Weekend preview – 3rd/4th August

Five games for the Arrows this weekend including important fixtures for the 1s and 2s as well as two matches on Sunday.

The First XI will head to Portgower Place on Saturday to take on Grange.  The North Edinburgh side are currently top of the EPL with 7 wins and 3 losses.  In that match earlier this year at Grange Loan skipper Arun Pillai lost the toss and the men from Stockbridge opted to bat first.  There was an early strike for Lewis O’Donnell but a good second wicket partnership took the score to 84 in the 23rd over before Ally Evans picked up an LBW.  Wickets fell fairly regularly after that with Evans claiming a 2nd quickly followed by 1 for Ruaridh McIntyre.  The skipper came on and took a wicket in the 30th over with 100 on the board.  O’Donnell then came back and picked up 3 quick wickets to leave Grange in trouble at 117 for 8 in the 35th over.  Angus Beattie took the 9th wicket but some late resistance took the game to the 46th over before Pillai claimed his 2nd to bowl the visitors out for 142.  In reply Ru Main and Daniel Da Costa fell cheaply but Ruari Macpherson and Chris McBride added 61 for the 3rd wicket.  In the 16th over Macpherson was bowled for 36 and Pillai joined McBride at the crease.  The pair took the score to 112 in the 21st over before McBride fell for a run a ball 45.  2 more wickets fell, including the skipper for 18, but Charlie Buchannan-Smith (13*) and O’Donnell (12*) saw the Arrows over the line in the 29th over for a 4 wicket win.  Ali Shah and Tom Simpson are both into the XI.

The Second XI will host Penicuik at Grange Loan on Saturday.  Penicuik are currently 3 spots below the Arrows, sitting 4th in ESCA Division 1.  In their 10 completed fixtures they have picked up 7 wins and losses.  In the first meeting between the sides this year skipper Charles Stronach lost the toss and the home side chose to bat first.  It took until the 12th over for the first wicket to fall as Saif Khan struck with 52 on the board.  Another good partnership formed and was eventually broken by Ben Stronach in the 32nd over with the score on 132.  Stronach picked up 2 more wickets and there was 1 for Max D’Ulisse to make it 143 for 5 in the 36th over.  Although Jamie Beattie claimed another wicket the home side posted 219 for 6 from their 45 overs, helped by 55 extras.  The Carlton reply got off to a disastrous start losing the first 3 wickets for only 7 runs.  It didn’t really improve from that point as none of the batters made it to double figures.  Extras top scored with 25 as the 2s were bowled out for 62 in the 23rd over to lose by 157 runs.

The Fourth XI will wrap up Saturday as they face off against Melrose at Huntlyburn.  Melrose are currently 4 spots above the Arrows in 7th place in ESCA Division 5.  In the game in June skipper Al Murray won the toss and chose to bowl first.  Lewis Broster & Abhi Mehta took the new ball and Mehta stuck in the 4th over with 6 on the board.  Stu Dawson replace Broster and Mehta picked up 2 more wickets in the 12th over to leave Melrose 33 for 3.  Dawson then picked up a wicket in the 15th over to make it 34 for 4.  Aadi Khadse replaced Mehta and was next to strike in the 22nd over with 52 on the board before Dawson claimed a second in the 25th.  Kartic Subr came on for Dawson and Shiv Jhala replaced Khasde and they picked up 2 wickets each to bowl Melrose out for 91 in the 34th over.  In reply the skipper fell in the first over but Jhala joined David Simpson in the middle and hit some strong shots before 3 wickets fell with the score on 26 including Jhala for 23.  Chris Sale and Josh Cully steadied the ship and took the score to 42 before Cully fell.  Mehta (11) hit a couple of lusty blows but was caught with 59 on the board.  Khadse (10*) joined Sale (31*) at the crease and saw the 4s over the line in the 33rd over for a 4 wicket win.

The Third XI will take on Edinburgh Accies 2s at Myreside on Sunday.  The North Edinburgh side are currently 6th in ESCA Division 2 with 3 wins and 6 losses.  The match earlier this year didn’t survive the rain and the sides have never met in recent times.  The two sides met in May of 2022 and in that game with Brad McKay away, Paul Kentish was in charge and he lost the toss and Accies chose to bat first.  Kyle Burgess claimed an early wicket and then Shaun Smith picked up 2 to leave the home side 25 for 3 after 9 overs.  7 overs later Mark McKay got the next wicket with the score 59 for 4.  A good 5th wicket partnership was broken by Amit Bij, who went on to claim 3 more victims before Smith & McKay returned to pick up the last to wickets to bowl out the home side for 178 in the final over.  Adam Richardson and Ben Thurman opened up in the reply but Richardson (16) fell in the 7th over.  Charlie Kentish joined Thurman and put on 53 for the 2nd wicket before Kentish went for 27.  David Simpson (8) didn’t last long, replaced by the skipper which led to another Thurman-Kentish half century partnership. When Thurman went for a fine 73, Kentish Snr was run out next over; it still left the 3s needing 22 runs in 4.3 overs.  Amit Bij (6*) & Smith (14*) saw the 3s home with 4 balls and 5 wickets to spare.

The Fifth XI wrap up the weekend as they entertain Tranent and Preston Village 4s at Grange Loan.  TPV 4s are currently 2nd in ESCA Division 7 with 11 wins and 2 losses. In the game in early June captain Keith Murray won the toss and the home side were invited to bat first.  Atreya Subr & Robbie Murray had a miserly opening spell conceding only 11 runs off the first 8 overs.  Noah Moncur came on a took the first wicket in the 9th over but some big hitting from the home side took the score to 44 before Rahul Khadse claimed the second wicket.  TPV kept the scoreboard ticking over and although there were further wickets for Khadse, Moncur, John Gill, Angus Turner, 2 for Subr and 2 runouts for Turner the home side were bowled out for 164 from their 40 overs.  In reply 4 wickets fell with only 9 on the board to make it an uphill task for the 5s.  Gill & Martin Robertson rebuilt things and took the score to 24 before Gill was bowled.  Robertson found good support from Turner before he was out for 12 with 42 on the board.  Unfortunately no-one else was able to stay with Robertson (22*) and the 5s were bowled out in the 36th for 69 to lose by 95 runs.