Wanderers wilt at Washington
Result: AWCC lost by 6 wkts

Despite a tremendous knock by Sam Mellor who hit 105, Wanderers quite simply failed to turn up at Washington on Sunday.  Maybe the scene was set with players arriving at the ground and being out in the middle before they had time to catch a breath?  Quite simply, Arun looked undercooked from the first ball.  Sam Mellor’s century was an exhibition in concentration and powerful hitting and was faultless from start to finish.  The rest of the     

team, barring extras, only managed 40 runs between them, due to an array of ill judged shots, poor technique and dire application.  It is pointless to highlight any individual, as Laurie has written his post mortem on the forum.  Maybe it is best to focus on the only other plus from the innings; “Ducky” Clarke finally broke his run of seven successive ducks (visit the special Ian Clarke page for more pictures of this                

momentous occasion!), amid applause that almost echoed that received on Sam reaching his century.  Despite the dismal display, a score of 159 should at least have given the bowlers a chance, given the way they performed the previous week.  How wrong can one be?
 
Wanderers bowling performance, with one exception perhaps, was described by some as “pants” or “toilet” and one could see just why.  It was hard to understand the reason behind such a poor exhibition of bowling and again it is not necessarily helpful to talk of individuals.  Suffice to say that, with the exception of a promising spell from Patch Atherton and a decent second spell from Jamie Carter, all other bowling was easily dispatched by the home team.

So, what are we left with to report on then? Surely some highlights apart from Sam Mellor?  Well, here are a few…
 
Patch bowled a decent spell and took his first club wicket, and also was excellent in the field.  He was in fact the only player to consistently throw the ball above the stumps to the keeper!  Ducky broke his very lean run as   

mentioned earlier; Monty struck a decent six but as ever followed it with a mindless cross bat shot.  Simon led the fashion stakes with his Bob Dylan sunglasses and laid back approach, and finally the moment that kind of summed it all up really, THE run out.  Those present witnessed a farcical situation as Mainwaring pumped his little legs in a desperate attempt to make his ground, whilst Mellor junior stood motionless at his end.  It was pure vaudeville!