Weekend roundup – 10th/11th August

The 1st XI entertained Falkland at Grange Loan on Saturday in round 15 of the EPL.  Skipper Arun Pillai lost the toss and the visitors chose to bat first.  That proved to be a poor decision as Lewis O’Donnell struck with the 1st ball of the 2nd over and then Angus Beattie picked up 2 in the 3rd over to reduce the Fifers to 8 for 3.  The visitors dug in and in the 10th over O’Donnell claimed a 2nd to make it 33 for 4.  Chris McBride then entered the attack and picked up 2 wickets in the 16th over to leave Falkland in all sorts of trouble at 46 for 6.  McBride claimed a 3rd in the 20th over and then a 4th in the 24th to make it 65 for 8.  3 overs later Beattie took his 3rd wicket to leave the visitors on the brink at 67 for 9 and then the following over McBride completed his 5-for to bowl out Falkland for 68.  In reply the Arrows made heavy weather of the chase losing Ruari Macpherson, McBride, Pillai & Daniel Da Costa cheaply to reduce the home side to 20 for 4 in the 6th over.  Ru Main & Beattie took the score to 37 before Beattie was bowled at the start of the 11th over.  Gav Murray joined Main at the crease and the pair put on 21 for the 6th wicket before Main chipped one back to the bowler to depart for 12 in the 15th.  Ben D’Ulisse was the next man in and he and Murray saw the Arrows over the line in the 17th over with Murray finishing on 25* to give the home side a win by 4 wickets.

The Women were on T20 Scottish Cup duty at New Williamfield taking on Stewart’s Melville in the semi-final.  Captain Sam Haggo lost the toss and the Arrows were invited to bat first.   Charis Scott, Janie Hemsley and Haggo all fell early to leave Carlton in trouble at 15 for 3 in the 5th over.  Sarah Beith & Masie Maceira rebuilt things before Maceira fell for 24 in the 11th over with 52 on the board.  Beith was next to fall in the 17th over for 15 to make it 75 for 5 and some good late hitting from Zoe and Imogen Campbell took the score to 95 before Zoe Campbell was run out off the final ball of the 20 for a handy 24.  Stew Mel got off to solid start and it took until the last ball of the 10th over for Carlton to make the breakthrough thanks to a wicket for Agnes Foley with 63 on the board.  Foley got a 2nd in the 12th over to make it 67 for 2 but runs continued to flow.  Despite wickets for Maceira, Haggo & Scott it was not to be for the Arrows as Stew Mel reached the target with 7 balls and 5 wickets to spare.

The 2nd XI travelled to East Lothian to take on Tranent & Preston Village at the Polwarth Oval.  Skipper Charles Stronach won the toss and chose to bowl first.  A steady opening stand was broken by Harry Simpson in the 12th over with 31 on the board.  He claimed a 2nd in the 14th over and then fellow opening bowler Jamie Beattie got in on the act in the 17th over to make it 39 for 3.  Rory Ledingham and Stronach then came on and picked up a wicket each in their 2nd overs to reduce TPV to 48 for 5 after 22 overs.  Scoring continued to be difficult and then Ledingham struck again in the 31st over to make it 67 for 6.  Stronach then chipped in with successive wicket maidens to leave the home side in all sorts of trouble at 69 for 8.  The final 2 wickets were taken by Shiv Jhala in the 37th over to bowl out TPV for 72.  In reply Mike Raikes and Ben Thurman added 25 for the 1st wicket before Thurman fell in the 11th over.  Jhala (32*) joined Raikes (18*) in the middle and knocked off the remaining runs without undue alarm to keep the 2s promotion ambitions on track as they ran out winners by 9 wickets in the 19th over.

The 3rd XI were on duty at Inverleith Park Artificial to take on Drummond Trinity 2s in ESCA Division 2.  Captain Brad McKay lost the toss and the home side invited the visitors to bat first.   Calum Robertson fell early but Shreyas Tekale and Euan Keatinge took the score to 36 before Keatinge was bowled for 11 in the 12th over.  Tekale was next to go for 20 in the 15th over and Dan Curwen fell 2 balls later to put the 3s in trouble at 43 for 4.  5 overs later 2 more wickets fell to make it 57 for 6 and then in the 23rd over Cam Moore was caught behind for 15 with 73 on the board.  Some good lower order resistance from Hamish Foley (13) and Dougie Firth (27) helped take the visitors to a total of 117 but they were bowled out in the 35th over.  In reply there were early wickets for Firth & McKay but the home team got the scoreboard moving.  Firth struck again in the 7th over to make it 37 for 3 and then claimed a 3rd in the 9th over with the score on 41.  A runout in the 14th over to make it 47 for 5 gave the Arrows some hope but the home side counterattacked effectively.  The 6th wicket partnership was eventually broken in the 25th over with another runout but the score had moved on to 101.  There was no more success for the Arrows as the home cruised to the target in the 29th over to set up a 4 wicket win.

The 4th XI made the short journey to Roseburn Arti to take on Murrayfield DAFs 3.  Skipper Al Murray lost the toss and the home side chose to bowl first.  A decent start for the Arrows was undone when Murray was run out for 16 in the 4th over with 21 on the board.  Fellow opener Tom Hathorn fell to a similar fate in the next over to make it 22 for 2.  4 more wickets fell cheaply to leave the visitors in a spot of bother at 42 for 6 after 13 overs.  David Simpson and Abhi Mehta knuckled down and added 33 for the 7th wicket before Simpson departed for 21 in the 24th over.  John Gill and Mehta took the score to 92 before Gill was bowled in the 29th over.  Wickets continued to fall and Mehta was the last man out for 31 as the 4s were bowled out for 106 in the 34th over.  In reply Lewis Broster rearranged the furniture of the MDAFs opener with the 2nd ball of the innings and then picked up 2 more in the 9th over to make it 20 for 3.  Aadi Khadse then claimed a wicket, well caught by Simpson at long on, to leave the home side 43 for 4 in the 14th.  Next to strike was Stu Dawson in the 23rd over to make it 78 for 5 and then John Gill picked up the 6th wicket the next over without any more runs being added.  Unfortunately the Arrows were unable to make any further inroads into the home batting and MDAFs reached the target in the 30th over for a 4 wicket win.

The final game on Saturday saw the 5th XI travel south to Whitestone Park to take on Peebles County.  Captain Keith Murray won the toss and chose to bowl first.  2 early strikes from Benji Risi reduced the home side to 23 for 2 in the 9th over but a strong 3rd wicket partnership turned things in Peebles favour.  That partnership was eventually broken by Noah Moncur in the 32nd over but the score had moved on to 108.  The home side upped the rate and the dangerous number 4 was removed in the 35th over by the returning Risi to make it 132 for 4.  Risi struck again in the penultimate over as the home side posted 149 for 5 from their 40 overs.  In reply the skipper fell early and none of the other top order batters was able to impose themselves on the bowling.  At drinks the Arrows were 39 for 4 and facing an uphill battle but Harry Charman (24) and Scott Fraser (27) got the scoreboard moving in the right direction.  Unfortunately both fell in the 29th over to make it 82 for 6 and despite 15 from Risi the 5s were bowled out for 114 in the 37th over to lose by 35 runs.

On Sunday the annual Junior 6s tournament was held at Grange Loan.  It featured 43 players drawn from all the junior hardball teams.  6 teams each played 4 matches – a total of 12 games between 10am & 6:30pm.  All the teams won at least one game; in the end Blue & Yellow were level on 3 wins, and Blue were declared winners by the slender margin of 4 100ths of net run rate, probably secured by a boundary on the very last ball of the day.  There was some excellent cricket on display – monstrous hitting, determined fielding and some remarkable catches and all played out in glorious sunshine in front of a big crowd of families & friends.