Washington Cricket Club - 40th Anniversary Year

Washington ran out victors on Sunday against old rivals Pacific at North Middlesex. It was a game not so much of ‘two halves’ as of ‘three-thirds’: Wash seemed to have the situation under control, but lost their way badly in the middle of the afternoon and only rediscovered their touch late in the proceedings. The eventual margin - a win by 9 wickets – hardly does justice to the see-saw nature of the contest.

Pacific won the toss and elected to bat; however, the early initiative was almost wholly with Washington.  Opening bowlers Dominic Butcher (3-30) and Shawn Hill (2-29) found plenty of movement and the Pacific front-line crumbled. The Washington cause was helped by some spectacular fielding – a Paul Irons diving catch in the gully the highlight.

Taran Persaud (4-34) has been the Washington’s secret bowling weapon this summer, and he duly came on as first change to weave his magic again.  Four wickets fell to his lot – again courtesy of some splendid catching, notably from Hill- and at 110-8 after 30 overs, Pacific looked dead and buried.

Washington visibly eased up – the bowling became more ragged and the fielding more slipshod and suddenly, the game was into its second phase.  The Pacific tail wagged, and 90 runs came from the last ten overs before David Gluckman (1-42) wrapped up  the innings.  With an unexpected total of 190 runs in the bank, there is no doubt that Pacific had the heartier appetite for tea.

If Washington had gone off the boil, Pacific tails were firmly in the air:  Tony Harris (44 not) and Pete Demetri (19) struggled for runs when Washington took their turn at the crease; the Pacific performance was galvanised by the sort of intensity that Washington had temporarily misplaced. 

Only 28 runs came from the first 10 overs; significantly, however, Pacific grassed a couple of chances, and it was the growing confidence of wickets in hand that ultimately allowed Washington to take control of the third phase of the game.

The turning point was the arrival of Paul Irons (95 not). The Mighty One is enjoying a golden summer, and on this occasion he settled in to play a match-wining innings. It was a very classy knock – he hit the ball hard but found the gaps, worked the field, and after being dropped behind the wicket on 29, gradually built up the momentum of the innings.

Almost imperceptibly at first, but then at an extraordinary rate, the game slipped  away from Pacific.  At the 20-over mark, Wash had 80 on the board and the tie was nicely balanced:  a little more than 12 overs later, it was all over, as Harris and Irons plundered runs seemingly at will. Their  unbroken 153-run partnership was a match-winning contribution.

And so it ended with Washington the victors, and Pacific left to rue the cost of dropped catches.  As skipper Shawn Hill summed up: ‘the game was played in three phases: in simple terms, we won two and took the game’.

Washington: Hill*, Demetri+, Harris, Irons, Cragoe, Naseem, Brown, Butcher, Persaud, Holt, Gluckman.

Man of the Match:  Paul Irons:  great catch and a superb innings