Weekend roundup – 4th/5th September

The 1st XI welcomed Stoneywood Dyce to Grange Loan for the final EPL match of the season, kindly sponsored by Colin Campbell. A damp start to proceedings forced the game to be shortened to 44 overs per side and the visitors won the toss and chose to bat first.  Skipper Ally Evans picked up both openers with the new ball and then Harry & Tom Simpson combined to get rid of the Dyce No 3.  Shiv Gupta replaced Simpson and claimed 3 quick wickets to leave the men from the North East in trouble at 93 for 6, but the new batsmen dug in to frustrate the home side.  Angus Beattie eventually broke the partnership followed by Simpson claiming a second.  Beattie then picked up a second to reduce the visitors to 134 for 9.  The final wicket fell to the returning Ruaridh McIntyre to see Stoneywood bowled out for 155 in the 41st over.  Shujaa Khan and Arun Pillai put on 72 for the first wicket before Khan found the fielder at midwicket to depart for 25.  Pillai brought up his 50 shortly after but was then bowled and Tom Simpson also fell cheaply.  Evans and Ben D’Ulisse steadied things for the home side, taking the score to 123 before D’Ulisse’s furniture was rearranged.  Hayden Laing joined Evans and the pair took Carlton in sight of victory but Evans skied one to depart for a useful 36.  Beattie was the next man in but all he had to do was watch Laing (21*) dispatch a couple of long hops up the hill for 4 to see Carlton home for a 5 wicket win in the 28th over.

That victory confirmed the 1s finishing as runners up in the Eastern Premium League for 2021.

On Sunday the Inaugural Carlton Junior 6s took place at Grange Loan, featuring five teams drawn from all across our junior hardball squads. The day was expertly organised by Martin Firth who gave the following report on proceedings:

The games were highly competitive – out of 10 games, 6 were decided in the last 2 balls, and only 2 didn’t make it into the 10th over. The day was a riot of exuberant hitting and running (by both batters and fielders) as over 900 runs were bludgeoned into the wide open spaces between fielders. The absolute highlight of the day was the way in which all the teams played. The older juniors encouraged and led the younger ones, who responded by playing excellent cricket, a great credit to Carlton Juniors.

There was of course a winner (Team Red by a narrow margin). On inspection of the scoresheets, it was discovered that Team Green had beaten Team Red, and were therefore World Champions. But wait … Yellow beat Green, Orange beat Yellow and Blue beat Orange, which means (cliche alert) they were all winners!

Also on Sunday the Women travelled to Dumfries for the finals day of the Beyond Boundaries Scottish T20 Cup.  First up was a semi-final against George Watson’s College.  Skipper Annette Aitken-Drummond lost the toss and GWC chose to bat first.  A decent start with the bat saw GWC take 23 from the first 4 overs before Maisie Maceira claimed the first wicket.  Carlton took 2 more wickets in successive overs – one to Charis Scott and a second for Maceira to leave GWC in trouble at 25 for 3.  Former Carlton junior Nina Whitaker put up some resistance but she was bowled for 24 by Scott in the 10th over.  Sam Haggo and Abbi Aitken-Drummond then came on to clean up the rest of the GWC batters claiming 2 and 4 wickets respectively to bowl them out for 56 in 17 overs.  In reply Carlton lost Maceira (11) in the 2nd over but fellow opener Zaara Dancu (7*) and Abbi Aitken-Drummond (34*) saw them into the final in the 7th over.

Waiting in the final were West of Scotland who had got past Grange in the first game of the day.  Skipper Aitken-Drummond won the toss and elected to bowl first.  The first wicket fell with the final ball of the 3rd over with an lbw to Hannah Rainey with 15 on the board.  The next over Scott bowled the other West opener and Rainey & Scott claimed another wicket each in successive overs.  That left West 24 for 4 after 5.1 overs and they moved the score on to 40 before Abbi Aitken-Drummond picked up a wicket, bowling the West No 6, and then running out the No 4 with a direct hit 4 balls later.  West continued to lose wickets with Aitken-Drummond claiming a second and Ashley Robertson chipping in with one – well caught by Scott.  The opening bowlers came back on and each claimed a third wicket to bowl out West for 72 in the 19th over.  The chase didn’t get off to the best of starts with Abbi Aitken-Drummond pinned in front in the first over.  More drama in the 3rd over as Scott missed a straight one and Carlton were 7 for 2.  Haggo and the skipper steadied the ship, taking the score to 38 when Haggo was caught for 11 in the 6th over.  4 balls later the skipper chopped on and had to go for 15.  Rainey was next to go, holing out to long on and Carlton were 51 for 5 with youngsters Dancu and Maceira at the crease.  They held their nerve brilliantly and saw Carlton over the line with 5 wickets and 9 overs to spare.