Washington Cricket Club - 40th Anniversary Year

Matthew Cragoe reporting

Washington’s stuttering form continued at Aldenham on Saturday.  Asked to chase down a target of 222, Wash were bowled out for just 109.

Skipper Toby Mariner said afterwards: ‘It was a very fast outfield, so 220-odd wasn’t ungettable; unfortunately we had a stronger bowling than a batting side out today, and we fell away towards the end.’

Mariner won the toss on a glorious afternoon in Hertfordshire and – aware of the potential frailty of the batting line up – decided to bowl first in this declaration game.

At the first drinks break, it looked an inspired decision.  Mariner (1-42) and Mitchell (4-58) produced a brilliant opening spell, terrorizing all the batsmen with steep bounce from the hard surface.  Mitchell was practically unplayable and nearly decapitated two opponents in his first 5 overs.

Wickets fell regularly and, assisted by good catching, Aldenham were confined to 44-4 off 16 overs.

The end of Mitchell’s marathon 11-over spell, however, signaled a change in the balance of the game.  Aldenham’s batsmen began to chance their collective arm, and on a fast outfield where anything that eluded the field went to the boundary (and two times in three then got lost in the undergrowth, occasioning lengthy delays), the scoreboard began whirring.

Peter Kloss (2-63) found some swing, and Andy Crook (1-25) took a late wicket courtesy of a Daniel Eade catch, but at tea Aldenham declared with a decent total on the board.  Keeper Watta (69) and skipper Charlie Munroe (51 not) both played particularly well.

Washington began brightly.  Leo Lang (16) opened the innings with a blazing salvo of four boundaries but was then undone by Munroe’s slower ball.  Clinton Dugmore (35) and Matt Cheviott (13) stoked the fire, adding 51 for the second wicket in decent time. 

Once they had been dismissed, however- the former trapped lbw, the latter losing his off stump while shouldering arms - the innings guttered.

Kevin Read (6) and Andy Crook (1) saw the total into the 70s, and then Mitchell (4) and Kloss (6) added 21 in a defiant 6^th-wicket stand.  Once Mitchell had been bowled by Tim Hayle (5-26), however, the game was up.  Malcolm (0) and Eade (0) both bagged goldens, and Ash Cruikshank (8), batting down the order because of a leg injury, hit two fours before holing out.  The skipper was left marooned on 0 not out.  

As the players trooped into the club house the summer storm that had been faithfully predicted to arrive at, first, 2pm and, later, 6pm, finally appeared.  In a scene of near Old Testament ferocity, the pretty little ground was engulfed by thunder, lightning and pounding rain. 

Unfortunately it all came too late to save the Wash, however, who went down to defeat here by 116 runs.