Weekend roundup – 28th/29th August
The 1st XI entertained Forfarshire at Grange Loan in a match kindly sponsored by Archie Gray. Skipper Ally Evans won the toss and elected to bat and a fine opening stand of 84 was eventually broken when Arun Pillai was caught behind for 35. Wickets then fell fairly regularly including fellow opener Shujaa Khan (36) with Hugo Southwell (14) the only other top order batter to make double figures. A fine 51 from Umair Mohammed, batting at 6, ensured the home side got to a competitive total as the former Forfarshire skipper found good support from first Evans and then Angus Beattie, putting on 50 for the 8th wicket with the latter. Carlton were bowled out in the final over for 205. The visitors also got off to a good start before Mohammed picked up the first wicket with 90 on the board. Evans then claimed 2 wickets in quick succession and then took a good catch off Angus Beattie to peg Forfs back to 102 for 4 in the 23rd over. Then in the 30th over Pillai took a hat-trick to leave the Broughty Ferry side in all sorts of trouble at 119 for 7. Pillai went on to claim another 2 wickets and Beattie claimed the final one to bowl Forfarshire out for 163 in the 40th over. The 1s have one more league game at home to Stoneywood Dyce next Saturday.
The 2nd XI travelled across town to Newfield to take on Edinburgh Accies. This was their final league outing of the season and they needed a win and for Gala to slip up at Marchmont to claim the ESCA Championship title. Pete Deakin won the toss and chose to bat first but both openers went cheaply. Will Hardie (70) and Hayden Laing (31) recovered the position but despite a rapid 17 from Ruari Macpherson the run rate slowed and wickets fell as the lower order batters tried to up the rate. In the end the 2s were bowled out for 196 in the 50th over. In reply Accies got off to a good start getting them ahead of the rate early on. The introduction of Rory Allardice broke the opening stand with his second delivery and 2 sharp run outs from Hardie further stalled the home side’s momentum. Allardice claimed another 3 wickets as he completed his 10 overs with Harry Simpson taking over and picking up 3 of his own. Ru McIntyre bowled a miserly second spell to push the rate up over a run a ball. Macpherson followed on and claimed the last wicket to seal a 32 run victory in the 46th over.
With news coming through from Cavalry Park that Gala had won their match, the 2s were pipped for the title by the barest of margins.
The 3rd XI made the short journey to Inch Park to take on Edinburgh South. Skipper Brad McKay lost the toss and the 3s were invited to bat first. Zaki Yusaf fell early on but Pete Gill and Ben Thurman had a century stand for the second wicket in the face of some accurate bowling from the home side. Both fell with Nelson on the board for 58 & 47 respectively which left Paul Kentish (20) and Mo Nauman (11) to push the score on before they both fell and the 3s posted 148 for 5 from their 40 overs. In reply Edinburgh South chased the total down for the loss of only 4 wickets. There was a run out for Kentish and a wicket each for Callum Sibley, Max D’Ulisse and McKay as the home side eased home in the 31st over. That result left the 3s sitting 4th in the ESCA Division 2 table.
The 4th XI travelled over the bridge play to Broomhall. David Simpson took the reins and lost the toss with the home side electing to bat first. An excellent display with the ball and in the field saw the 4s bowl out the Fifers in the 38th over for 153. Andrew Lang was the pick of the bowlers with 3 for 15 and Joe Ward also claimed 3 for 29 with his left arm wrist spin. The juniors claimed the rest of the wickets with 2 for Fraser Kentish and one each for Ben Stronach & Fergus Foley. In reply Adam Richardson hit a rapid 36 and Anish Amin added 23 but wickets fell and the game was evenly poised at 84 for 5 at drinks. When Lang fell for 27 it was left to the youngsters to get the 4s over the line and an excellent partnership between Foley (24*) and Stronach (14*) saw the 4s home with 4 wickets and 3.2 overs to spare. A great win to end a challenging season as the 4s finished 6th in Division 4.
On Sunday an under-12 squad travelled to Gala to take part in the annual Rowan Boland Memorial Trust tournament. This event commemorates Rowan Boland, an enthusiastic member of Gala CC, who tragically died playing in the woods at the side of the ground. The Carlton side won all of of their matches in the 8 team tournament including a closely contested final with Stewart’s Melville and are once again the proud holders of the Rowan Boland Memorial Trust Under 12’s trophy.
Back at Grange Loan the traditional end of season Kwik Cricket Players v Parents Game took place. 40 players and their parents played against each other in 5 hugely entertaining and competitive matches. The games were ably umpired by members of our U14 & U16 squads, who expertly managed to engineer tight last-over finishes and narrow last-gasp wins for the players in all 5 games. A second set of games, in which players played with their parents, were if possible even more keenly contested. The morning was rounded off with a hilariously farcical game between the umpires themselves and a scratch team of players & parents.
The Women also competed in a Wee Bash tournament at Inverleith, involving teams from Grange; Edinburgh South; Watsonians and hosts Stewarts Melville. The Carlton Women won all four of their matches with some fine performances with both bat and ball.
The Mixed Development side were due to play their final game of the season against Linlithgow 3s but unfortunately the opposition had to call off at the last minute. Some frantic phone calls on Saturday afternoon meant that, with the help of our friends at Edinburgh South, we were able to rustle up 22 players for an inter/intra club game at the Inch. The match was tied with both side scoring 133 in their 30 overs.
The final game of the weekend saw the 5th XI welcome Edinburgh South 3s to Grange Loan. Skipper Keith Murray lost the toss and the visitors chose to bat first. This looked a bold decision as first Harry Charman claimed an early wicket and then Kyle Burgess ran through the Edinburgh South top order with an exceptional spell of seam bowling. He claimed 5 wickets in his first spell to leave the visitors in disarray at 38 for 6 after 12 overs. The visitors rebuilt somewhat and when Euan Murray picked up the 7th wicket with 90 on the board it prompted a further collapse as Robert Rowlands pinned successive batsmen plumb in front. Burgess then returned to the attack to pick up the final wicket to finish with 6 for 21 as South were bowled out for 93 in the 25th over. The 5s lost both openers early but Martin Robertson looked in good touch and despite losing another 2 wickets he found good support from young Oli Stones. The pair put together a 61 run partnership to see the 5s home with Robertson hitting an unbeaten 44 and 15 for Stones as the 5s finished on 97 for 4 in the 27th over. That result meant that the 5s consolidated their 4th position in Division 7.