118 for 0 (20 overs)

39 for 3 (20 overs)

For their first outing of the season the primary team were raring to go (so much so that more than 11 players turned up – no credit being claimed by the team organiser at this stage but it did present some rolling substitution issues for Andy as coach/umpire). A bright but still chilly morning at Grange Loan saw them welcome Stewarts Melville.

Carlton captain (Ruari Mac)  won the toss and elected to bat.  Euan E and David M opened and a pleasing combination of expansive shots and due caution saw the score progress steadily at approx 7 per over until Euan executed an impressive pull shot which was only slightly delayed by the visiting captain’s knee (the crack was heard by nearly everyone in Grange Loan) before crossing the boundary to take him to 32 and retirement as the total approached 50. Ruari Mac came in and continued in the same vein, and both he and David contributed well before David retired on 26 with the score on 100 and Ruari shortly afterwards having reached 31.  Rory A and Dougal M dealt with the bowlers for the final couple of overs, both protected their wickets with Rory  ending on 3 and Dougal on 0.  A total of 118 with no wickets lost was a great opening innings of the season.  The benefit of winter nets showing through quite clearly.

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Stewarts Melville were under pressure from the start of their innings, Carlton’s 2 opening bowlers (Callum K and Calum E - the third in the “E” dynasty to represent the primary team in recent years) were both very economical and accurate, each claiming a wicket (bowled) in their second overs. The batsmen found it very difficult to get bat on ball and when they did a sharp catch at square leg by Euan E off Niall M’s first over accounted for the third wicket. Dougal M bowled 3 overs and once he got his line proved economical and Rory A bowled 3 overs, conceding only 1 run in the process. Archie W was introduced to the attack and the change of pace and trajectory in his 2 overs left the batsmen confused and offering a couple of very difficult chances to Ahmed I at wicket keeper –Ahmed continued on from last season and had an efficient game behind the stumps. Scott J also had a couple of overs late on, from which only 2 runs were conceded. Stewarts finished on 39 for 3 in their 20 overs.

The Carlton batters take a lot of credit for protecting their wickets whilst scoring a good total, but the fielding from all was sharp and supportive throughout which showed good concentration and the standard of bowling was noted by Carlton’s head coach Gordon Drummond.

Rained off - rearranged for Friday 19 June

With more injury and unavailability call offs than George Burley before an international friendly match, the Carlton side for this match contained a large number of inexperienced players.

Thanks to a battling, unbeaten innings of 33 from Ruairi, Carlton managed to post a total of 72. Despite some enthusiastic fielding this wan't enough to stave off defeat.

Despite heavy rain the day before, the match was able to take place on a compact pitch in front of the school.

Carlton won the toss and elected to bat, a solid start was made with good contributions from Euan (32), Ruari (19) and Oliver (7) who all retired; Francis who had opened with Euan hit a good boundary before being bowled for 5.  By some deft retirals by the coach everyone got to the wicket and a late flurry from Calum E (9), supported by Rory and Callum K (5 each) brought up a total of 98 in the 20 overs, with only 3 wickets actually lost.  Dougal was delighted to score his first run for the team towards the end of  the innings.

Watsons went into bat and set about chasing the total as if the rain was about to come and there didn’t look like there was anyone around who might have had an inkling of how Duckworth Lewis would operate (apologies to former Scotland captains present). Ruari and Euan opened the bowling and after 2 overs Watsons were on 18. Third over was much more economical and the breakthrough came in the 4th over as Euan clean bowled the more aggressively scoring opener.

Francis and Callum K shared the next four overs with Callum claiming the second wicket (bowled again) with 45 on the board.   Oliver and Calum E came on and the contrasting styles helped to contain the batters to a total of 11 runs in 4 overs with 2 wickets claimed by Calum (both bowled). There was also the first of 2 runouts, this one benefitting from a sharp piece of fielding by Ruari.

Rory and Tom (making his first appearance for the team) shared the next spell, and although no wickets were taken the runs dried up with only 8 coming from the 4 overs. Another run out (Euan supplying a direct hit with his throw) followed and it left the final 4 overs to be bowled by Hari and Dougal who both kept it even tighter (5 runs in total), in part down to the 3 slips and a gully deployed for the final couple of balls of the innings!

A good victory for Carlton by 29 runs, with the overall standard of fielding within a small boundary enthusiastic and effective. Special mention going to Rory (one day a diving catch is going to stick!) and Callum K who made a couple of boundary saving lunges during the innings.

Carlton won the toss and elected to bat with Ruari and David  (captain for the day) starting off briskly.  Ruari was unlucky to be run out by a direct hit on 14.  Euan and David carried on with a mix of patience and aggression, Euan plundering 5 fours from one over before retiring on 29, David retired on 17. Archie occupied the crease for a long time before retiring on 3. Oliver was well caught for his 1 and there were then a couple of quick dismissals as both Scott and Rory were bowled and Dougal was caught and bowled.  Calum E started slowly and then added 5 before retiring.  Angus  in his first game for the team stayed in and was not out at the end along with Niall who came to the wicket to face one ball. 94 for 5.

Calum E and Rory opened the bowling with both claiming  wickets (bowled) in their second overs. Oliver and Dougal bowled first change with Oliver grabbing the glory with 2 wickets for 3 runs (one bowled and one a sharp catch by Niall) while Dougal was even more frugal yielding only 2 runs in his 2 overs.  Niall and David followed with a maiden first over for David and 2 wickets in his second over. Angus claimed a wicket with his first delivery in his first over in his first game  (there must be a term for that!) and when he came back for a second over secured the final wicket as well. Archie Euan and Scott each had an over towards the end with Euan and Scott claiming a wicket each.  Stand-in wicket keeper Ruari had a good game with 2 catches and a stumping.  58 all out.

A good victory with 7 of the bowlers claiming wickets, and six of the victims were clean bowled.

Edinburgh Academy opted to bat and were well contained by the opening bowling pair (Francis and Calum) with only 3 runs off the first 4 overs.  Rory and David took over for the next four overs and claimed a wicket each but were a bit more expensive. Oliver (captain for the day) and Matthew took over and combined frugalilty (5 runs) and wicket taking  (Oliver took 2 and Matthew one) leaving the score on 25 after 12 overs. Alexander and Tom grabbed a wicket a piece before Dougal and Scott finished the bowling (Dougal claiming a wicket with a well taken catch by Matthew).  The score ended on 38 for 8, with seven of the wickets clean bowled.  

With a strange twist on Duckworth/Lewis the coach set his team a target of 100 and revised the normal batting order to give more opportunites to spend some time in the middle for the younger players.   Ahmed and Rory opened and did well to fend off their openers who bowled with real pace. The pair retired together (Ahmed 5, Rory 6) after half a dozen overs both finding the boundary once.  Tom and Calum were next in and after a number of dot balls Tom was unlucky to be bowled by a delivery Barnes Wallis would have been proud of.  Calum produced an efficient 9 before being caught. Dougal had to deal with some wayward deliveries before holing out with another decent catch (by their opening batter and bowler and key fielder). Alexander and Matthew worked well together with good running and some nice shots retiring on 3 and 7 respectively. Scott stayed around for about 12 balls for his one before retiring by which time the oppostion score had been passed.  The more established batsmen were itching to get in and Oliver and David strode confidently to the middle, David returned fairly sheepishly not long after, allowing Francis to face the last half dozen balls. Carlton finished on 54 for 4 in their 20 overs.

Fettes won the toss and elected to bat. Whereas in previous matches straight bowling has been the source of many wickets, today the fielding was fantastic.  3 runouts (a straight hit aiming at one stump from Euan,  fast fielding and return from Calum E and a good take from Oliver) and 2 catches (Oliver and Ruari with a spectacular dive), meant they were only 4 clean bowled wickets this week (Oliver, Calum E, Ruari and Rory) as Fettes reached 58 for 9 in their 20 overs.

Ruari and Calum K started off at a gallop contributing 22 and 13 respectively before retiring, both finding the boundary twice and running effectively for the rest.  Oliver was unlucky to mis-judge a leg glance (the batsman’s own words) and was bowled after scoring 6. Callum E (8) and Hari (4) nudged the runs past the Fettes total before retiring to make way for Dougal (retired on 2) and Ahmed (caught and bowled for 2).  Euan hit one mighty boundary before being bowled leaving Rory (caught for 1) and Angus (0 not out, the average remains infinity!) to complete the innings.  Carlton ended on 81 all out.

The final school match for the primary team took place against Watsons who arrived with their “A” team seeking to avenge their defeat a few weeks ago.

Carlton batted first and the first ball of the match, bowled by the new Evans fast bowling sensation Rory, rose up at Euan who was unlucky to hit his wicket as he took evasive action. Ruari joined David and was caught early on with Francis following shortly after.  David eventually was bowled for 5 and a very patient innings by Oliver reaped 3 runs but steadied the innings before he was bowled.  Hari hit one glorious boundary before hesitation got the better of him and he was run out.  Calum knocked a quick 5 but was then caught and Rory was bowled very early. Dougal came to the wicket with the score on 36 and played an excellent innings growing in confidence as he progressed. After Ahmed was bowled Tom came in and protected his wicket and contributed three runs (not out) while allowing Dougal to build to a final 13 not out and between them advancing the score to a defendable 62.

Past reports have highlighted the benefit of practice and coaching the boys receive at the club and the number of times Carlton have taken wickets by clean bowling the batsmen.  This time was no exception to that general rule however it was exceptional in the collective memory of both umpires (a good few years) as neither had seen a scorecard where all wickets fell as bowled.  A fantastic achievement!  Francis and Dougal accounted for the first 3 wickets at the expense of a few runs so that after 8 overs Watsons had advanced to 33 for 3.  Euan then bowled his first over – A TRIPLE WICKET MAIDEN, Ruari narrowly missed emulating this in his first over (double wicket maiden) so at the end of 10 overs it was 33 for 8!    A degree of normality returned for the next three and a half overs with the score creeping upto  48 before Ruari collected his third wicket and in the following over Euan finished it all off leaving Watsons on 52. In such a low scoring match it was important for the fielders to be alert and deny any chance of runs and the boys contributed well with some enthusiastic fielding throughout.