Weekend roundup – 17th/18th May
The weekend got underway with the visit of Forfarshire to take on the 1s at Grange Loan in a match sponsored by Carlton Legends. Batting first the visitors got off to a bright start before Rudy Adair picked up both openers in quick succession. Wickets continued to fall regularly as Forfs were bundled out for 140 with Rory Allardice, Jamie Beattie and Olly Davidson claiming 2 each and Adair finishing with 4 wickets. The Arrows reply also got off to a quick start but at 67 for 3 things could have become awkward. Skipper Daniel Da Costa (45*) and Arun Pillai (27*) had other ideas and steered the home side over the line for a comfortable 7 wicket win in the 28th over.
The 2s travelled south to take on Gala in round 4 of the ESCA Championship. Bowling first the 2s were well placed getting the home side 92 for 6, but the Gala pro held the remainder of the innings together as the Borderers finished on 188. Newly returned from a winter down under, Harry Simpson took the bowling honours with 4 for 35. Despite the early loss of Shreyas Tekale, Matt Wells and Will Hardie looked in good touch. Both fell in quick succession to leave the Arrows in a spot of bother at 59 for 3 and wickets continued to fall regularly after that. At 110 for 9 it looked done & dusted but a fine last wicket stand from Conor Regan & Charles Stronach frustrated the home side. The pair added 60 runs before Regan eventually fell just 19 runs short of the target.
At Peffermill the 3s hosted Clackmannan County and batting first Brad McKay’s side got to 192 for 8, their highest total of the season so far. Charlie Kentish led the way with a fine 55 and there was good support lower down the order with Andrew Lang & John Gill both hitting 33. Dougie Firth got 3 wickets up top with McKay claiming another to reduce Clacks to 43 for 4. Max D’Ulisse and Kentish got in on the act to make it 82 for 6 but a solid 7th wicket stand started to take the game away from the Arrows. Pavan Yaradi then chipped in with 3 wickets to bring the game back into the balance. McKay returned to pick up the final wicket in the nick of time to give the 3s their first win of the season by a margin of only 4 runs.
The final game on Saturday saw the 5s travel to Alloa to take on Clacks 2s. After inserting the home side Dan Mowat picked up 2 early wickets with Kartic Subr also claiming 1 to leave Clacks in trouble. They recovered however but the introduction of Elliot Peltenburg paid dividends as the young left armer chipped in with 2 wickets. More sensible batting from the home side saw them to 164 for 8 from their 40 overs with further wickets for Subr, Scott Fraser & Stu Dawson. In reply both openers got starts but couldn’t go on. Chris Sale came to the crease and took the game to the bowlers and although wickets continued to fall the game was tipping in the Arrows favour. Sale found good support from Subr (25) to get the 5s in sight of victory and the keeper got them home with 65* with 3 wickets and 11 balls to spare.
On Sunday the Women hosted East Kilbride in the WPL at Grange Loan. Choosing to bowl first, Samantha Evans side produced a good display with the ball to bowl out the West coast side for 92 in the 22nd over. Charis Scott took her second 5 wicket haul for Carlton, finishing with figures of 5 for 25 from her 6 overs. Flora Corbin claimed the final 2 wickets with her first 3 balls which will do her bowling average no harm at all. Abbi Aitken-Drummond led the way with the bat hitting a breezy 41* and after Sarah Beith fell, Scott came out and followed up her form with the ball with 23* off 24, including hitting the winning runs, to see Carlton to a 9 wicket win in the 16th over.
Also on Sunday the 4s travelled to Boghall to take on Linlithgow 2s. Batting first none of the top order really got going and the Arrows were in a spot of bother at 52 for 5 at drinks. Harrison Fontenla (31) and Raghuram Parasur (26) knuckled down and produced a fine 57 run partnership for the 7th wicket to make sure the 4s got some sort of total on the board. In the end Carlton were bowled out for 151 with 2 and a half overs to go. A decent start with the ball and in the field had the game in the balance but some big hitting from the Linlithgow skipper took the game away from the 4 as they lost by 4 wickets in the 37th over.
The final game of the weekend saw a Mixed Development side containing 4 family pairs take on RHC at Peffermill. The visitors posted 145 from their 30 overs with Dilan Amin and Euan Sweet picking up 2 wickets each. There was also success with the ball for Aaradhy Khadse, Keira Ansell & Elsie Fraser. In reply the Arrows fell 26 runs short although there were decent knocks from youngsters Tom Sweet (23) and Amin (17).