Weekend roundup – 30th April/1st May
With the league campaign getting underway the 1st XI travelled over to Fife to take on Falkland at Scroggie Park. Skipper Tom Simpson lost the toss and Carlton were invited to bat first. Shujaa Khan fell early but Simpson joined Will Hardie and stabilised the innings. Hardie nicked off for 23, and 2 balls later Ally Evans was bowled to leave Carlton 54 for 3. Ali Shah and Simpson rebuilt again but then the skipper fell for 27 and Arun Pillai followed soon after. Shah (75*) and Neville Madziva (35*) took the score to 192 for 5 before rain forced the players from the field after 38 overs. After a protracted delay, the home side were set a target of 182 and made a fast start. However underfoot conditions proved treacherous and the game was abandoned after 9.3 overs with Falkland on 70 for 2.
Back at Grange Loan the 2nd XI entertained Edinburgh CC and captain Ben D’Ulisse won the toss and elected to bat. Gav Murray & Harris Aslam put on 41 for the first wicket before Aslam was caught behind for 15. Murray continued to take the attack to the visitors but none of the new batters were able to impose themselves on the game. At 76 for 3, Murray fell for 43 and wickets tumbled to leave the home side deep in the mire at 90 for 9. Shiv Gupta (38*) & Charles Stronach (20) dug in and added 58 for the last wicket to take Carlton to a total of 148, with 4 overs unused. With the weather worsening an extended tea was taken and the players eventually headed out with Edinburgh set a revised target of 123 in 35 overs. Despite a couple of early wickets, a strong 3rd wicket partnership took the visitors close to the target. The introduction of Max D’Ulisse’s off spin made the game interesting with 2 quick wickets and Ruari Macpherson claimed 3 but it was too little, too late as Edinburgh CC reached the target in the 21st over.
The 3rd XI were in action at Cavalry Park 2, hosting Boroughmuir. The visitors won the toss and asked Brad McKay’s men to bat first. Matthew Wells & Euan Keatinge opened up for Carlton and the latter went early, swiftly followed by Ben Thurman. Wells just completed a 50 run partnership with Ruairidh Main when he was dismissed for 34. Anish Amin joined Main and the pair kept the scoreboard moving before Main fell for a hard-hitting 73. Charlie Kentish (22*) and Amin (37*) saw Carlton to 184 for 4 before the rain called an end to the proceedings in the 28th over.
The 4th XI travelled along the coast to Dunbar and skipper Al Murray won the toss and elected to have a bowl. A tight opening spell from Stu Dawson and Bruce Smith restricted the home side to 16 for 2 after 8 overs with Smith claiming both openers. Euan Murray picked up a further 2 wickets with Harry Charman bowling a miserly spell from the other end. Spin twins Joe Ward & Joe Griffin cleaned up as Dunbar looked to up the rate, each taking 3 wickets as the home side were bowled out for 127 in the 40th over. In reply Al Murray & Smith put on 25 for the first wicket before Smith fell top edging a sweep. Wickets kept falling and scoring became difficult in the face of some accurate bowling and the damp conditions slowing the outfield considerably. Shuaib Farooq top edged a sweep straight into his nose and had to retire and in the end Carlton fell just 7 runs short. Al Murray (31) and Griffin (30) were the top scorers.
The return of cricket to the Meadows was something of a poisoned chalice for the 5th XI as they welcomed Marchmont 3s to Meadows 3. Keith Murray won the toss and invited the visitors to bat first. Robbie Murray claimed 2 wickets in his opening spell to restrict the visitors to 28 for 2 from the first 10 overs. Carlton continued to pick up wickets, including two run outs, but ESCA President Neil Granger made light of the challenging conditions and hit an unbeaten 82 to propel Marchmont to 216 for 7 from their 40 overs. In reply only skipper Murray (39) was able to make a telling contribution. Robbie Murray (12), Martin Firth (18) and Hamish Turner (14) stuck in admirably to ensure a decent number of losing bonus points were accrued as the 5s finished on 134 for 9 from their 40 overs.
On Sunday the Women played at friendly at Peffermill against Edinburgh University. There were half centuries for Annette Aitken-Drummond; Abbi Aitken-Drummond and Janie Helmsley as well as 34* from Samantha Haggo. With the ball Haggo took 2 wickets and Ajitha Rajan; Leanne Farmer; Di Blood; Sarah Beith and Abbi Aitken-Drummond claimed one apiece.
At Grange Loan the Mixed Dev XI played their counterparts at Edinburgh South in a 30 over a side friendly. Euan Murray marshalled an excellent bowling performance from the junior attack of Aadi; Theo; Tomos; Blair; Keiran and Shourjo to restrict the visitors to 117 or so. Despite decent knocks from Mike; John and Blair, Carlton fell a few runs short but it was a great fun game with lots of positive development points.