The Wash were uncharacteristically tight in the field - we are very fortunate to have two solid keeper batsmen in the squad in Mike and Kiwi and Mike had donned the gloves for this match. Mitch scuttled their openers out ending a deadly spell of bowling with 2 for 10 off 5 overs, very well bowled. However the Barnes batters dug in and with the sun bearing down on a grumpy Washington contingent it became evident that more Snickers were required.  At 84-2 off 15 overs, Barnes were roaring ahead. Luke shelled a difficult one but we can put that down to the fact he wasn't fielding for the oppo. Clint eventually got the breakthrough with an edge looped up behind the stumps for a bit of orange on orange. Their second danger man also fell to Clint with a lofty swirling catch clung onto by Aftab running in deep in the outfield. Kiwi held onto a similarly swirling skier and Mike effected a superb run out (chase and throw on the turn) as the batsmen attempted a quick single. As usual nothing was getting past Khan who was close in. With Toby (2 for 25) sending down several perfect line-length deliveries, the tight fielding, and some bayoneting of the tail by Walshy (1 for 14) and Abhi (2 for 1 off 2.4) - Barnes were reduced from 103-3 to 139 all out off 29 overs. A very good comeback from what was an ominous position.

 

 

The rest is history. Despite Barnes bowling very well and mixing it up, the Wash batting was just too strong. Walshy fired immediately with his trademark timing setting a decent opening partnership with Cragoe to see off the new ball, before both were dismissed. This brought Kiwi to the crease who simply dominated the Barnes attack, smashing any contenders all over the park with quality placement - both with the bat and the verbals. The tables were turned and we had the upper hand, when Kiwi fell for 43, we needed 40 off 10. Aftab survived a scare, having given a catch off a no ball beamer, which caused a bit of drama from the oppo but it was conceded Apollo had called correctly. With Mike at the helm and seeing the ball very well he took the game away finishing on 35 not out (with 5 run off the last ball). The Wash had chased the target down with 5 overs to spare.

 

A decent competitive game - some drinks with the oppo afterwards - and yet again a strong team effort with everyone contributing. Looking forward to the return fixture against these boys next season. Man of the match - Kiwi.