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Eagles won the toss on a very poor track at Mill Hill Park and elected to bat against a weakened Washington team with several newcomers. Skipper Terry Tidey opened with elder son Nik and they soon had the Eagles in trouble with two early wickets. The skipper bowled through his 8 overs and ended with the excellent figures of 4-15 and at the end of the 16th over Eagles were 47-6, Tidey getting great support from Gary Malcolm (1-19) and Eric Stoughton (1-39). But Fitzharris (53*), Jones (23) and Boulter (19) all battled gamely in trying conditions and the Eagles eventually posted a respectable 163, a challenging total on a bad wicket. With a weakened batting line-up, the skipper bravely decided to open with his two star performers, Brian White and Paul Irons and the gamble certainly worked. Though White was out in the second over with 16 on the board, and Robert Tidey followed soon after, Irons was in breathtaking form once again and virtually won the game single-handed. He dominated a stand of 60 with David Gluckman (4) and then he and newcomer Richard Gaffin (22*) added the remaining 89 to win the match with 19 overs to spare. Irons ended with 117*, scored in 75 balls with eight 6's and ten 4's. His hitting was immense and despite the short boundary on one side, all his 6's would have counted on a much larger ground. It was a ruthless performance. Skipper Tidey was lavish with his praise : "Paul really has the talent to unnerve opposition. He is constantly in their faces in the field, he has great hands and he can always be counted on to break a partnership with the ball. And even 15 minutes of him with the bat can turn a game. I didn't know he was playing till he arrived and I was very pleased to see him."
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