After a first week washout, the 2nd XI made their opening appearance of the league season at Roseburn against newly promoted Murrayfield DAFS - usually a tough place to play against a team that knows how to play well on their own patch.  With 4 under 16's in the team, it was no surprise that we didn't have enough cars to get there.  Akeel's two seater sports car and Jamie's top down BMW weren't enough, even with burying Leigh and Ruari under team kits.  Once the rest of us arrived by taxi, the stand in skipper, Brad won the toss and sent the hosts in on a green wicket with a long outfield to boot. 

Jamie Lenney and Brad kept things tight in their opening spells keeping DAFS to 15 off the first ten overs, with Brad taking the first two wickets in a 7 over opening spell.  Rushy kept the good work going with a wicket and when excellent fielding culminated in a run out, we had DAFS at 50/4 at drinks.  The team talk focussed on keeping up the good work and looking to roll our opponents for less than 100.  Unfortunately, it all went pear shaped after drinks when their number 6 hit out and hit out regularly to add on a further 50 runs in the next 5 overs to give the advantage back to DAFS, with harsh treatment handed out to Haris and Ferg, our spin twins.  We went back to seamers and Jamie broke the partnership with a fine catch taken by Rushy.  Seb bowled a handy spell, bowling ten straight into the breeze and picking up two wickets.  Ferg returned to pick up the DAFS destroyer thanks to a juggling catch from Akeel on the square leg boundary.  Things were kept pretty tight in the remaining few overs but the damage was done as DAFS reached 183/9 off 50 overs.  Overall, the bowling was pretty good with Seb, Jamie and Brad picking up two wickets each.  Fielding was also very good overall, with very few errors.

Ferg and Ani opened our reply, Ani accompanied by a runner which inevitably raised concerns about run outs.  Ferg hit some booming drives and saw off the openers with 33 on the board after 10 overs.  DAFS introduced spin and Ferg fell to the third ball, hit straight up into the air.  Seb and Wells also soon fell to the same wily spinner and we were in trouble.  DAFS brought the field in, bowled well and the ball became very difficult to get away.  Ruari joined Ani and they both dug in well, with Ruari showing good temperament and combining nice shots with solid defence.  Leigh also spent plenty of time at the wicket, which can only benefit both players as the season progresses.  Progress was slow as the bowling remained tight, and once Ani fell for 31, our chances slipped away and we were all out in the 42nd over for 119.  The difference was really the 66 made by the DAFS number 6 and given the young team we had the park, there were a number of positiives to take.

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Match abandoned

Another week and another captain - this week's contender was Stevie Elder, and he set about his task with gusto, drawing up lists of chores to do and generally delegating like a man who had done this job before.  Your correspondent should add that he went pale when it was suggested that he might like to write up the post game match report, and after threats of writing it in bullet points, this task was also well delegated.

Warm ups involved a 'show and tell' style stretching session where each player was invited to present a stretch of their liking for all to follow, much to our opponents amusement.  When eventually we got down to business, skipper Stevie lost the toss and we were inserted onto a wicket showing the effects of leaking covers.  Ani opened up with Fraser and successfully navigated the first few overs until Ani shouldered arms to one on middle and was unsurprisingly bowled.  Fraser was caught behind and when Seb and Rossco were bowled cheaply, we were in trouble at 40/4.  Worse was to come when Stevie turned down Wells' offer of a single - problem was that Matty had already run most of the length of the wicket and was run out by some margin.  At 50/5 after 20 overs, we desperately needed a partnership.  Luckily, this happened with Ruari supporting Stevie well and a nice partnership of 42 got us back on track.   After Akeel went cheaply, the younger Aslam joined Stevie in another rebuilding exercise and a healthy partnership of 40 was added for the 8th wicket, Stevie timing his drives well and Haris scoring a number of runs with the deft late cut.  Wellsie returned the favour to the skipper and gave him out stumped on 47 to deny Stevie a well deserved half century.  It was then left to Jamie and Brad to put on 25 for the last wicket; key runs as Jamie leathered the bowling all around the ground.  The innings closed on 171, which was a great recovery from 50/5.
 
Alas, it was all in vain.  Just as warm ups (or in Haris' case, finishing off tea) commenced, the rain came down, lightly at first and then heavier and once the covers went on, they were unlikely to come off.  The match was called off and both teams retired to the bar for drinks. 

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Scorecard

After winning the toss, we batted.  New to Carlton, Jim Guest opened up with the more experienced Fraser Allardice and got us off to a good start.  Both made it to double figures before losing their way.  Ani also made it to 10 before he decided to attempt to run a single, communicating only telepathically with Nik Hunt at the other end.  It didn’t work.

The bowler who used to be an all rounder but is now a batsman (Stevie Elder) strode to the wicket and took up where he left off the week before.  He was the mainstay in partnerships each around the 50 mark with Nik, Pietschy & Matt Wells.  Each of his batting partners played some fine strokes but could only make it half way to 50 before finding a way to get out.  When Elder & Wells were both back in the shed (literally) with the score near 200, a late flurry from Akeel pushed the total up to 241.  A good score on a pitch with a bit of life in it.

Brad got us off to a great start getting dangerman Sachdeva out LBW in the 1st over.  With the opposition starting to find the boundary regularly, the tide turned when Pietsch drew a loose shot from the other opener, number 3 Talreja was run out, and Wellsy made up for dropping the opposition skipper by running him out in the same delivery.  Things looked good for us at 57-4 in the 18th over.

Hutchinson & Australian recruit Smith then put on a 120 run 5th wicket stand to wrestle the momentum away from us and bring the required run rate under 6 an over.  But when Akeel caught Hutchinson off Fraser Allardice’s bowling on 51 and Smith attempted a suicide run on 72, the game swung back to be evenly balanced at 180 for 6 in the 38th over.  A fine late spell from Rush and accurate bowling from Allardice and Haris snapped up the remaining 4 wickets for only 40 runs to see us home by a margin of 22 runs. 

A great result in one of those games that could have gone either way where we found the ticker to play good cricket at the end when it counted.

Scorecard

We lost the toss and were told to bowl.  Openers Josh Walker and Pietschy took some tap.  On the small ground, with batsmen who believed in above all else, the merits of quick bat speed, boundaries were a plenty.  Although Josh picked up a wicket in his 2nd over, the opposition rocketed to 64 for 1 after 10 overs.

Then the youngsters took over.  Cheeky came on and threw the ball up brilliantly.  He had Crawford caught in the deep by Fraser Allardice and snuck one through Liddle to snare two fine top order wickets.  A great recovery from the young man after his early fielding indescretion.

Ruari Macpherson took over from Pietsch at the top end and proceeded to show the old fella how it was done.  After Davidson was dropped at long on by Kyle, we weren’t quite sure whether the stare he gave his brother had more ill feeling in it than the one he gave the batsman a ball later.  He then took his brother out of the equation in his second over by simply swinging it in in the air, pitching it on middle, getting it to nip away off the deck and take the top off off stump.  “Not the perfect ball” he said afterwards but good enough to get out an opener looking solidly set on 30 (and probably half the Carlton 1st XI for that matter). 

Both Cheeky and Ruari kept hitting their areas relentlessly and each were rewarded with another wicket each.

After Cheeky had finished his 8, Leigh took over and bowled some brilliantly flighted offspin.  She confused two of the lower order Panicuik batsmen, her 27-2 from her 8 overs just reward for a fine spell into the breeze.  At the other end, Walker and Ruari came back to do the damage and finish off the Penicuik innings relatively quickly.  Josh & Ruari finished with 3 apiece.  All out for 146 was a score that made the skipper very happy after the helter skelter start to the innings.

Opening our innings, Fraser Allardice and Kyle Macpherson produced a brilliant partnership.  They taught Penicuik a lesson that fast batspeed on its own is no match for disciplined strokemaking and aggressive running between the wickets.   They picked their gaps and fielders exquisitely to keep the scoreboard turning over despite some accurate bowling from the Penicuik attack.

With both batsmen around 40 at drinks, Pietschy told each of the lads that these are the innings where good batsmen go on to make at least 50.  Kyle was the first of the pair to make it to his half century but unfortunately he took the skipper’s advice literally and was caught a few balls later.  Nik came and went after a yorker snuck under his bat, and after Wells did his usual thing of managing to be dropped from one of his first few deliveries, it looked like a late innings wobble might be on the cards.  However, the sure head of Fraser Allardice was there to keep things rattling along.  Matt Wells helped out where he could with his shaky 18, but it was Fraser’s unbeaten 67 that was the highlight of afternoon.

Such a fine performance from all the Carlton juniors left the more senior team members grateful for (A) the finely run Carlton juniors' program and (B) the fact that 15 year olds can’t drive and they need transportation to and from games.

Here’s hoping for a similar performance at the next round of the President’s Trophy.  Good luck to us old fogies getting a game if the next match is at home!

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High flying Watsonians visited Grange Loan aiming to continue their recent good form against the Arrows and reach the top of East League Divison One. Unfortunately they did just that on a day where the home side fell short in all departments.

In the absence of the regular skipper and the run machine Elder, stand in Duerden won the toss and invited the visitors to bat with the threat of rain looming over the ground. This did not deter the Watsons openers though as Toole and Learmonth made the most of a typically hard deck and some wayward bowling to bring up a stand of 100 within the first twenty overs. Spin was introduced in the form of Amit and Haris in an attempt to stem the rate, and this paid off, Amit bowling tidily to pick up 1-25 off his ten straight overs, perhaps unlucky not to have a couple more in the wickets column. Haris supported well from the other end, his last over marring what would otherwise have been excellent figures given the circumstances. A couple of dropped catches and a missed runout meant that Fleming capitalised in the last ten after good groundwork from Fox and Yellowlees, and Watsonians entered the clubhouse on 279-6, a commanding total.

The reply began steadily, Fraser and Kyle looking solid before the latter lost his off stump to a sharp off cutter from Sands. Duerden and Fraser saw the score past fifty and were starting to look like building a partnership until Fraser too was bowled by Sands. Unfortunately this became a regular feature of the innings, batsmen establishing themselves and reaching a fluent twenty before being undone by a mixture of good bowling and poor shot selection. Persistent light rain did not help either side but perhaps hindered the batsmen slightly more as momentum was hard to generate as the players had to leave the field. With the introduction of the Duckworth Lewis method to the East League this season, it seems that a calculator is a must have in the kitbag of the 2nd team captain without the ever reliable Lynn Forrester around to help out! 

At 30 overs Carlton found themselves 120-7 and with nowhere to go. An Aslam father son partnership restored some respect to proceedings, Haris in particular looking good with a flurry of boundaries through the leg side. He finished unbeaten on 24, running out partners as Carlton eventually subsided for 190, 89 runs short.

So a comprehensive defeat for the twos but plenty to learn from and lots of character building experiences gained. Character is exactly what will be required with a trip to Fauldhouse on the horizon next week.

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Rained Off

Rained Off

Rained Off

After 3 cricketless weeks because of the Scottish Summer, despite the wet forecast we came to Grange Loan happy to have a prospect of completing a full day’s cricket.  On arriving, things only got better – Russell & Alisdair had done an astounding job of producing a fantastic wicket given the circumstances and SNCL umpire Brian Anderson had kindly ventured to Grange Loan and offered us his services for the day.

With the toss a good one to lose, Pietschy won it and decided to stick the opposition in.  Things started well as the skipper pouched an early one at slip, Rich trapped Mahzer LBW and Brad found another edge to take the score to 18 for 3.  Holy Cross veterans Charlie Ellis and Shannon Bonfield then built a solid and steady partnership, putting on 50 together in the face of some tight Carlton bowling.  Amit got Ellis to feather a wide one just before drinks leaving the score poised at 80 for 4.

Conditions became difficult after the interval with the fine rain falling in the hot and humid conditions.  In the second half of the innings Haris bowled with great flight and control given the damp ball and drew a number of chances out of the Holy Cross batsmen picking up a couple of quick wickets in the process.  The sixth wicket partnership between Bonfield and Russell then put on another 30 before Pietsch struck with a yorker and Rich had the well set Bonfield caught at point just short of his 50.  Haris returned to hover up the last two wickets Clarkey-style and we had Holy Cross back in the shed for 144.  A job well done in some tough bowling conditions.

With 144 being one of those tricky little targets to chase, it would require someone to take responsibility for the innings and bat the overs. In the dressing room before the Carlton innings, captain Pietsch asked one of his top order batsmen to STAND UP AND BE COUNTED.  Disappointingly, after a few ons and offs with the covers, at the drinks break all except Ani were sitting down again. Leaving us looking down the barrel at 63 for 5.  When Ani chipped a return catch back to Russell on 30 in the over after drinks, it was left to the skipper and his bowlers to do more than what should be asked of them.

Never willing to go down without a fight, Pietsch took the challenge on with both hands.  He was disciplined where others weren’t and played straight on a dampening, dying pitch that demanded it.  After finding 2s and 4s from the gaps in the field, Holy Cross quickly became nervous that they might just snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.  With Haris providing solid but defensive support, opposition captain Euan Smith employed the tactic of putting every single one of his men on the boundary for Pietsch and squeezing dots out of Aslam with accurate bowling and a tight field.

While arguments raged (on and off the field) about the ethics of such a field, the fight went on.  But when Haris was out trying to push one through the infield, and Rich missed a straight one first up, Pietsch was soon running out of partners.  Brad strode to the wicket and, like Haris provided stoic support to the skipper.  However, with the exception of a couple of lusty boundaries, Pietsch found it nigh on impossible to get more than a single past Euan’s 9 men on the boundary.  In the 47th over, with the dwindling balls remaining and the strike becoming all important, a run out ended the Carlton innings 24 short.

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On Saturday the 2nd of July 2011, summer came to Scotland for the second day running. Whilst on such days, one always wishes to be playing on one of the fantastic wickets at Grange Loan, we weren’t to complain as we ventured to ‘the other Grange’ for a knock about on Scotland’s second best wicket.

After ‘Casino Pietsch’ won another toss (making it 6 from 6 this year), the skipper decided to have us bat first on a perfectly balanced wicket – one that would play true with just a bit in it for the bowlers.

Coming into the 2nd XI for his first non-washed-out game, Srinivasan opened up with Barrett and got us off to a steady start.  In the 6th over, Barrett guided one to slip and Deurden, batting at 3, took up where he left off.  Good value for stroke play on the fast Grange outfield helped push the score passed 50.  But then Kaczynski struck a double blow in the 15th over, Deurden out on 17 just as he was starting to look comfortable and Rajan done all ends up 1st ball by a beautiful in-cutter.

After his fighting 48 the previous week, Pietsch promoted himself up the order to 5 and teamed well with the dependable stoic opener Aravind.  After regrouping the innings, the pair wrenched back the momentum from Grange through clever running between the wickets and deft shot making.   With the captain striking the ball well and finding the boundary often, Srinivasan showed why he is a thinking cricketer, rotating the strike well (which pleased the captain no-end).  By drinks the duo were well on top of a dejected Grange who sensed it was going to be a long day. 

Having overtaken Srinivasan, Pietsch reached his 50 soon after drinks. After 30 overs, the punishment dished out by the pair had clearly taken its toll on the ball, which was changed for a rather newer one.  A bit of extra bounce and a loose shot later, Pietsch was on his way back to the grandstand for 56, the partnership worth 68.  Majumdar made 9 but was then out attempting to pull one that kept a tad low, and Wells was run out without facing a ball.

From then on it was all about Srinivasan.  Supported well by 17s from Haris and then Metcalfe, Having got past his 50, Srinivasan started finding the boundary with ease.  Each ball was a scoring opportunity as he put away good balls to whatever part of the field he pleased.  He progressed through the 80s & 90s in lightening speed and we were soon on our feet applauding the first 2nd XI century maker for 2011.  A class innings from the birthday boy.  When he fell on 118, Brad took over the strokemaking and pushed our score upwards before we were all out 3 balls short of the full 50 for 269.

McKay and Metcalfe opened up the defence.  Both bowled well but with ‘Metronome’ McKay throwing up the odd pie Metcalfe got the 1st wicket in the 11th over – finding Aravind at slip with the score on 33.  Pietsch took over from Brad with immediate effect, Wellsy snaffling the second edge of his 1st over.  This was soon followed by the skipper’s second, a belter of a seamer that split Pietsch’s East Academy ‘reverse sweep for six’ nemesis Muir in half, leading him to remark ‘oh my, that was a good delivery’.

After a few tight overs from Bhopal, Haris took over at the Grandstand end and had Wickramsinghe caught behind from his belter of a first delivery – it was “Warne to Gatting – esque”.  The Grange skipper Mullins and #6 Hoffman then reminded us that we had a game on our hands.  They put together a solid partnership and found the boundary regularly and kept the 6 and over asking rate firmly in check.  Aslam clasped a dying return catch to have the skipper out on 20, but #7 Taylor took up the resistance where Taylor left off.  The pair pushed the score past 200 in the 40th over.

Returning for his second spell, Pietsch found the edge again and teamed with Wells’ safe hands to wrestle back the ascendency.   With Hoffman still striking the ball well, the game was still on – but having now to find the boundary with dwindling support, a sharp stumping from Wellsy off Brad found him short of his crease and on his way for a well played fighting 69.

An over later Pietsch uprooted Hairs Jnr’s middle stump and then did it all over again to have Grange 9 down and nowhere to go.  Kaczynski took the fight right through - but the innings was ended on 3 balls from the end by a direct hit from Pietsch at mid wicket.

Scorecard

MATCH ABANDONED

Rained Off

(Home game for Watsonians - switched to Grange Loan due to 1st XI cup match)

Stand-in skipper Elder has been too modest thus far to submit a match report for the game of the season. The visitors needed 1 run off the last ball with one wicket in hand. The ball was hit straight back to the skipper who took the bails off to ensure a tie.

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On one of the best summers days that Edinburgh has produced in 2011, we were reminded of the joy that it is to play cricket in blazing sunshine on one of Moon’s run laden wickets.  Boroughmuir travelled to Carlton to try and wrench themselves from the bottom of the table, with the home side knowing a win would all but guarantee them safety from the relegation zone. 

On being married, the captain’s fortunes seemeed to have taken a turn for the worse as he lost the toss and the opposition elected to bat.  Down to only 10 men, things only got worse for the away side - Rich Matcalfe producing a consistent spell of bowling to draw the first wicket in the 3rd over.  Bowling in a good partnership, Mo also had them darting away of the wicket and was rewarded with the other opener’s wicket in the 6th over.  When Rich had the dangerous Manish out for 20 and Pietsch snared Hutchison a few overs later, Boroughmuir were looking down the barrell of a low score at 50-4 in the 17th over.  Talreja and Docherty then batted slowly but sensibly in a 65 run partnership spanning 20 overs. 

Cheeky then broke the deadlock getting a finger on a fast Talreja drive that cannoned into the stumps, leaving Docherty unluckily short of his ground.  Haris then picked up the opposition skipper, bowling better than his figures of 30-1 from 10 suggested.  With Cheeky being difficult to get away at the other end, Pietsch replaced Haris and hovered up the tail, getting a couple of cheap wickets to finish off the man-short Boroughmuir for 125.  Whilst all were brilliant in the field, both Kyle and Ani put in super efforts saving about 20 runs between them, what would turn out to be very important contributions. 

The chase began, with the dressing room confident that batting maestro Pete Deakin would amass a healty score quickly, and we’d catch the last hour of the England test.  However, in the third ball of the game, with zilch on the board, Boyapati produced probably the best ball of the ESCA season, jagging one from a foot outside off to clip the top of Deak’s off peg. 

Letting the ball go turned out to be a canny move from the veteran batsman as it brought Kyle Macpherson (left) to the crease.  In an innings well supported by Tom Barrett, Kyle took the attack to Boroughmuir, cover driving and pulling the bad balls with ease and power. 

When Tom was trapped in front on 32 the pair had put on 93 and taken us to knocking on the door of victory.  Then came a wobble of proportions that would be familiar only to residents of Christchurch, New Zealand.  Laksmanaram’s spin then got the better of Seb - then Boyapati returned to dismiss Kyle, Pietsch, Haris and Mo.  93-1 had quickly become 110-7. 

However, the steady head of Ani (13*) with a few elegant shots from Rich saw us through in the end.  Proving the theory that good fielders make the best batsmen.

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A glorious sunny day greeted us at Grange Loan for the last game of the ESCA 2011 season.  For many of us, given the wet four weeks that had preceded, it felt like the first game of the year.  Harnessing this youthful exuberance we were put in to bat on a beautiful pitch that looked like it would also have a bit in it for the bowlers.  The captain’s 6-0 mid year win loss toss ratio now standing in tatters at 6-4.

Seb & Tom got us off to a good start, seeing off some good opening bowling.  Having coped with everything thrown at him on the off side, in the 14th over Warrender slipped one down the leg side and the Largo keeper whipped off the bails in a flash to have Seb out stumped.  Kyle put together another solid, attacking start before falling in exactly the same fashion on 17. 

Throughout the first session, Tom Barrett was again the one laying a foundation for the rest of the team to build on.  Just before drinks, he undid himself edging an innocuous one through to the keeper, falling 5 short of a deserved half century.

After a very slow start, batting up the order at #4, Pietsch went about accumulating some runs. At the other end, Jim MacDonald and then Fraser Allardice each took their time in adjusting to the pitch with its variable bounce and the disciplined lines being bowled by Largo.  Jim went for 8 and Fraser came in and held his own scampering the odd single here and there.  After finding his rhythm with a 6 to cow and a tracer bullet straight drive, Pietsch got all too excited trying to hit Largo spinner Ryan Brown out of the attack.  With the score on 157, a smart bit of bowling from the young lad and a stupid bit of batting from the old man had him bowled on 47 – disappointing from the set batsmen who should have gone on to steer the end of the innings through to a higher total.

With Fraser batting solidly but really struggling to beat the field, the lower order feeling the pressure came and went trying to push our total up towards 200.  Zaki struck a few fine blows in his quick fire 11, but the pitch was a difficult one to come in and make instant runs on.  The last 5 wickets fell for 20 and we were all out in the 49th over for 177.  A very defendable total, but again, one lacking a big score from one of the top order.

After tea Rich & Elder opened and bowled tight lines that the Largo openers couldn’t do much with but block.  After 2 overs of metronomic out-swingers, Elder jagged a cracker back from outside off stump bowling the perplexed Rintoul for a globe.  Throughout his spell of 10 Elder only bowled 2 bad balls and was extremely unlucky not to have picked up 3 or 4 wickets. 

Benefiting from the pressure built by Elder & Metcalfe, Pietsch took over from the top end with immediate result, trapping the other Largo opener plumb in front.  Wickets followed in his 3rd and 5th overs, but the opposition captain continued to provide stoic resistance.  Seb & Haris came on before drinks with the latter picking up a wicket from a well flighted delivery in his first over. 

The pressure continued to build with dot after dot.  Seeing the bowling trophy beckon, Pietsch brought himself back on picking up another a couple of cheap wickets and the Largo captain for 40 in his last five overs, finishing with figures of 11-6 from 10.  Nice.  Seb’s line and length proved all too difficult for the Largo lower order picking up the last two wickets to have them all out for 109 in the 42nd over.

A positive finish to the year - our 5 wins, 5 losses and a tie from 11 games earning us a mid-table finish.