Weekend roundup – 15th/16th August

The 1s made the short journey to Barnton to take on RHC.  Skipper Dan Da Costa won the toss and elected to bowl first.  Ben Stronach took the first wicket to make it 41 for 1 in the 9th over.  Tight bowling restricted the home side to 104 for 1 at drinks and 5 overs later Shiv Jhala eventually made the breakthrough.  In the 37th over Stronach struck again to reduce RHC to 160 for 3 and then 2 quick wickets for Jhala & Fergus Foley made it 164 for 5.  Jamie Beattie then picked up a wicket and there was a 3rd for Stronach to leave the home side 191 for 7.  RHC then added 30 more runs before the final 3 wickets fell with the score on 221.  The Arrows reply got off to a terrible start as they slumped to 20 for 3.  Da Costa and Arun Pillai (sponsored by Umair Mohammed Cosmetic & Sports Dentistry) recovered things and added 98 for the 4th wicket before the skipper went for 65.  Pillai fell shortly after for 35 and another wicket left the Arrows 129 for 6 with much work still to do.  Shovik Chakraborty and Foley took the score to 171 before Chakraborty went for 35.  Wickets continued to fall and in the end the Arrows were bowled out for 196 to lose by 25 runs.

The Women’s 1s were in Stirling for the finals day of the Women’s T20 Cup.  Up first was Watsonians and captain Samantha Evans chose to bat first.  Charis Scott (sponsored by Mitchell Glass) and Ikra Farooq opened up and laid a very solid foundation for the innings.  At the halfway point they added 68 runs and then began to really take the attack to the bowlers.  Farooq fell for 44 in the 19th over with 159 on the board.  Going into the final over Scott was on 93* and brought up her century with 1 ball to spare.  In the end the Arrows finished on 174 for 1 with Scott 102 not out.  That total proved more than enough as Watsonians were limited to 109 for 8 in reply with Agnes Foley the most successful bowler with 2 for 17.  In the final the Arrows faced Grampian Thistles.  Again Samantha Evans opted to bat first but Scott & Farooq could not repeat the heroics of the semi final.  Both fell cheaply but Sophie Thomas and Evans took the score to 52 before Thomas was run out for 35.  2 more run outs made it 52 for 5 but Evans found good support from Heather Tait.  The captain steered the Arrows to a total of 132 for 5 from their 20 overs, finishing unbeaten on 65.  There were early strikes for Kiera Ansell & Maisie Maceira and then Scott and Foley picked up wickets to leave the Northerners 38 for 4 at the halfway point.  There were further wickets for Elsie Fraser, Foley & Farooq (2) as the Arrows restricted the Thistles to 92 for 8 from their 20 overs for a 40 run win and lifting the T20 Cup for the first time since 2021.

Back at Grange Loan the 2s were taking on Edinburgh CC in the penultimate round of the ESCA Championship.  The visitors chose to bat first and got off to a fast start before Aadi Khadse picked up the first wicket in the 14th over with 67 on the board.  Khadse struck again to make it 89 for 2 and then Rory Ledingham got the 3rd wicket in the 27th over to leave the visitors 104 for 3.  Edinburgh picked up the rate and Max D’Ulisse eventually made the breakthrough in the 40th over but the score had moved on to 194.  Charles Stronach came back and picked up 3 wickets and there was 1 for Hamish Foley and a run out as the visitors finished on 251 for 9 from their 50 overs.  In reply the Arrows slumped to 7 for 2 but Pete Gill & Gav Murray got the chase back on track.  In the 15th over with the score on 93 Murray was bowled for 46.  Gill followed shortly after for 32 and wickets continued to fall too regularly to put pressure on the visitors.  In the end, the Arrows were bowled out for 206 with Foley (44) the final wicket as they lost by 45 runs.

Also on Saturday the 3s headed south to take on Kelso at Shedden Park, needing a win to have any chance of avoiding relegation.  Skipper Brad McKay won the toss and chose to bowl first.  McKay claimed the first 2 wickets as tight bowling reduced the home side to 11 for 2 after 10.  Atreya Subr then struck and John Gill picked up 2 to leave Kelso 35 for 5 at drinks.  Gill picked up another and Finlay Thompson got 2 more before McKay brought himself back on the take the final 2 wickets to bowl the home side out for 60 in the 31st over.  In reply Charlie Kentish and Anish Amin hit 45 before Amin went for 20 in the 9th over.  Euan Keatinge joined Kentish in the middle and the pair saw the Arrows home in the 10th over for a convincing 9 wicket win with Kentish finishing on 40*.

The final game on Saturday saw the 5s travel to Meadowmill to take on TPV 5s.  Having been inserted the Arrows got off to a watchful start before Sam Gilmour was bowled for 19.  Opening partner Martin Robertson was joined by Vijay Raghavan and the pair got the scoreboard moving before Raghavan departed for 38.  Robertson went for 29 but young Ollie McCallum hit an impressive 48 and Arjun Shelke also chipped in with 21* as the Arrows finished their innings on 185 for 9 from their 40 overs.  The home side made a good start with the bat but the introduction of Stu Dawson to the attack had an immediate impact as he picked up the 1st wicket with his 1st ball.  Dawson claimed 2 more but another good partnership formed for TPV which took the game away from the Arrows.  It was eventually broken by Shelke and despite the young spinner claiming another and a Tom Sweet run out the home side got over the line in the 33rd over as the Arrows lost by 4 wickets.

On Sunday the Women’s 1s were in action again, looking to secure the WPL 40 title if they could secure a win away to Grampian Thistles at Huntly’s Castle Park.  Skipper Sam Evans won the toss and chose to bowl first.  There was an early strike for Keira Ansell but the Arrows had to wait until the 16th over for the next wicket courtesy of Charis Scott.  That left the home side well placed at 95 for 2 but in the 23rd over Ikra Farooq claimed a brace to leave the Thistles 133 for 4.  Farooq took 2 more to make it 150 for 6 before Saskia Aldridge picked up her 1st wicket.  Varsha Suresh then struck to leave the home side 157 for 8 with 7 overs to go.  Suresh claimed the final 2 wicket in the penultimate over to bowl out the Thistles for 181.  In reply Sarah Beith fell early and in the 13th over fellow opener Farooq was out for 20 to make the score 63 for 2.  When Sophie Thomas went in the 17th over to make it 75 for 3 Evans came out to join Scott in the middle.  The experienced pair kept the scoreboard ticking over in a well timed chase with Scott finishing on 60* and Evans 53* to see the Arrows home with 7 wickets to spare in the 37th over.  That result means that the Arrows remain unbeaten in the league this season and have secured their 6th title in 10 years.

Also on Sunday the Women’s 2s travelled west to the Henry Throw Oval to take on Prestwick in the WPL 30.  Batting first the Arrows lost Ajitha Rajan early but Abby Caton & Panashe Muzambe took the score to 55 before Muzambe went for 14.  Amelia Beattie went first ball but Christina Evans & Caton added 55 for the 4th wicket before Evans was bowled for 21.  Caton was batting well, but no one was able to support her and the Arrows finished their 30 overs on 148 for 9 with Caton 76 not out.  The home side got off to a good start with the bat before Rajan made the breakthrough with 62 on the board.  Rajan claimed a 2nd to make it 95 for 2 in the 19th over.  3 overs later there was a run out and wicket for Caton to leave the Ayrshire side 102 for 4 to give the Arrows hope, but try as they might they could not find the breakthrough and the home side got over the line with 6 wickets and 8 balls to spare.

The final game of the weekend saw the 4s host Morton 3s at Grange Loan.  Skipper Al Murray lost the toss and the Arrows were inserted.  After a watchful start Scott Fraser (19) was the 1st wicket to fall in the 12th over with 32 on the board.  That would prove to be the biggest partnership of the innings as the home batters struggled to impose themselves on the accurate Morton attack.  Only Chis Sale (56) showed any signs of fluency as the Arrows were bowled out for 132 in the 39th over.  Jake Heller picked up 2 wickets in the 6th over to leave Morton 16 for 2.  Abhi Mehta was next to strike to make it 46 for 3 and then claimed another in the 16th over to reduce the visitors to 52 for 4.  A good partnership for the men from the Meadows was eventually broken by the returning Heller and he claimed a 4th with his final ball to make it 109 for 6.  Taha Khan also picked up a wicket but the visitors got over the line in the 39th over to consign the Arrows to a 3 wicket loss.