Weekend preview – 29th/30th June
The Arrows have six senior fixtures, including a Scottish Cup quarter final, as well as the U15s national finals day at Perth Doo’cot this weekend.
The First XI will head to Myreside on Saturday where they will meet bottom of the league Watsonians. The side based at Myreside finished 5th in the EPL last year, 1 spot below the Arrows. They are currently winless from their first 8 games. The two sides met at Grange Loan for a preseason friendly in April. In that match Carlton batted first and although Will Hardie fell 3rd ball, Ru Main & Daniel Da Costa added 49 for the 2nd wicket before Da Costa played on for 19. Making his Arrows debut Chris McBride joined Main and the pair added 64 before Main was bowled for 55. Arun Pillai & McBride produced another half century stand, broken with the skipper pinned in front for 16. Lewis O’Donnell joined the fray and took the score to 218 before he holed out for 36. McBride then brought up 3 figures with a big 6 onto the pavilion roof and retired. Angus Beattie (18) and Rory Allardice (18) added some quick runs to help the home side post an impressive 288 for 7 from their 40 overs. The visitors reply got off to the worst possible start as O’Donnell claimed an lbw first ball. Wickets fell at regular intervals as the Myreside men never really threatened the home total. Pillai finished with 3 wickets and there were 2 each for O’Donnell & Rudy Adair as Carlton bowled Watsonians out for 108 in the 23rd over.
The Second XI will welcome Watsonians 2s to Grange Loan on Saturday. Sonians’ 2nd team are currently 6th in ESCA Division 1, 4 places behind the Arrows. In their 8 completed fixtures they have picked up 4 wins and 4 losses. In the first meeting between the sides this year captain Charles Stronach won the toss and elected to bowl first. Jamie Beattie struck in the first over but the home side dug in. It wasn’t until the 10th over that Stronach claimed the 2nd wicket and the next over Beattie claimed his 2nd to leave Watsonians 25 for 3. Another rebuilding exercise for the home side was broken by Harry Simpson in the 17th over and a runout and another wicket for Simpson reduced Watsonians to 86 for 6 in the 27th over. Kyle Burgess was introduced to the attack and picked up 2 in 2 balls to make it 98 for 8. Stronach came back and claimed his 2nd wicket and a runout saw the home side bowled out for 122 in the 39th over. In reply Gav Murray & Ben Thurman made a watchful start and added 22 runs before Thurman was bowled for 9 in the 7th over. Simpson joined Murray but he was dismissed cheaply in the 9th over. Ben D’Ulisse made his way to the middle and the pair consolidated before taking the game to the bowlers. Murray moved past 50 and accelerated, only to hole out for 79 with 18 runs still needed. Rory Ledingham was the next man in and got the 2s within sight of the finishing line before D’Ulisse picked out mid-on for 13. Ledingham then hit the winning runs in the 24th over to get the 2s campaign off to a winning start by a margin of 6 wickets.
The Third XI head to Roseburn on Saturday as they take on MDAFS 2s. DAFS are currently one spot above the Arrows in 6th with only one point splitting the two sides. The men from Roseburn have the same record as the 3s with 2 wins from their 6 results. In the game earlier this season at Grange Loan Brad McKay lost the toss and the visitors chose to bat first. A good start with the ball from Dougie Firth & Hector Murray saw Firth claim the first wicket in the 3rd over with the score still on 0. Firth claimed a second in the 9th over to leave MDAFS 17 for 2. The visitors recovered and took the score past 100 before McKay picked up both set batters and then a 3rd to make it 104 for 5 in the 29th over. Shreyas Tekale then took 2 in 2 in the 32nd over and a 3rd in his next over. Murray came back and claimed the 9th wicket and a runout in the 36th saw the visitors bowled out for 122. In reply Tom Hathorn fell in the 2nd over but Iain Hathorn and Alex Fedenczuk took the score to 24 before Hathorn Snr was pinned in front in the 8th over. David Simpson followed in similar fashion 2 balls later and the home side was in trouble. Things got worse as wickets tumbled to leave Carlton 50 for 8 in the 16th over, but Josh Cully & Murray staged something of a recovery. They took the score to 88 before Murray was bowled and McKay entered the fray. The skipper did see the home side to another batting point but in the end the 3s were bowled out for 92 in the 29th over to lose by 30 runs. Paul Kentish returns to league action for the first time in 2024.
The Fifth XI wrap up Saturday as they visit Newfield for a match against Edinburgh Accies 3s. Accies 3rd team are currently 3rd in ESCA Division 7, 4 positions above the Arrows. Accies have only been defeated once this season and that was at the hands of 2nd placed Holy Cross 2s. In the game earlier this year skipper Keith Murray won the toss and inserted the visitors. A good start with the ball reduced Accies to 22 for 3 in the 8th over with Atreya Subr taking 1 wicket and 2 for Aadi Khadse. Rahul Khadse replaced Subr and Noah Moncur came on for Khadse Jnr. Tight bowling led to a runout and a wicket for Khadse Snr and another runout had the visitors in trouble at 60 for 6 in the 23rd over. However the strong Accies batting line up kept the scoreboard ticking over and began to accelerate. Aadi Khadse broke the 7th wicket partnership with the score on 104 and then another good partnership was broken by Rahul Khadse in the 38th over with 140 on the board. Subr was back on at this stage and picked up the final 2 wickets in the 39th over to bowl Accies out for 145. In reply Murray & Khadse Jnr made a quiet start before Khadse fell in the 6th over with only 6 on the board. Martin Robertson came & went but Benji Risi added some much needed impetus to the innings. Sadly he fell for 23 in the 11th over which brought Mike Kennedy to the crease. He kept the momentum going but holed out just before drinks for 31 with the score on 68. Unfortunately no other batters could make a meaningful impact on the game and the home side were bowled out for 89 in the 34th over to lose by 57 runs.
On Sunday the First XI will take on Heriot’s at Goldenacre in a bid for a home Scottish Cup semi final. Heriot’s eased past Kilmarnock then Stenhousemuir, defeating both teams by over 200 runs away from home. Both sides are level on points in the league and are tied on points percentage in joint 3rd place. In the league game contested at Goldenacre in May skipper Arun Pillai won the toss and chose to bowl first in damp conditions. The home side got off to a fast start and Chris McBride eventually got the breakthrough in the 13th over with 89 on the board. The home side continued to take the attack to the Arrows and Pillai eventually removed the other opener in the 22nd over to make it 123 for 2. Angus Beattie claimed another after drinks and although there were more wickets for Lewis O’Donnell, Ally Evans, Beattie & Pillai Heriot’s posted 267 for 7 from their 50 overs. In reply Gav Murray fell in the 2nd over and Daniel Da Costa & McBride followed in the 9th over to leave Carlton in trouble at 43 for 3. Wickets continued to fall and although there were some starts, none of the batters were able to go on and make a telling contribution. Ruari Macpherson top scored with 31 as the Arrows were bowled out for 184 in the 42nd over to lose by 84 runs. Arun Pillai has named a 12 strong squad for Sunday, with Will Hardie and Charlie Buchanan-Smith coming back into the fray.
While the Scottish Cup quarter final is being contested at Goldie the Fourth XI will host Gala 2s at Grange Loan. Gala 2s are currently struggling in 9th position in ESCA Division 5 with 1 win from 6 games. Their only win in the first half of the season came against Stewart’s Melville 3s as they chased down 186 for the loss of 5 wickets. The two sides were rained off in April as Meigle Park wasn’t fit to host any cricket. The 4s are boosted by the return of Jack Taylor. Jack is a former Carlton junior, who after a period away from the game has returned to the club this year and is looking to make his debut for the 4s on Sunday.
To finish off an important week for the Arrows, the U15s head north to Perth Doo’cot where they will compete in the national finals day. The Arrows had a bye in R1, defeated MDAFS in R2 and claimed victory over Grange in the quarter final. James Stronach’s side will take on Aberdeenshire in the semi final starting at 10:30 and should we progress we will face the winner of Livingston vs Clydesdale. For any eagle eyed readers who have made it this far, they’ll notice the feature image relates to the fact that we are the current holders of the ECB Vitality U15 cup having defeated Banstead at Lord’s in September of last year.