Weekend preview – 18th/19th May
It’s the third gameweek in May and the Arrows have another six fixtures coming your way.
On Saturday the First XI will head north to Lochlands where they will take on Arbroath United. The Angus based side are newly promoted this year having defeated Edinburgh South in last year’s playoff. In this fixture in 2022 captain Tom Simpson lost the toss and the home side chose to field first. Gav Murray & Shujaa Khan opened up and put on 38 before Murray nicked off. Simpson joined Khan and had just completed a 50 run partnership when the skipper fell for 22. Arun Pillai didn’t last long but Hayden Laing (38) gave Khan good support as the opener went past 50. Khan eventually went for 65 and the middle order injected a bit more urgency. Neville Madziva hit 32 from 31; Shiv Gupta 24 from 23 and Angus Beatte 13 from 8 helping Carlton post a total of 247 for 8 from their 50 overs. Madziva picked up an early wicket but a strong second wicket partnership was eventually broken by Beattie with the score on 110. Rory Allardice then picked up the prized wicket of Arbroath’s South African international pro with 108 runs still required. Khan then chipped in with 2 further wickets followed by a second for Beattie. Madziva came back and struck immediately and a run out from Beattie put Carlton in a strong position. Ruaridh McIntyre claimed the 9th wicket and then Madziva took the final wicket to finish with 3 for 30 as Carlton completed a 27 run win in the 49th over.
The Second XI will host Musselburgh at Grange Loan on Saturday. Last year Saturday’s opposition finished 7th in ESCA Division 1. Musselburgh are currently sitting 8th with 1 win and 2 losses. The most recent meeting between the sides was in 2018 at Lewisvale Park. In that game Carlton batted first and were bowled out for 217, largely thanks to 104* from Gordon Drummond, well supported at the death by current Hibernian goalkeeper Murray Johnson. The Arrows then bowled the hosts out for 103 with Harry Simpson picking up 5-14 and Rory Allardice also claiming 3 wickets.
The Third XI will play against RHC 2s at Barnton on Saturday. The hosts finished 4th in last year’s ESCA Division 2, four places above the Arrows. RHC have won their only completed match so far this season, beating Accies 2s in a tight affair at Newfield last weekend. Last year 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. The win ensured the 3s would stay up and remain in Division 2 for another year.
The Fifth XI will head to Inverleith Park to face off against Old Contemptibles. In 2023 the home side finished one place behind the Arrows in 6th place. OCCC have 1 win from 3 games so far in this year’s campaign. Last year’s home fixture for OC against the Arrows was washed out but at the return fixture Skipper Keith Murray won the toss and bowled first. Kartic Subr & Euan Murray opened the bowling and kept things tight as well as regularly troubling the batters. Murray picked up 2 wickets and when the openers were replaced by Rahul & Aadi Khadse things didn’t get any easier for OCCC. Khadse Snr picked up 3 wickets with 2 for Jnr and John Gill produced a runout to leave the visitors in all sorts of bother at 45 for 8 at drinks. A fine 9th wicket partnership developed which took OCCC well over 100 before Josh Cully came on and claimed the last 2 wickets to bowl out the visitors for 123 in the 37th over. In reply the skipper & Tom Hathorn put on 68 for the first wicket before Hathorn was runout for 31. Murray was next to fall for 38 and then more wickets fell with the total in sight. In the end Cully (12*) and Tom Dweck (0*) saw the 5s home for a 4 wicket win in the 32nd over.
On Sunday the Women’s First XI head west to East Kilbride. The hosts are new to the WPL this year and just lost out to Watsonians/Dumfries in Round 1. Sam Haggo’s side will be looking to get their first win of the campaign after they were unable to complete their match last weekend against Stew Mel despite a ton from Abbi Aitken-Drummond.
The Fourth XI will entertain Penicuik 2s at Grange Loan on Sunday. The visitors finished 7th in ESCA Division 5 last time out with 4 wins and 11 losses. The 4s have never played against Penicuik 2s however the 5s have in recent times. The game will be streamed live from the Carlton YouTube channel and the bar will also be open between 2pm and 4pm…