Weekend roundup – 8th/9th August

The 1s welcomed league leaders Grange to Grange Loan in round 15 of the EPL.  The visitors won the toss and chose to bat first.  Conor Regan had an early strike to reduce Grange to 12 for 1, but a solid 2nd wicket partnership was forming for the Stockbridge side .  At drinks they had moved on to 111 for 1 and were beginning to accelerate the scoring rate.  In the 47th over Jamie Beattie eventually made the breakthrough but the score had moved on to 247.  Rudy Adair claimed another wicket in the final over, but Grange finished on 294 for 3 from their 50 overs.  In reply Angus Guy fell early but Oli Stones and Shiv Jhala got the scoreboard moving.  They took the score to 76 before Jhala was trapped in front for 28.  Stones went shortly after for 40 which prompted something of  a procession and the Arrows were bundled out for a disappointing 115 in the 29th over to lose by 179 runs.

The 2s were taking on their counterparts from Grange at Portgower Place.  The home side also batted first but they were soon in trouble as early wickets for Ferg Foley (2) & Charles Stronach (3) left them 35 for 5 in the 11th over.  Grange recovered with a decent 6th wicket partnership which took the score to 123 before Hamish Foley struck in the 30th over.  A Pete Gill run out added to the home side’s woes to make it 152 for 7 before Ferg Foley came back and cleaned up the tail to finish with 5 for 45 as Grange were bowled out for 170.  In reply, Shreyas Tekale and Gill put on 85 for the 1st wicket before Gill nicked off for 25.  Hathorn joined Tekale in the middle and the youngsters kept the scoreboard moving, adding 48 before Tekale holed out for a run-a-ball 78.  The Arrows lost a couple of more wickets with the finish line in sight, but Hathorn (30*) saw them home with 6 wickets and 22 overs to spare.

The 4s were away at Edinburgh South 3s on the plastic at Inch Park 2.  Bowling first there was an early strike for Taha Khan before Raghuram Parasur claimed the 2nd wicket in the 12th over to make it 61 for 2.  At drinks South had moved on to 108 for 2 and immediately after Abhi Mehta struck thanks to a good catch at long off from Parasur.  Another handy partnership for the home side was broken by Jake Heller and he claimed a 2nd to make it 169 for 5 with 8 overs left.  Scott Fraser claimed a wicket and there was a 2nd for Khan as the Arrows restricted South to 201 for 7 from their 40 overs.  Fraser & Basil Khan put on 65 for the 1st wicket before Khan was bowled for 30.  David Simpson didn’t last long and Ishan Samanta was looking good before he slipped and was run out for 18 to leave the Arrows 91 for 3.  Chris Sale and Fraser kept up with the rate and took the score to 156 only for Fraser to hole out on 49.  Sale lost another partner in Parasur but skipper Al Murray joined him in the middle with 31 runs needed in just over 5 overs.  Both batters were able to find the boundary and run well to see the Arrows home in the penultimate over for a fine 5 wicket win, with Sale finishing unbeaten on 73.

The final game on Saturday saw the 5s host MDAFs 4s at Peffermill.  Bowling first there was an early wicket thanks to a run out from Tom Sweet.  Sweet then struck with the ball to make it 46 for 2 in the 13th over.  Sweet struck again at the end of the 17th to reduce MDAFs to 72 for 3.  George Barry then got in on the act with a peach of a delivery in the 23rd over to make it 93 for 4.  Arjun Shelke then took 2 in an over to leave MDAFs 103 for 6 and Ollie McCallum struck the following over.  Shelke then rattled through the remaining batters to finish with 5 for 9, bowling the visitors out for 108 in the 28th over.  In reply Sid Narayanaswamy and Vijay Raghavan fell cheaply to leave the Arrows in trouble at 14 for 2.  McCallum was then strangled down the leg side for 10 to make it 39 for 3 and Seb Gupta joined Robertson in the middle.  They took the score to 83 before Robertson was bowled for 36 in the 23rd over.  There were no further mishaps as Dilan Amin (18*) & Gupta (17*) saw the Arrows over the line for a 5 wicket win in the 29th over.

On Sunday the Women’s 1s were playing Watsonians in the WPL 40, looking to maintain their 100% record in the league.  Skipper Samantha Evans won the toss and chose to bowl first.  Elsie Fraser claimed a wicket in the 2nd over and then Maisie Maceira took 2 in the 7th over to reduce the home side to 41 for 3.  The score moved on to 90 in the 14th over before Janie Hemsley effected a run out to claim the 4th wicket.  Charis Scott then picked up a wicket as did Varsha Suresh and the pair repeated the feat either side of drinks to leave Watsonians 115 for 8.  Some late resistance from the home side was eventually broken by the returning Maceira before Ikra Farooq took the final wicket to bowl out Watsonians for 139 in the 26th over.  In reply, Farooq & Sarah Beith added 48 for the 1st wicket before Beith was stumped for 17.  Scott joined Farooq at the crease and took the score to 82 before Farooq fell for 32.  Evans made her way to the middle and the experienced pair knocked off the remaining runs without further alarm for an 8 wicket win in the 27th over, Scott finishing on 33* and Evans 31*.

The final game of the weekend saw the 3s host Leith FAB at Grange Loan.  The visitors won the toss and opted to bowl first.  Anish Amin and Charlie Kentish added 72 for the 1st wicket before Amin was out caught for 37.  Pavan Yaradi didn’t last long, but Kentish found good support from Euan Keatinge.  The pair took the score to 161 in the 30th over before Kentish was bowled for an aggressive 83.  Keatinge then fell for 37 and there were useful late cameos from Cam Moore (19) & Aadi Khadse (21) which saw the Arrows post 226 for 7 from their 40 overs.  Leith FAB added 28 runs in 8 overs before Dougie Firth claimed the 1st wicket.  Then in the 10th over Khadse picked up 2 wickets to make it 57 for 3 and 6 overs later Brad McKay got the 4th wicket with 72 on the board.  A good 5th wicket partnership was broken by Kentish in the 30th over with Leith needing 85 more runs to win.  Some big hitting from the visitors made for a nervous last 10 for the Arrows, but 3 wickets from Atreya Subr ensured they never ultimately threatened the total and finished on 201 for 9, giving the home side a 25 run win.