Washington Cricket Club - 40th Anniversary Year

Washington were beaten again on Sunday in a low scoring game against Surrey side Tilford. Playing at this picturesque village green location, Washington captain Shawn Hill lost the toss and was asked to bat. On a dry and hard, but strangely difficult pitch, Pete Demetri (0) went in the third over. Aff Naseem (32) and George Hope (30) seemed to be building a strong partnership until Hope was adjudged leg before in the 12^th over with the score on 40. From this point the scoring rate slowed as Naseem dug in with determination and Tony Harris (6), Lee Fogarty (0) and Tony Burt (2) all tried to establish themselves without significant success. Fogarty was unlucky to be run out, called for a single by Naseem which frankly was never really on.

Scoring was extremely difficult, partly due to the very accurate Tilford attack, and partly due to the pitch which offered some variable bounce and pace to all bowlers. Shawn Hill (13) hit three boundaries but then skied a catch and David Gluckman (5) hung around for 12 overs before turning one to leg gully. Grattan McCoach (3) and Peter Kloss (13) had brief innings, Kloss hitting a straight 6, and Taran Persaud (0*) was left stranded.

Naseem's return to some form was extremely welcome and he deserved his position as top scorer, having battled better than anyone to graft out 32 runs over 25 overs at the crease.

All out for 119, their second lowest total of the season, the Wash were left wondering how such an apparently strong batting line up had succumbed so easily. Certainly some of the batsmen got themselves out giving catches with rash shots, but even so the team were at a loss to explain their inability to develop strong partnerships and score runs.

After tea Peter Kloss (2-13 from 12 overs) and George Hope (2-36) opened up the bowling and Tilford then discovered how difficult it was to score on this pitch against accurate bowling. Hope clean bowled two batsmen and Kloss took a great one-handed caught and bowled and won a plumb LBW. Tilford were in trouble at 27 for 4 after 11 overs. However batsmen Rooney (31) and Wilson (41*) then grafted out a long partnership of 49 over 17 overs, not scoring quickly, but definitely consolidating the innings and building a foundation for victory.

Tony Burt (1-31) replaced Hope and had Rooney caught in the deep. Skipper Hill also used Pete Demetri (0-15) and Taran Persaud (1-14) but could not find the elusive breakthrough. Persaud took the 6^th wicket again to a catch in the deep, but by this stage less than 10 were needed to win. Tilford scored the winning run from the first ball of the last over of the day, which was actually a dropped catch by McCoach. Tilford had paced their innings excellently over 40 overs and were deserved winners. Wilson, remaining unbeaten on 41, being a major factor in this.

The Wash had bowled and fielded well, but they were left regretting a couple of dropped catches which might have swung the game their way. The fact was though that they hadn't scored enough runs to deserve to win.

Hill said after the game “if we'd just got 30 or 40 more runs it would have been very different. The guys just don't seem to be able to build batting partnerships at the moment. The pitch was a deceptively difficult one though.”

Man of the match: Aff Naseem, for his determined 32 runs

Packing the kit: Grattan McCoach for a dropped catch on the last ball. As he said at the time “what if it had been the 10^th wicket?”

Washington: Pete Demetri, Aff Naseem, George Hope, Tony Harris (+), Lee Fogarty, Tony Burt, Shawn Hill (c), David Gluckman, Grattan McCoach, Peter Kloss, Taran Persaud