Weekend roundup – 26th/27th July

The 1s were at Grange Loan for the visit of Stewart’s Melville in a match kindly sponsored by the Carlton Legends.  Bowling first the Arrows kept a lid on the scoring rate but it took until the 2nd over after drinks before they made a breakthrough thanks to Olly Davidson.  Another solid partnership developed for the visitors and again it was Davidson who broke it in the 44th over to make it 194 for 2.  Chris McBride then picked up 2 wickets and Davidson claimed 4 more as Stew Mel posted 246 for 8 from their 50 overs.  Davidson finished with figures of 10 overs, 2 maidens, 6 for 18.  In reply Angus Guy & Arun Pillai put on 92 for the 1st wicket before Pillai fell for 50 in the 21st over.  The Arrows kept the scoreboard moving but wickets were beginning to fall including Guy for 68.  Daniel Da Costa (53*) steadied the ship and found good support from James Stronach (26*) and the pair saw the home side home to a 5 wicket win with 17 balls to spare.

The 2s were away at Portgower Place to take on Grange 2s in the ESCA Championship.  A couple of early strikes from Rudy Adair put the Arrows in a good position and then Fergus Foley struck in the 12th over to make it 42 for 3.  Things got even better 3 balls later as Foley picked up another but the home side regrouped.  They took the score to 169 before skipper Charles Stronach struck and then Shreyas Tekale claimed a wicket to make it 169 for 6.  The Grange tail wagged and although there were further wickets for Tekale, Foley & a runout the home side finished on 256 for 9.  In reply both openers went cheaply but Isaac Foley (23) and Ben D’Ulisse (33) put up some resistance.  Both fell before drinks and only Charlie Kentish (18) of the remaining batters made it to double figures as the Arrows were bowled out for 125 in the 36th over to lose by 131 runs.

Also on Saturday the 4s hosted Tranent & Preston Village 3s at Peffermill.  The Arrows produced an excellent performance with the ball and in the field to bowl out the ESCA Division 5 leaders for 106 with John Gill leading the way with 5 for 15.  Stu Dawson also picked up 2 wickets and the other successful bowlers were Jake Heller, Daniel Mowat & Atreya Subr.  In reply the Arrows were well placed at drinks at 60 for 3 but an almighty collapse saw them lose the remaining 7 wickets for only 20 runs.  Chris Sale top scored with 24 but David Simpson (17) was the only other batter to make it to double figures in an otherwise forgettable batting performance which saw the 4s lose by 26 runs.

The 5s were also playing TPV but this time their 4th XI at Meadowmill.  They too bowled first and did well to bowl the home side out for 161 in the 39th over.  Tom Sweet picked up 3 wickets and there were 2 each for Rohan Kumar Jena and skipper Rahul Khadse.  Aaradhy Khadse also claimed a wicket and there were 2 runouts, one from Noah Moncur and the other from Euan Sweet.  Ian Thompson and Martin Robertson laid a solid foundation to the chase but Thompson (12) was bowled in the 12th over with 38 on the board.  Robertson (31) fell 4 overs later to make it 54 for 2 and although there were decent contributions from Scott Fraser (17), Moncur (19) and John Carpenter (14*) the 5s were bowled out for 117 in the 32nd over to lose by 44 runs.

On Sunday the 3s welcomed Bass Rock to Grange Loan for an ESCA Division 2 encounter.  Bowling first there was an early strike for Dougie Firth and then Firth took a good catch at fine leg off Lewis Broster to make it 35 for 2 in the 8th over.  The bowlers stuck to their task and kept the scoring in check.  Tom Hathorn picked up the 3rd wicket in the 25th over to leave the side from North Berwick 122 for 3.   Chasing late runs the visitors lost wickets and finished on 198 for 6.  In reply Shaun Smith went early but Euan Keatinge and Pete Gill stabilised the chase.  Gill was next to go for 22 in the 15th over to make it 52 for 2.  Hathorn made his way to the middle and he and Keatinge added 80 runs for the 3rd wicket before the opener went for a fine 68.  When Hathorn (36) fell shortly after the Arrows needed 54 from 8 overs.  Aadi Khadse and Josh Cully got the home side in sight of victory but both were runout for 32 & 16 respectively with 10 runs still required.  Firth & John Gill held their nerve and saw the 3s over the line with 4 balls to spare for a 4 wicket win in a really good, tight game of cricket.

There were two other games on Sunday as the Women played a friendly T20 against Watsonians.  A mixture of 1s & 2s took on a strong Watsonians side and restricted them to 129 for 3 with Ajitha Rajan taking all 3 wickets.  With the bat the Arrows fell 35 runs short with Samantha Evans (17) & Agnes Foley (15) the top scorers.   The Mixed Dev XI were also in action at Inverleith against Stew Mel.  Carlton’s bowlers struggled to get the wickets their good bowling against a strong batting line up deserved – only Abby Caton and Tom Sweet got their just rewards. Highlight of the batting effort was a demonstration of Test Match stickability by Rahul Khadse (11 off 50 balls) and a bright productive partnership between Tom and Euan Sweet – Tom ended up top scoring with 26. Maybe not a win but an enjoyable encounter with everyone getting the opportunity to make a contribution in the sunshine.