Weekend roundup – 26th/27th August

The final week of league action got underway at Grange Loan as the 1st XI entertained Forfarshire in a match kindly sponsored by Archie Gray.  Skipper Arun Pillai lost the toss and the Arrows were invited to bat first. Stevie Gilmour’s return to playing was cut short as a mix up in the 3rd over saw him run out.   Wickets fell fairly regularly and although Pillai (49) looked in good touch, nobody was able to stay with him.  At 116 for 6 just after drinks things were looking ominous for the home side but Ally Evans (29) and Lewis O’Donnell (39) added 61 for the 7th wicket.  177 for 7 soon became 182 for 9 but the experienced pair of Dewald Nel (18*) and Charles Stronach (13) took the score to 216 before the final wicket fell in the 48th over.  O’Donnell & Nel opened the bowling for the home side and each picked up a wicket in their first over.  There was further success for Nel in the 6th over to reduce the Broughty Ferry side to 30 for 3.  O’Donnell then claimed his second 3 overs later to make it 41 for 4.  A decent 5th wicket partnership was broken by Charlie Buchanan-Smith and then Evans picked up the 6th wicket with 104 on the board.  Rory Allardice was next to strike and when Evans claimed another Forfarshire were in trouble at 159 for 8.  There were still plenty overs left and the visitors lower order proved up to the task as they knocked off the remaining runs to win by 2 wickets with 9 overs to spare.

The 2nd XI travelled to Boghall to take on Linlithgow.  Captain Ben D’Ulisse lost the toss and the home side chose to bowl first.  A decent opening stand from Murray Whitaker and Ru Main was broken in the 10th over with the score on 31 when Whitaker fell for 14.  Pete Gill joined Main and the pair added 66 before Main was out for 41.  The 2s looked well set at 97 for 2 but the frailties with the bat that have dogged them all season returned and despite 27 from Gill they were bowled out for 131 in the 42nd over.  A steady start from the home side was undone in the 12th over with a runout from Angus Beattie.  Wickets fell steadily after that with Omar Ahmad picking up 2 and Armaan Bedi, rounding off a fine season with the ball, taking his second 5-for of the summer.  All that was left was for Ben Stronach to claim the final 2 wickets as the 2s closed out the win.

The 3rd XI travelled to Barnton to take on RHC 2s.  Ben Thurman was at the helm for this match and on winning the toss, inserted the home side.  A fine display with the ball saw RHC bundled out for 80.  Rory Ledingham led the way with 4 wickets for just 4 runs while Kyle Burgess claimed 3 wickets and there were 2 for Shaun Smith.  Zaki Yusaf hit 45 and fellow opener Anish Amin was 24 not out as the 3s made short work of the total to win by 9 wickets.  Amin clearing the ropes for the winning runs.

Also on Saturday the 5th XI played Holy Cross 2s at Arboretum.  Euan Murray was skipper for the day and lost the toss and the home side chose to field first.  A solid display with the bat saw the 5s post a more than respectable 183 for 7 from their 40 overs.  Shreyas Tekale (18); Dougie Scott (21); Martin Robertson (21) all got starts but Aadi Khadse (41*) was the mainstay of the batting performance who also found good support from John Gill (27) down the order.  A fine start with the ball saw both openers removed for ducks by Lewis Broster & Hamish Turner.  The home side recovered and a solid 3rd wicket partnership was broken by Rahul Khadse.  Gill then claimed a wicket and Tekale removed the dangerous No 3 to shift the fortunes back in favour of the Arrows.  The opening bowlers came back and there were 2 more wickets for Broster and 1 for Turner plus a runout as the 5s restricted Holy Cross to 175 for 9 from their 40 overs to set up a victory by 8 runs.

On Sunday morning the Women’s 2nd XI entertained Perth & Meigle at Grange Loan for a T20 clash.  The visitors batted first and scored 116 for 4 from their 20 overs with wickets for Di Blood, Agnes Foley & Ashley Robertson as well as a runout.  In reply Robertson hit 14 and Blood retired on 18 to set up a close finish.  Sonia Amin (9*) and Libby Wallace (4*) saw the Arrows home in the final over to win by 4 wickets.

The final game of the weekend saw the 4th XI welcome Drummond Trinity 3s to Grange Loan.  Skipper Al Murray lost the toss and the home side was asked to bat first.  Although the skipper fell cheaply, fellow opener Tom Hathorn (19) found some fluency.  At drinks the Arrows were 57 for 4 and it was looking like the 4s struggles with the bat would continue.  However, 22 from Hamish Foley and 44* from Abhi Mehta helped the home side post 142 for 9 from their 40 overs.  With the ball there was an early strike from Hector Murray and then Foley clean bowled the other opener in the 8th over to leave DTs 28 for 2.  Mehta came into the attack and claimed the 3rd wicket just before drinks with 76 on the board.  Mehta then went on to take wickets in successive overs to make it 98 for 5 after 24.  Josh Cully then made it 105 for 6 and Mehta got a fourth to leave the game in the balance at 116 for 7.  Sensible batting from the visitors got them in sight of victory before Hathorn grabbed a wicket with the scores level thanks to a juggling catch at slip from Cully.  DTs then hit the winning runs to see them to a 2 wicket win with a couple of overs to spare.