Washington Cricket Club - 40th Anniversary Year

And so the Washington squad crossed the footpath to our neighbours Highgate for a 40 over encounter. Varying forecasts throughout the week but the day itself was fine, warm, sunny, intermittent cloud cover, with the only dampener being quite a blustery wind throughout the day. Skipper Clinton lost the toss and we were sent into bat , with expectations high following last week's dramatic win versus the Thespians.

Two players made their debuts for this one - Andrew Gibbs, and also Tom was welcomed into the Washington brotherhood. And both were to make their mark with significant contributions to the game, Andrew with an excellent spell of bowling late on. Tom was thrust into the mix in slightly more unusual fashion - as neither Kiwi or Mike were available for this one, Walshy our usual back up keeper had his priorities misaligned, and so Tom stepped into the breach to don the keeper's gloves. Anyway, more on that later. And it was great to see Klossy back on the pitch, with Glucky and Barbara and Luke spectating.

The track itself was very flat and very hard. That combination of a low but largely true bounce, and a lightning outfield with shortish boundaries, meant that a big score should have been on the cards. Cragoe and Specky opened up and both settled quickly. They saw off the opening attack with some patient, well placed, strokeplay taking us to a solid 80 without loss after 20 overs. Alas Andrew pulled his calf muscle and with Clint on as a runner, was dismissed for a very well played 37. Matt followed soon after having played a solid innings for 28, bringing Jonathan Hall to the crease to join Clint. Both set about the bowling with gusto until Clint, playing so well, miscued one and was gone for 16. Aftab joined Jonathan and the runs began to flow with several lusty blows out of the ground into the surrounding tennis courts. Jonathan was particularly tenacious, sending one over for 26 no less. Aftab finally went for 48 to end a solid 146 run partnership. Tom joined the fray with a big 6, but not before Jonathan had brought up his century in style, being caught off the last ball of the innings for 110, very well played.

The Wash rocked into tea in high spirits. Although we were in a very good position at the half way mark, no one could have foreseen the mammoth 289 we ended up posting. At more than 7 an over it was going to need something pretty special from Highgate to challenge the total.

And that something special was their opening batsman, a gentleman by the name of de Silva. Personally I thought he was more of a Viv Richards than a de Silva, with the maroon cap and the presence at the crease - completely relaxed, whilst demonstrating the most exquisite timing and wristy strokes. Noted the track was particularly flat (think pre-op Kardashian) but anything loose was simply dispatched with an air of disdain, with no panic and no rush. The same could not be said for his opening partner who was run out (Aftab/Tom) for a very rash single. De Silva finally went for 109, when he miscued one from Aftab with Andrew Gibbs holding onto a very good catch in the deep. His 109 included 10 sixes and 10 fours - I'll leave the maths to you - some punishing economy rates for the bowlers.

With such a big total to chase however the game was still young, but then alas several errors in the field ultimately cost us. I would name and shame but the list is too long, plus I am on that list, so let's just move on. The remaining batsmen rode their luck and were chasing the total hard. Clint held onto an excellent catch and Nick chipped in with a wicket. A glimmer of hope at the end with Max on a hat trick, only to be denied that hat trick with an LBW turned down, leading to some on field hysterics and an admonition from Sir Vivian who had joined us at square leg umpire. To be fair the snick before it hit the pad was heard in Ally Pally. But it was all good energy and showed a solid fight to the end, before we finally succumbed with 2.4 overs to spare. A disappointing end in that we lost, but it was an excellent game played in good spirit, with plenty of food for thought. You can't go far wrong with circa 600 runs in an afternoon!

Well done to several players, in particular to Tom who acquitted himself extremely well behind the stumps, Gibbs with a deft spell of bowling, Apollo as always a safe pair of hands, and the aforementioned batsmen. But Man of the Match goes to Jonathan for his well deserved century.