Washington Cricket Club - 40th Anniversary Year

Washington slumped to a disappointing defeat against St John Fisher on Sunday.  Batting first after winning the toss they found themselves bowled out for 146;  the Mighty Fishers overhauled the target with four wickets to spare.

‘Very disappointed’, was skipper Tony Burt’s post match comment:  ‘if we could have eked out 180 I think we would have been competitive, but unfortunately our batters gave the bowlers nothing to defend.’

It was all a far cry from the first meeting of the two sides at the start of the season, when Wash had it all their own way and won by a massive 240-run margin.

This time, Washington's innings never really got going.  Matthew Cragoe was bowled for 2, and George Hope (19), who had started brightly with some typically booming straight drives, holed out at long off;  Steven Brown (19) played fluently for half an hour but was then bowled, and skipper Burt (42) who had taken 15 off his first over eventually skied a catch to mid wicket trying to administer further doses of the same medicine. 

The only dismissal that could not be ascribed to ‘batsman error’ was that of Aff Nasseem (18). Looking in glorious touch, as he does every autumn, he was ‘run out’ at the non-striker’s end when the bowler deflected a straight drive onto the stumps.  

Chris Davis (28) dug in and sought to rebuild the innings from the middle, but the wickets continued to fall around him:  Grattan McCoach (3), Max Murrain (8), Jack Roberts (1 not), Stuart Hood (1), and Anthony Heels (0) all chipped in, but the Fishers bowled and fielded extremely well, and everyone found the going tough.

Defending a target of 146 was always going to be difficult – especially as the outfield at the beautiful St Alban's CC ground was lightning fast after a month of dry weather.  But for the first twenty overs Washington stayed in the game and looked like they might win it.

Opening bowlers Murrain (0-18) and Hope (1-33) kept things very tight; the latter, aiming to emulate his hero, Shawn Hill, bowled Andy Cox (12) after softening him up with a couple of vicious rising deliveries.  Is he as quick as Hill?  Steve Brown says not – and he was wearing the gloves.

Further wickets followed – Grattan McCoach (2-24), having reeled off three consecutive maidens at the start of his spell, picked up a brace, and Tony Burt (1-23) was rewarded for a tight spell of spin bowling from the pavilion end when Philips (0) gave him a return catch.

At 65-4 after 21 overs, Wash were well in the hunt;  however, they failed to dislodge opener Chris Williams (49) who, dropped when in the teens, proceeded to slice a series of extravagant drives over the slips and gully.  With the target so small, this flurry of boundaries negated all Washington’s efforts at building pressure in the field.

By the time he was caught at point by Cragoe off Davis (1-29), one short of his half century, the balance of the game had swung decisively in favour of the home side. Paul Sands (30) was caught in the deep by Hope to give Heels (1-13) a first wicket for the Wash, but home skipper Hobart caned 18 off ten deliveries to ensure there was no way back for the visitors.

It was all over by 10 past 6 –Wash have the winter to prepare for the re-match which will be the first game of next season.

Washington:  Burt(*), Brown (+), Hope, Cragoe, Naseem, Davis, McCoach, Murrain, Hood, Roberts, Heels