Weekend preview – 8th/9th June
Six games coming up for the Arrow this weekend with a few top half of the table clashes included.
The First XI will head north to Scroggie Park where they will meet Falkland. The Fifers are currently sitting 4th in the EPL with 3 wins from 5 games. In the match last year skipper Arun Pillai won the toss and elected to bat first but things didn’t go to plan as the Arrows slumped to 19 for 5 in the 12th over. Ru Main (14) & Umair Mohammed (21) steadied things a bit but wickets continued to fall. The tail wagged to some extent with David Saul (19); Lewis O’Donnell (21); Rory Allardice (19) & Ruaridh McIntyre (21*) helping Carlton to a total of 136. That score looked well short of par as the home side put on 78 for the first wicket before Saul struck in the 23rd over. The leggie took 2 more wickets in the 27th over to leave the home side on 99 for 3. The spinners then turned the screw as Allardice & Pillai took 3 wickets each as well as a run out from Mohammed saw the home side bowled out for 126 in the 40th over to give the Arrows a 10 run win.
The Second XI welcome Tranent and Preston Village to Grange Loan on Saturday. Last year TPV were promoted to ESCA Division 1 and are currently sitting in 5th place. This match will be the first meeting between Carlton 2s and TPV in recent history if not ever. Ali Evans is in the side due to school commitments in the morning and Chayank Gosain is back for the first time in 2024.
The Fourth XI will head to Peffermill to face off against MDAFs 3rd team. DAFS finished 4th in ESCA Division 5 last time out and are currently 2 places below the Arrows in 7th place. They have won 2 and lost 4 in their first 6 games. DAFS will be an unknown entity for the 4s as they haven’t met DAFS 3s in recent history. Iain Hathorn will lead the side in Al Murray’s absence.
The Fifth XI will take on Peebles at Whitestone Park on Saturday. Peebles were relegated from ESCA Division 6 in 2023 and currently sit bottom of ESCA Division 7. Again the 5s have never played Peebles due to Peebles residing in higher leagues since the 5th teams formation in 2016. The 4s did however play Peebles in 2019 in the penultimate weekend of league cricket. The full report can be found here.
On Sunday the Women’s First XI will travel west to take on West of Scotland at Hamilton Crescent. The West side currently sit 6th in the WPL with 2 losses from their 2 completed fixtures. In the fixture last year skipper Sam Haggo lost the toss and Carlton were asked to bowl first. Flora Corbin picked up the first wicket in the 4th over with 16 on the board. Abbi Aitken-Drummond was next to strike in the 9th over to leave the home side 50 for 2. Aitken-Drummond claimed another in the 13th over and there was a run out in the 15th over, reducing West to 84 for 4. Sarah Beith then picked up another wicket and Haggo claimed 2 and there was one more run out which restricted the home side to 139 for 8 from their 30 overs. In reply Aitken-Drummond hit 29 off only 25 balls and Beith (33*) and Zaara Dancu (36*) saw Carlton home in the 26th over for a 9 wicket win.
The 3s will entertain Drummond Trinity 2s at Grange Loan on Sunday. In 2023, DTs finished top in ESCA Division 3 with 12 wins from 16 games. They are currently sitting 3 places above the Arrows in 7th this year. The 3s have never met DT 2s before but the 4s did lose out to them in 2019 at Inverleith Park. The full report can be found here.