Washington Cricket Club - 40th Anniversary Year

After a fairly dismal run of 6 defeats there was a good win for the Wash on Saturday, and against old enemies Pacific!

Skipper Mike Turner lost the toss and Washington were inserted in fine weather and on the true bounce of the plastic pitch at Wray Crescent. Tom Harper (43) and Sam Clark (29) put on a brisk 66 for the first wicket, and Aftab Akram (30) and Rory Guy (27) continued in the same spirit with the score reaching 104 for 2 in only the 16th over.

Mike Turner then came to the wicket and played an innings of substantial quality which held the middle of the innings together. He scored 45 with some most elegant shots and built significant partnerships with first Rory Guy and then Matt Holt.

In the final few overs Andrew Anderson (23*) showed he is more than a no.10, particularly on an artificial surface. The Wash finished their 40 overs on 236 for 9. A good score, but certainly gettable if Pacific batted well.

Following a decent tea, Peter Kloss (0-14) and Stuart Marsh (1-45) opened up. They were replaced by Sam Clark (0-18) and Andrew Anderson (0-12). Although not many wickets fell (1 in fact), this all medium pace attack worked really well in keeping the scoring rate down. Pacific found themselves in some trouble at the 20 over drinks break with the score on only 61 for 1. It was this phase which effectively won the game for the Wash as almost 9 an over were then needed for the second half of the innings. This proved too much, despite some spirited hitting from Roy (55*) late on against the bowling of Aftab Akram (1-46) and Marsh particularly.

Such was Washington’s nervous temperament in the final overs as they closed in on victory, the field consisted of 7 men on the boundary attempting to stop the 4s.

Skipper Turner said afterwards “really good to get a win under our belts finally. It’s been a difficult month or so with 6 losses in a row prior to today, and 9 losses in the last 10 games. The lads played well, and I was particularly pleased that the runs came from 5 or 6 individuals rather than one big innings. The early bowlers then set up the win, keeping the rate down, and we held our catches and kept our nerve in the final 10 overs. The beer will taste good tonight. Well done to all”.