Weekend roundup – 20th/21st June

The 1s travelled to Broughty Ferry to take on Forfarshire in round 8 of the EPL.  A late change saw Pete Gill come in for Shovik Chakraborty at the top of the order.  Skipper Dan Da Costa won the toss and inserted the home side but Forfs got off to a fast start.  Conor Regan made the breakthrough but runs continued to flow.  Ben Stronach came on and picked up the next 3 wickets and then effected a run out to leave the home side in trouble at 126 for 5.  Olly Davidson (sponsored by Haldi) then struck and Shiv Jhala claimed a wicket to reduce Forfs to 149 for 7.  Stronach then completed his 5-for and Davidson claimed a 2nd as the home side were bowled out for 176.  In reply Angus Guy & Gill put on 52 for the 1st wicket before Gill was bowled for 15.  Chris McBride and Guy then added 94 but both fell in quick succession for 53 & 64 respectively but the damage was already done.  The Arrows lost 1 more wicket but Da Costa (21*) steered them home in the 36th over for a fine 6 wicket win.

The 2s were at home to Edinburgh Accies at Grange Loan and the visitors chose to bat first.  Charles Stronach picked up a wicket with the first legal delivery of the match and fellow opening bowler Isaac Coates then struck twice to reduce Accies to 24 for 3.  Stronach then claimed 3 more wickets to leave the visitors in all sorts of trouble at 58 for 6 before Shreyas Tekale came on and claimed the 7th wicket thanks to an outstanding catch at mid off from Aadi Khadse.  Khadse then got in on the act with the ball to take the 8th wicket with 80 on the board with Tekale claiming his 2nd shortly after.  A brief rear guard action from Accies was halted when Tekale took the final wicket to bowl the visitors out for 102.  Mirroring the Accies innings, the Arrows lost Barry Vosloo to the first legal ball of the reply.  Tom Hathorn and Tekale steadied the ship for the home side before Hathorn fell for 17 with 39 on the board.  Gav Murray joined Tekale at the crease and started to take the game away from the visitors.  The pair took the Arrows within 3 runs of victory before Tekale was caught for a patient 38.  Skipper Murray wasted no time in seeing his side over the line with a quick fire 38* as the Arrows won by 7 wickets in the 22nd over.

The final game on Saturday saw the 5s travel to Bailliefields to take on Westquarter & Redding 2s.  The home side batted first and while there were early strikes for Ollie McCallum & Tom Sweet a good 3rd wicket partnership was developing.  That was eventually broken by Sam Gilmour but the score had moved on to 87.  Euan Murray then struck to make it 100 for 4 before the Khadse family came to the fore.  Dad Rahul picked up the 5th wicket while son Aaradhy hoovered up then next 4, albeit that Westquarter were adding some useful runs.  Khadse Snr then claimed the final wicket to bowl the home side out for 167.  In reply all of the top order got starts but were unable to find a way to go on and make a telling impact on the score.  Vijay Raghavan top scored with 19 but in the end the Arrows were bowled out for a disappointing 125 to lose by 42 runs.

On Sunday the 3s were away to Drummond Trinity 2s on the grass at Inverleith Park.  Skipper Brad McKay called incorrectly and the Arrows were inserted on a challenging looking track.  The top order struggled with the conditions and only Charlie Kentish had any sort of answer to the home bowling attack.  Things looked bleak for the visitors at 15 for 4 but Kentish & John Gill took the score to 47 before Gill fell and Kentish was out for 37 soon after.  Raghuram Parasur & Hector Murray then combined to add 53 valuable runs for the 7th wicket.  Parasur fell but Elliot Peltenburg offered Murray support and the score moved on to 131 before Murray was bowled for 39 in the penultimate over.  In the end the Arrows finished on 136 all out from their 40 overs.  With conditions improving the home side got off to an aggressive start and in the 12th over Parasur picked up the first wicket with 69 on the board.  Another handy partnership developed for DTs but that was broken by Gill to make it 102 for 2.  Gill claimed a 2nd and the Peltenburg picked up the 4th wicket with Nelson on the board, but there was no more success for the Arrows as the home side ran out winners by 6 wickets in the 25th over.

The final league game of the weekend was back at Grange Loan where the 4s entertained MDAFs 3s.  Bowling first Taha Khan picked up an early wicket and after 10 overs the visitors were 34 for 1.  The scoring rate began to pick up but wickets for Jake Heller (2) and Abhi Mehta kept MDAFs in check at 81 for 4 at drinks.  A fine direct hit from Metha made it 97 for 5 but the visitors kept the scoreboard moving before Kartic Subr struck in the 31st over with 156 on the board.  MDAFs kept attacking and the Arrows eventually bowled them out for 195 thanks to wickets from Mehta, Daniel Mowat (2) and another run out.  In reply the home side got off to a decent start but both openers fell with 46 on the board.  Chris Sale & Sid Narayanaswamy then added 87 for the 3rd wicket before Sale fell for 40 trying to up the scoring rate in the 30th over.  Narayanaswamy (43) then holed out 4 overs later with 44 runs still needed.  Unfortunately too many wickets fell chasing quick runs and the Arrows were bowled out for 190 in the final over to lose by 5 runs.

The U13s were also on duty on Sunday in the finals day of the ECB Cup at Perth Doo’cot.  In the semi-final against Hillhead they were bowled out for 104 with Arjun Shelke (17); Tom Sweet (21) and Sebastiano Gupta (20) the main performers with the bat.  Ollie McCallum and Sweet then reduced Hillhead to 8 for 3 before Sam Gilmour, Aaradhy Khadse (3), Milo MacLeod and a run out bowled out the Glasgow side for 44.

In the final they faced Aberdeenshire and again batted first.  This time they score 113 for 6 thanks to 30 from Arjun Shelke and 31 from Aaradhy Khadse.  Tom Sweet ran through the top order to leave them 8 for 3 before Ollie McCallum took a wicket to make it 19 for 4.  Shelke then took 2 wickets in 2 balls to leave the Dons in real trouble at 26 for 6.  A Dilan Amin run out added to Aberdeenshire’s woes and then there were 2 wickets for Sebastiano Gupta to leave them reeling at 42 for 9.  Ross Kirk picked  up the final wicket to complete the win in the 19th over and the Arrows lifted the U13 ECB Cup for the first time since 2022.

The Girls U15s were also in ECB Cup action down south taking on South Northumberland.   Unfortunately they were unable to emulate the success of the boys as they were bowled out for 84 with Sonia Amin (25) and Aggie Foley (11) the top scorers.  The home side chased down the total inside 14 overs although there were wickets for Amin & Foley, the Girls U15 ECB Cup journey comes to an end for this season.