Peter Kloss reporting
Picking up the 2012 Olympic spirit for breaking records, Brian White and Sam Clark hit the highest partnership, for any wicket, ever, for the Washington! This beat the previous record which had stood for 16 years.
The partnership was 255 runs in 36 overs against Pacific bowling which actually wasn't that bad. Of course both batsmen came away with well deserved centuries, although Clark was a little fortunate with a couple of dropped catches in the field; White’s innings was chanceless.
The day was a glorious one at Wray Crescent near Finsbury Park, despite it being significantly into September. Skipper Mariner won the toss and (obviously) chose to bat on the artificial strip.
White and Clark started cautiously, but steadily, developing the score to 69 from 16 overs off the medium pace opening bowling. Both batsmen looked solid and calm in these early overs and asserted themselves regularly, scoring a fair proportion of their runs in boundaries. Both have strong technique, particularly in defence it must be said.
Captain Mariner would have been most happy to continue in this vain, as a score of 200+ was looking probable. However after the drinks break at the halfway point the batting stepped up at least 2 gears, and Clark particularly let loose with some big hits. Between overs 22 and 29 the runs per over read 17-10-11-21-9-10-19-10, more than doubling the team score!
As Pacific records in their match report ‘The strange thing was that the bowling was not that atrocious - it was just a bad ball or two every over and it got punished every time.’ (see http://www.pacificcc.co.uk/display-items.php?intTypeID=1&intItemID=1792 ).
Clark’s trademarks were the pull through midwicket and the straight drive, both usually airborne, and he almost came unstruck several times with dropped catches in the outfield and at slip. In fact he was dropped on 98 at deep midwicket, but reached his hundred with the runs achieved as the unfortunate Pacific fielder returned the ball. This was Clark’s first ever ton, and his best for the Wash, eclipsing the 72 achieved late last season. Sam’s supposed to be a bowler isn’t he?!
White was a little quieter in his batting but still accumulating runs impressively. He played generally most correctly and drove majestically through the covers for his boundaries. The 25th over consisted of five 4s and a single, all to White (so he wasn’t that quiet really!). He too reached his century which in contrast to Clark’s was chanceless.
Clark eventually fell caught in the 36th over for 136. The partnership was worth 255 runs in 135 minutes. This beat the record for the highest for any wicket for the Washington. In July 1996 Fenton Caterall and life member David Gluckman put on 205 against a North London club called Bessborough (where Mark Ramprakash learned to play cricket apparently). Caterall scored 132, and Gluckman 52 (but David points out that he was 58 years young at the time!). This correspondent vouches it will be a fair while until the record is beaten again.
White was joined by Chad Bhaskar (16*) and they continued the fast scoring with a little mini-partnership of 33 (in 11 balls!). White hit a couple of glorious straight 6s before holing out for 118.
Andrew Anderson (12*) had only 2 overs to bat, but he and Bhaskar still managed to add a further 21 – it was just that sort of day for Washington’s batting. 96 had been added in the last 10 overs, supplementing the 114 scored between overs 20 and 30. The team score reached 309 for 2 from the full 40 overs, Wash’s highest since April 2007.
When the Wash took the field Max Murrain (4-13) and Gary Malcolm (3-30) finished off a clinical job and delivered an emphatic victory margin for Washington. All the bowlers played well, restricting Pacific’s scoring rate, but the wickets fell to the slower bowlers. Some will be surprised to learn that Max Murrain has now become an accomplished off-spinner – hope we see more of him!
The other big factor was the excellent fielding on this day. Only one chance went down (ahem, Mr Chairman...), 6 were taken, and there was a superb direct hit run out from Toby Mariner. The general standard of ground fielding was solid too.
Man of the match: Jointly Brian White and Sam Clark. They couldn’t have broken the record without eachother and were literally inseparable for 36 overs!
Packing the kit: Mani again I’m afraid. Can you guess why?
