Weekend roundup – 4th/5th July
The 1s entertained Stew Mel at Grange Loan in week 10 of the EPL. The visitors chose to bat first and made a decent start before Rudy Adair struck in the 10th over to make it 38 for 1. Jamie Beattie, making his first appearance of the season for the Arrows then picked up 2 wickets in the 14th over to reduce Stew Mel to 51 for 3. Things got worse for the visitors as Adair claimed a second and Olly Davidson (sponsored by Haldi) got the pro to make it 58 for 5. Beattie got a 3rd but Stew Mel began to fight back. Adair got his 3rd in the 38th over to make it 121 for 7 and then Arun Pillai (sponsored by Umair Mohammed Cosmetic & Sports Dentistry) picked up 2 before Ben Stronach claimed the final wicket to bowl the visitors out for 158. In reply the top 3 all fell to LBW decisions as the Arrows were reduced to 42 for 3. Dan Da Costa steadied the ship before he holed out for an aggressive 68 with 131 on the board. Davidson went shortly after but Pillai & Stronach saw the home side home to a comfortable 5 wicket win in the 34th over.
The 2s were away to Penicuik in round 11 of the ESCA Championship. The home side batted first and there was an early strike for Ferg Foley. A solid second wicket partnership formed and was eventually broken by Max D’Ulisse with 128 on the board in the 30th over. D’Ulisse struck again in the 32nd before Charlie Kentish picked up a wicket in the next over to leave Penicuik 135 for 4. Aadi Khadse then struck and 3 run outs and another Khadse wicket restricted the home side to 188 for 9 from their 50 overs. Shaun Smith (18) and Isaac Coates (28) got the Arrows off to a decent start but a couple of cheap wickets tipped things in the direction of the home side. When skipper Gav Murray mistimed a pull to go for 29 the score was 124 for 5. Foley went next ball but Charlie Kentish kept the scoreboard moving. Wickets kept falling, however, and when Kentish fell for 38 the writing was on the wall. In the end the 2s were bowled out for 175 in the 42nd over to lose by 13 runs.
The 3s were at Peffermill to take on Edinburgh Uni Staff. Uni Staff batted first and Hector Murray picked up the first wicket with 28 on the board. Dougie Firth then got in on the act to make it 50 for 2 in the 8th over. Skipper Brad McKay then induced Uni Staff’s number 3 to bat the ball away from his stumps with his hand and be given out “obstructing the field”. Kyle Burgess chipped in with 2 quick wickets to make it 82 for 5 before McKay struck to claim the 6th wicket with 109 on the board. Burgess claimed 2 more wickets and John Gill and Raghuram Parasur took a wicket each to bowl Uni Staff out for 157. In reply Anish Amin and Euan Keatinge put on 53 for the first wicket before Keatinge fell for 22. David Simpson didn’t last long but Robbie Murray joined Amin in the middle and the pair proceeded to knock off the majority of the runs required. With victory in sight, Amin went for 68 and then Murray fell for 48 but Felix Lisher & Hector Murray got the Arrows over the line in the 32nd over to win by 6 wickets.
The 4s were on the road down to the borders to take on Gala 2s at Meigle Park. On winning the toss captain Al Murray opted to bowl first and there was an early success for Taha Khan. Jake Heller then bowled the home side’s number 3 before Khan struck again thanks to a fine catch at point from Ollie McCallum. McCallum took another good catch shortly after off Heller’s bowling to leave the home side in disarray at 20 for 4. Rohan Jena then came into the attack and picked up 3 wickets before Stu Dawson claimed a brace to reduce Gala to 52 for 9. Aaradhy Khadse came into the attack and picked up the final wicket to bowl the home side out for 61. In reply Sid Narayanaswamy fell early and when Murray also went the Arrows were 20 for 2. Samantha Evans and McCallum got the scoreboard moving before Evans nicked off to a juggling catch slip. Chris Sale joined McCallum and saw the Arrows home without further alarm, the youngster top scoring with 20* in a comprehensive 7 wicket win.
On Sunday the Women’s 1s were due to be in action against Watsonians at Craiglockhart. Persistent light rain put paid to any prospect of play and the match was abandoned without a ball being bowled.
The Women’s 2s had slightly more luck taking on Heriot’s on the main square at Goldenace. They managed 14 overs before the rain came and the Arrows were 55 for 2 when the umpires called a halt to proceedings. Abby Caton was going well on 21* when the rains came and the match was abandoned.
By contrast the 5s defied the conditions and managed to complete their game against Peebles County at Grange Loan. The visitors batted first and got off to a flier. A sharp bit of work behind the stumps by Vijay Raghavan off the bowling of Rahul Khadse saw the 1st wicket fall with 110 on the board in the 19th over. Khadse claimed 2 more before Peebles could add to the score. Tom Sweet then picked up the next 2 wickets but the visitors were keeping the scoreboard ticking over. Euan Murray struck in the penultimate over but Peebles finished on 201 for 6 from their 40 overs. The Arrows lost Scott Fraser in the first over but Martin Robertson and Raghavan took the score to 39 before a mix up saw Raghavan run out for 26. Robertson then fell for 27 with 66 on the board before Ishan Samanta fell shortly after. Skipper Keith Murray entered the fray and he and Dan Barry took the score to 101 before the captain was run out from a direct hit. Father & son Barry both fell with the score on 114 but an excellent partnership from U13s Sweet (33*) and Arjun Shelke (13*) took the score to 167 for 7 at the end of the innings, but ultimately the 5s fell 34 runs short.