Weekend round up 16th/17th July

The weekend got off to an early start as the Over 50s were again in action on Friday evening.  They entertained the Grange “Masters” at Grange Loan and skipper Bob Irvine lost the toss and Grange batted first.  The experienced line up scored 141 from their 20 overs with wickets for Stu Dawson, Rahul Khadse, Al Murray, Sarah Beith & Ian Thompson. In reply the Carlton side fell 46 runs short with Murray 27ret the highlight with the bat.

On Saturday the 1st XI were also in action against Grange as they welcomed the Stockbridge side to Grange Loan.  Captain Tom Simpson won the toss and chose to bat first.  It looked an inauspicious decision as the skipper was bowled in the first over but Shujaa Khan and Arun Pillai rebuilt and put on 101 for the second wicket.  Khan eventually fell for 50 but Fraser Burnett joined Pillai and put together another useful partnership.  In the 38th over Pillai was dismissed for 77 with the score on 169.  Ali Shah then came in and scored 55 from 33 balls to take the score to 256 before he was bowled in the 48th over.  Burnett fell 2 balls later for 60 and Carlton finished their 50 overs on 279 for 6.  A decent opening stand from the visitors was broken by Neville Madziva in the 9th over with 37 on the board.  Madziva claimed a second soon after and the introduction of Ruaridh McIntyre brought another to leave Grange 57 for 3.  Khan then picked up a wicket followed by McIntyre’s second to leave the visitors in trouble at 73 for 5 in the 18th over.  Grange recovered and put on 57 for the 6th wicket before Umair Mohammed struck in his first over.  He picked up 2 more wickets and then Ally Evans wrapped up proceeding taking the final 2 wickets to bowl Grange out for 161 in the 39th over to set up a 118 run win for Carlton.

The 2nd XI were also up against their counterparts from Grange in a game played at Fettes.  Skipper Ben D’Ulisse lost the toss and Grange opted to bat first.  Omar Ahmad picked up a wicket in the first over and then Shiv Gupta claimed the second in the 6th over.  Wickets kept falling at regular intervals, helped by some excellent catching from Carlton.  In the end Grange were bowled out for 107 in the 32nd over with Gupta taking 4 wickets, 2 each for Ahmad & Kyle Macpherson and 1 for Charles Stronach plus a Ru Main run out.  In reply openers Murray Whitaker (29) and Gav Murray (33) broke the back of the chase and despite losing Will Hardie for 0, Macpherson 27* and Main 14* saw the 2s home in the 22nd over for a 7 wicket win.

The 3rd XI travelled south to Buccleuch Park to take on Hawick & Wilton.  Captain Brad McKay won the toss and chose to bowl first on what looked a challenging track.  Scoring did indeed prove difficult as the home side were bowled out for 114 in the 36th over.  Wickets were shared around with Pete Gill taking 4 for 8 and Saif Khan 2 for 19 the pick, but the 4 other bowlers used each picked up 1 wicket.  The only disappointing aspect of the performance with the ball was conceding 30 extras.  In reply the 3s lost 3 wickets with only 8 on the board and never really recovered from that position.  Only Rory Ledingham made it to double figures as they were bowled out for 40 in the 19th over.

The 4th XI travelled across town to take on RHC 3s at Gyle Park.  Skipper Al Murray won the toss and invited the home side to bat first.  Kyle Burgess and Andrew Lang bowled a tight opening spell to leave RHC 38 for 3 after 11 overs.  Harry Charman then tied up an end and Hector Murray bowled a good set to restrict the home side to 61 for 3 at drinks.  Euan Murray replaced son Hector and the skipper came on after Charman had finished his miserly spell.  The latter picked up a couple of wickets but RHC were starting to hit out, making full use of the short boundaries.  The opening bowlers returned and helped restrict RHC to 190 for 7 from their 40 overs.  Burgess finished with 3 wickets and Lang 2.  Al Murray & John Beattie started slowly in the face of some accurate bowling and despite losing Beattie cheaply and then Rudy Adair for 14, the position at drinks was 60 for 2.  At 30 overs the 4s were 114 for 3 with Murray going for 33.  Harry Hardie and Rich Charman then upped the pace, keeping the rate required around 8s.  Charman was run out for 25 in the penultimate over but Lang joined Hardie with 8 needed of the last.   Lang took 1 of the first and Hardie hit 4, 2, 1 to see the 4s home by 6 wickets with 2 balls to spare, finishing on a match winning 67*.

In the final game on Saturday the 5th XI entertained Clackmannan County 2s at Meadows 2.  Captain Keith Murray lost the toss and the visitors chose to bat first.  Robbie Murray and Zaara Dancu took the new ball and the latter struck in the second over.  A fine opening spell had Clacks 20 for 1 after 10.  Gus Turner and Aadi Khadse came on first change and each proceeded to bowl a wicket maiden.  The visitors consolidated and the next wicket fell as Turner claimed a second in the 29th over with 64 on the board.  There were further wickets for Murray, Turner, Daniel Mowat & Dancu as the 5s restricted the visitors to 97 for 8 from their 40 overs.  Turner finishing with exceptional figures of 8-4-6-3.  In reply the 5s lost 3 top order wickets for only 18 runs.  Robbie Murray (24) dug in and when he was the 7th wicket to fall the 5s needed 25 runs from 8 overs.  The equation became 12 from 12 balls but 2 wickets fell in the 39th over including Turner (24).  With 10 need off the last and no wickets in hand the final pair only managed 5 to give the visitors a 4 run win.

On Sunday morning the Women’s 2nd XI played their first match in the CS Women’s Challenger League against Stewart’s Melville at Grange Loan.  Carlton scored 119 from their 20 overs with Steph hitting 25 and Ashley 20.  In reply Stew Mel were restricted to 104 with 2 wickets apiece for youngsters Sonia & Keira to give captain Sarah Beith a winning start in their league campaign. 

Meanwhile the U13s were down in Newcastle in the next round of the ECB Cup to take on South Northumberland.  Carlton won the toss and chose to bat first.  The youngsters posted 110 from their 20 overs thanks to James Stronach retiring on 30 and Tom Hathorn & Hamish Foley hitting 23 and 23* respectively.  James Deakin’s 3 for 17 led the way with the ball as the home side were restricted to 86 for 8 to send Carlton through to the North Regional Finals Day.

The final game of the weekend saw the 3rd XI play their rearranged game from last week against Dunfermline & Carnegie, at Grange Loan.  Skipper Brad McKay won the toss and chose to bat first.  A solid opening stand from Bruce Smith (24) and Ben Thurman (21) set a good platform and Ru Main (44) and Harry Hardie (43*) helped the home side post a total of 189 for 8 from their 40 overs.  Cam Keatinge and Kyle Burgess opened the bowling and each picked up 2 wickets to leave the visitors in trouble at 37 for 4 in the 9th over.  McKay & Max D’Ulisse came on first change and the young off-spinner got the next breakthrough.  McKay then got in the wickets and there were two more for D’Ulisse to reduce the Fifers to 72 for 8.  Rory Ledingham then picked up the last 2 wickets with his leg spin to bowl the visitors out for 107 in the 25th over, completing an 82 run win for the 3s.