Weekend roundup – 26th/27th April
With the start of the EPL still a week away the 2nd XI got the league season underway at Grange Loan as they hosted Heriot’s 2s in the ESCA Championship. Bowling first the Arrows had the visitors in trouble at 21 for 3 but the home team couldn’t capitalise on the early advantage. Heriot’s were eventually bowled out for 180 with 2 wickets apiece for Charles Stronach, Dougie Firth and Shiv Jhala. The reply never really got going as none of the home batters was able to impose themselves on the game. The 2s were bowled out for 84 to lose by 96 runs, not helped by Oli Stones being unable to bat having dislocated a finger in the field.
The 3rd XI had an early start away to Edinburgh Uni Staff at Perfermill. Shorthanded due to a late call off to injury the 3s batted first. Wickets fell regularly and the 10 men were bowled for 78 with Calum Robertson top scoring with 22. It was always going to be a tough total to defend and the Arrows were reduced to 9 when Dougie Scott threw his shoulder out in the field. In the end Uni Staff got the runs 5 down with Hector Murray & Masie Maceira claiming 2 wickets each.
The final match on Saturday saw the 4th XI play MDAFs 3s on the newly restored Roseburn Artificial. Despite the surface playing much better than its treacherous predecessor the 4s were able to bowl out the home side for 143. Jake Heller starred with the ball taking 4 wickets and Kartic Subr also chipped in with a brace. A solid batting display saw the 4s home for the loss of only 3 wickets with Vijay Raghavan leading the way with 61, including 13 boundaries. With the scores level the big man from Chennai tried to launch the ball into Murrayfield Stadium only to fall to a spectacular one-handed running catch at long off.
On Sunday the Women had an early morning T20 friendly against Stew Mel at Grange Loan. The young Carlton side fell a few runs short in the end but there were handy performances from several players although the greatest credit goes to Sarah Beith for donning the gloves for the first time and performing like a wizard behind the stumps.
After the Women had finished the 5th XI completed the weekend’s fixture list with a visit from Edinburgh CC 3s. The visitors batted first and were bowled out for 178 with Angus Turner picking up 4 wickets. In
reply Keith Murray (25) and Martin Robertson (30) laid a solid foundation up top but both fell shortly after drinks. Josh Cully picked up the pace and hit a fine half century at more than a run a ball to get the 5s close to victory and some maniacal running saw the 5s needing 11 off the last to win. Euan Murray hit the first ball for 4 and more aggressive running left them needing 2 off the last. Sadly all they could manage was 1 and the nail-biting match finished as a tie.