Weekend preview – 24th/25th August

It’s the final weekend of ESCA fixtures and there is a WPL double header for the Women’s First XI.

The Women’s First XI will entertain Stewart’s Melville Women at Grange Loan on Friday evening in a rearranged WPL, however the match will be 20 overs per side.  Going into the game Stew Mel are one position below the Arrows in 2nd place.  The last meeting between the sides was in this year’s Women’s T20 Scottish Cup semi final and in that game 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 First XI will welcome Stewart’s Melville to Grange Loan on Saturday.  Stew Mel are currently 6th in the EPL with 6 wins and 7 losses.  The match earlier this year was contested at Inverleith and skipper Arun Pillai lost the toss and the home side chose to field first.  That proved to be a good call as the Carlton top order collapsed to 14 for 5 in the 5th over.  Ally Evans and Pillai stabilised things somewhat before the skipper fell with 49 on the board.  Ben D’Ulisse joined Evans and took the score to 72 before the new man fell in the 19th over.  Angus Beattie was in next and he & Evans added 20 for the 8th wicket before Evans was caught for 52.  Lewis O’Donnell joined Beattie and the pair rescued a perilous position for the Arrows putting on 103 for the 9th wicket before Beattie fell for 57 in the 45th over.  Rudy Adair then came to the middle and the final pair took the score to 214 before Adair was out in the final over leaving O’Donnell unbeaten on 56.  In reply the home side were reduced to 58 for 3 in the 13th over with 2 wickets for O’Donnell and 1 for Evans.  A good 4th wicket partnership was broken by a runout from Beattie but the score had moved on to 126 in the 23rd over.  Another good partnership took the game away from Carlton and although O’Donnell picked up 2 late wickets and a 2nd for Evans the home side got over the line in the 38th over to win by 3 wickets.  Dan Da Costa will lead the team as Rudy Adair, Harry Simpson, Ben D’Ulisse and Ruari Macpherson all return to the side.

The Second XI will head to Roseburn to take on MDAFs in a must win game to secure promotion.  DAFS are currently 6 spots below the Arrows in 8th place with 5 wins and 8 losses.  In the match earlier this season captain Charles Stronach won the toss and chose to bowl first.  A strong opening stand was broken in the 15th over by Chayank Gosain with 69 on the board.  The skipper was next to strike 3 overs later to make it 80 for 2.  Harry Simpson claimed the 3rd wicket in the 26th over with the score on 100.  Rory Ledingham came into the attack and picked up a wicket in the 31st over thanks to a sharp slip catch by Shiv Jhala despite having done a hamstring earlier in the day.  Ledingham struck again in the 35th over to make it 129 for 5 and again in the 41st to reduce MDAFs to 153 for 6.  The young legspinner claimed his 4th wicket 2 balls later and then in the following over Saif Khan struck to make it 158 for 7.  The final ball of the innings saw Ledingham complete his 5-for as the visitors finished on 181 for 9 from their 45 overs.  In reply Ben Thurman got off to fast start but fell in the 4th over for 18.  Fellow opener Oscar Waters was more watchful and put on 25 for the 2nd wicket with Charlie Kentish before Kentish was caught for 12 in the 7th over.  Harry Simpson joined Waters in the middle and the pair took the score to 89 before Simpson was bowled for 25 in the 18th over.  The injured Jhala was the next man in with Kentish acting as his runner and he and Waters saw the 2s home in the 34th over with Jhala hitting 60 and Waters 54 for a fine 7 wicket win.

The Third XI will face off against Edinburgh CC 2s at The Meadows as the 3s look to save themselves from relegation.  Edinburgh are currently 3rd with 9 wins and 3 losses.  In the game earlier this year at Campbell Park skipper Brad McKay won the toss and inserted the home side.  There was an early runout and then wickets for Hector Murray & Dougie Firth as Edinburgh were reduced to 18 for 3 in the 7th over.  A mini recovery was blunted by 2 quick wickets for Robbie Murray to make it 44 for 5 in the 18th over.  That became 58 for 6 as the skipper picked up a wicket in the 19th and he struck again in the 23rd to make it 58 for 7.  Abhi Mehta then claimed a wicket in the 31st over with 78 on the board but some late order hitting got the scoreboard moving.  Hector Murray came back into the attack and claimed a wicket and then a runout next ball to see the home side all out for 111 in the 36th over.  In reply Anish Amin and Marc Dweck put on 36 for the 1st wicket before Amin was bowled in the 13th over.  Cam Moore joined Dweck at the crease and took the score to 63 before Moore fell for 10 in the 25th over.  Dougie Scott entered the fray and he and Dweck added another 18 runs before Scott was out in the 31st over with 29 still required.  Alex Fedenczuk was the next man in and they halved the deficit before both he & Dweck fell in the 35th over – Dweck having hit a classy 54 in challenging conditions.  Hamish Turner and Mehta knocked off the remaining runs with the minimum of fuss to see the 3s win by 5 wickets with 17 balls to spare.

The Fourth XI will compete against Livingston 2s at Dresselrigg on Saturday as they are in need of minimum 7 points to ensure their place in Division 5 next year.  Livingston 2s have are currently top of ESCA Division 5 and need a minimum of 5 points to secure the title.  In the game in June at the Gyle captain Al Murray won the toss and chose to bowl first.  A strong opening stand was eventually broken by Atreya Subr in the 16th over with the 74 on the board.  Kartic Subr was next to strike just before drinks to make it 101 for 2 and he picked up another in the 26th over to leave Livingston 131 for 3.  Tom Hathorn picked up a wicket in the next over but the West Lothian side were beginning to score freely.  Despite Subr senior claiming another and a Tom Dweck runout the visitors posted an impressive 250 for 6 from their 40 overs.  In reply the skipper fell in the 2nd over but Hathorn & David Simpson took the score to 33 in the 8th over before the young opener went for 12.  Sam Haggo joined Simpson at the crease but with 49 on the board in the 12th over Simpson fell for 20.  Chris Sale and Haggo added 25 for the 4th wicket but Sale was bowled in the 14th over to leave the home side in trouble at 74 for 4.  Haggo continued to bat well but found little support from the lower order as wickets continued to fall.  She was the 8th wicket to fall for a well made 38 in the 23rd over with 100 on the board.  In the end the 4s were bowled out for 115 in the 28th over to lose by 135 runs.

The Women’s First XI will head to Barnton on Sunday where they will play bottom of the league RHC.  The West Edinburgh side are yet to register a win in the WPL and have picked up just 14 points in their 5 games this season.  The two teams met in the Women’s T20 Scottish Cup in July and in that match captain Sam Haggo won the toss and invited the home side to bat first.  A good opening stand was broken in the 15th over by Abbi Aitken-Drummond with 70 on the board.  She also produced a runout in the next over to make it 71 for 2 and then claimed a 2nd wicket in the 17th over to leave RHC 75 for 3.  A late flurry of runs saw the home side finish their 20 overs on 96 for 4 with Charis Scott claiming the final wicket.  In reply Aitken-Drummond and Sarah Beith put on 59 for the 1st wicket before Aitken-Drummond was bowled in the 8th over for 25.  Scott joined Beith in the middle and took the score to 67 before the new batter departed for 7 in the 10th over.  Haggo ‘s stay was brief before Holly Sladen (9*) made her way to the crease and she and Beith (36*) knocked off the remaining runs to see the Arrows over the line in the 17th over for a 7 wicket win.  The Arrows will line up with an unchanged XI from Friday’s WPL match vs Stewart’s Melville.

The Fifth XI wrap up the ESCA league season as they host Drummond Trinity 5s at Grange Loan.  DTs are currently 7th in ESCA Division 7 with 6 wins and 9 losses. In the game at Peffermill captain Keith Murray lost the toss and the visitors chose to bat first.  Early strikes by Stu Dawson & Alan Ansell reduced the visitors to 12 for 2 in the 6th over.  Ansell picked up a 2nd wicket and Rahul Khadse got in on the act to make it 42 for 4 in the 18th over.  Khadse claimed another in the 24th over with the score on 78 but the visitors were starting to accelerate.  Ansell came back and picked up 2 more wickets in the 33rd over but the score had moved on to 133.  There were further wickets for Benji Risi & Scott Fraser but DTs finished their 40 overs on 181 for 9.  In reply the skipper got going but was unable to find much support.  He was the 5th wicket to fall in the 30th over for 43 with 86 on the board.  Some good lower hitting from Dawson (21*) and Finlay Thompson (12) ensured the 5s got some extra batting points but they finished on 130 for 7 from their 40 overs to fall 51 runs short.