Carlton Under 11s 2011 Fixtures and Results
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Grange U11A
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Carlton U11
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110 |
away |
147 |
| Carlton batted first. Our opening pair started slowly but in their third and fourth overs they opened up and went for their shots making 26 with the loss of one wicket leaving 121 in credit.
Ruairidh and Milo then batted sensibly but found runs hard to come by in the face of accurate Grange bowling adding 10 in their four overs after taking account of one wicket lost.
Our third and fourth partnerships faced the toughest bowling and managed to add quite a few runs but lost a number of wickets in the process adding a further 16 overall to the total. Carlton finished on 147.
With a relatively small score to defend the bowling and fielding had to be tight and in true Carlton fashion the boys delivered. Everyone bowled a good line and length. Gregor S was particularly aggressive and fizzed the ball in. He struck early with two caught and bowled, the second a fine diving one-handed catch.
The Grange batsmen found it difficult to get away and any progress made was soon cancelled out by further wickets earned by accurate bowling, sharp fielding and another good catch, this time by Ruairidh at mid-off. At the end of the innings, Grange stood on 110. A fine win by 37 runs.
Overall, this was a great performance by the boys against the auld enemy and one savoured by those amongst them (and amongst their dads) who had suffered defeat at the hands of the Grange boys in the past.
Team: Gregor S, Murray, Ruairidh, Milo, Tom, Kieran, Gregor Mc, Cameron |
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Carlton U11
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SMRH U11
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203 |
home |
165 |
This was a terrific, high-scoring match played on the excellent 20 yard batting strip prepared by the Grange Loan groundstaff.
The talented visitors batted first and soon had the score ticking, keeping out the good balls and attacking the wider deliveries, many of them generously directed outside leg stump. At the halfway stage (8 overs) they had added 47 runs without loss. Cameron and then Tom picked up a wicket each, before a stunning direct hit by Ruairidh brought about another -5, to slow down the SMRH assault. Tight bowling at the end restricted the total to 165 (+65).
To get anywhere near such a challenging total would take a disciplined batting performance - and that's exactly what Drummo's youngsters delivered. Ruairidh and Murray got things off to an aggressive start, with both batsmen finding the boundary and Ruairidh wielding his new bat effectively and with fine timing. 34 runs added for the loss of 1 wicket (+29).
Tom and Kieran then overcame the loss of an early wicket to take Carlton towards parity adding an excellent net 22 to the home score.
The young partnership of Gregor Mc and Cameron then followed the team tactics to perfection, ensuring they played out their four overs unbeaten, adding 13 priceless runs; the highlight being a fine pull for 4 by Cameron.
The best entertainment was saved to last, with the pairing of Gregor S and Angus adding 39 unbeaten runs. Angus unleashed an array of attacking shots while Gregor played a mature and intelligent innings, guiding his younger partner through the four overs and to a second win of the season for the Under 11s.
Team: Gregor S, Murray, Ruairidh, Angus, Tom, Kieran, Gregor Mc, Cameron |
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Grange Sharks U11
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Carlton U11 |
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221 |
away |
131 |
| Carlton lost the toss and were put in to bat. Murray and Ruairidh opened with Murray facing the brunt of the opening bowlers. Both were solidly impressive in defence against some aggressive bowling whilst Murray also succeeding in hitting 3 boundaries in their total of 18 for the loss of no wicket.
The second pairing of Milo and Kieran scored 23 with Kieran being particularly aggressive with the few loose balls that came his way smashing 4 boundaries. However, the loss of 3 wickets (-15) in the pairing limited their final contribution to 8. Tom and Hector also did very well in the face of some fine Grange bowling, both batsmen making contributions to their partnership of 12. Again the loss of wickets reduced the contribution to the total.
The final pairing of Angus and Gregor batted excellently against accurate and fast bowling. Gregor played some beautiful shots, provoking approving comment from the opposing coach. The loss of one wicket reduced the overall contribution from 13 to 8.
A total of 131 was never going to be easy to defend but Angus and Gregor restricted the openers to 21 with two wickets taken by Gregor in his second over leaving Grange on 111 and somewhat behind Carlton at the same stage.
However, Grange's best batting was to come in the middle two partnerships. the second pair adding 31 and the third a huge 48. The third pair added a further 31, and all without loss of further wickets. The Carlton bowling was good. Ruairidh bowled his leg-breaks with his usual control and variation, though without much turn on the pitch. Kieran delivered a number of very dangerous balls without reward. Milo's second over was particularly threatening and could easily have had a couple of wickets had fortune looked the other way. Hector and Tom also bowled well but against excellent batsmen could not make inroads.
Angus and Gregor returned for a third over each and both bowled beautifully but luck was not with them and they did not get the rewards that they deserved. In the field, Hector made some excellent stops, one in particular was worthy of Carlton's first 11. Murray's wicket keeping was excellent with some fine diving takes and a confident appeal for a caught behind that left the Carlton players believing that their coach was probably a little deaf. A number of sharp run out chances were only missed by fine running from the batsmen.
Overall the Carlton boys played very well indeed but against a very strong side that deservedly won. This was cricket of a very high quality from all concerned: all the boys on both sides can feel proud of how they played.
Team: Angus, Gregor S, Hector, Kieran, Milo, Murray, Ruairidh and Tom K |
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West Lothian U11
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Carlton U11 |
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281 |
away |
278 |
| The u11 team arrived at a sunny West Lothian on Friday night. On winning the toss, Carlton decided to bat. The opening pair batted away for 4 overs and scored 30 runs for the loss of 3 wickets. The other pairs all contributed on an equal basis with the loss of 1 wicket. There was a frustration for all pairs, as they felt that they could have played more shots or pushed more singles against the West Lothian bowlers.
Carlton scored a total of 98 runs for the loss of 4 wickets giving a target of 278
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The West Lothian reply took a steady pace with the first pair making 27 off the first 4 overs. The nature of the right hand - left hand combination of the West Lothian batting pairs, gave the Carlton bowlers something else to think about. At the half way stage, 8 overs, West Lothian were 62 for the loss of 2 wickets. However the next over from Tom Kujawa resulted in 3 wickets being taken with fantastic straight bowling.
The final pair from West Lothian batted well, scoring consistently. Tom took another 2 wickets in his last over, leaving west Lothian needing 7 to win from the final over. Having scored 9 from the first 3 balls, they then defended the last 3 balls to win.
In a tight game the boys felt that a few more runs and the need to protect all runs in the field could have made the difference.
Team:
Cameron, George, Gregor Mc, Gregor S, Hector, Murray, Ruairidh,
Tom |
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Carlton U11
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Watsonian U11
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home |
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With the Junior Social evening on at the ground, the Under 11s had the honour of playing in front of the biggest crowd of the season.
Despite their coach's absence on intenational duty, the youngsters stuck to their bowling and fielding duties well, despite some of the team only having had half-an-hour's break following the afternoon primary school match.
A steady start by the visitors had them on 228 after 6 overs, but an improved bowling performance thereafter delivered 4 wickets, which kept the total down to 256 at the end of the innings.
The first three Carlton pairs got things off to a good start, with veterans Angus and Murray leading by example. When the last pairing of Ruairidh and Gregor took the the middle, the home side were already 6 runs ahead. Some powerful hitting and excellent running then took Carlton to a 38 run win in the last league match of the season.
Team:
Gregor S, Angus, Murray, Ruairidh,
Isaac, Milo, Charlie, Kieran
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| Friday, 5th August |
Edinburgh Area Cup |
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Carlton U11
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SMRH U11
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263 |
home |
245 |
This was the first game for several weeks for the Development Group squad and there were to be plenty of signs of rustiness in the Carlton fielding, which clearly didn't impress coach Drummond.
 However, the home side got off to a flying start with debutant Hector delivering a double wicket maiden; the second wicket courtesy of a superb one-handed catch by Angus. Milo bowled the second over, generating serious pace off his long run. He picked up a wicket but his pace also meant that any edge would provide full value for the batsmen. A third wicket for Hector kept the visitors in negative territory before the second SMRH pairing put together a fine partnership, despite a good spell from Robert who was making his debut after missing the bulk of the season with an arm injury. The next wicket finally fell in Angus's second over leaving the home side on 221 at the halfway stage of the innings.
Hector came back to collect a well deserved fourth scalp, but the final SMRH pair put together an excellent partnership, despite two accurate overs from Gregor (left), before leg spin wizard Ruairidh picked up two wickets with the last two deliveries to peg back the batsmen and leave SMRH on 245 (i.e. 45 runs in credit.)
 A tactics chat from the coach at half-time left the Carlton side clear about what was expected of them, and Murray and Ruairidh (left) delivered as instructed with an impressive, technically sound partnership that delivered 25 runs without loss from their four overs.
Gregor and Hector were in next. As always, Gregor showed his potential, mixing solid defence with good, positive running between the wickets, while Hector was a little more expansive, hitting one glorious boundary but losing his wicket twice. Carlton on 240 with two pairs to come.
Milo and Robert overcame the loss of a wicket off their first ball to see off some impressive deliveries, hitting 12 off their remaining 23 balls to leave Carlton 2 ahead with the pairing of Cameron and Angus to come.
The bowling was tight but the Carlton boys used all their experience to hit 21 runs for the loss of just one wicket, taking their side to an 18 run win.
 
 
 
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Carlton
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Grange
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164 |
home |
161 |
Thanks to a challenge laid down by the Grange Under 10s, we were able to arrange a last fixture of the season to coincide with the junior social evening. The team selection for this one was very scientific with the youngest 8 players available chosen to make for what we hoped would be a good tight game. This meant a long awaited debut for Tristram, whose previous planned appearances for the side had all been washed out by rain.
With coach Drummond unavailable, the responsibility for this big match was handed to Kevin and the boys were left in no doubt beforehand that they would be expected to out all their summer’s coaching from the Scotland skipper into practice out in the middle.
The visitors batted first and were rocked by an early breakthrough from Tom. The fielding was of a high standard throughout and all the Carlton bowlers stuck to their task well. Milo generated considerable pace, Tristram showed the team what they’d been missing and young Gregor continued his improvement with a fine spell. Angus as always was accurate and posed problems to the batsmen, while leg spinner Ruairidh turned the ball for fun. Keeper Murray showed excellent glovework and surely gave his coach very little to complain about!
All of this resulted in the talented young Grange outfit being restricted to 161 – still a very challenging total. Murray and Ruairidh got the reply off to a good start with only one late wicket pegging the side back. The middle order of Tom, Kieran, Gregor and Angus batted very sensibly; their dropping and running in particular was of the highest standard and would have delighted coach Drummond if he’d been on duty. Kieran was especially impressive, mixing attractive strokeplay with aggressive running to demonstrate just how much he’s come on this year.
The pressure of chasing down the target was left to last pair Milo and Tristram. They took to the task with relish, although their running between the wickets sometimes had the large crowd scared to watch. With one over left, the scores were tied. A single to Milo left Carlton one ahead with only the potential loss of 5 runs for losing a wicket between the home side and a great win. “Block it out!” was the advice from the old heads on the sidelines. What the boys did, of course, was to take a couple of suicidal singles. One ball left, three runs ahead and Tristram on strike. The young man showed that he had an old head on young shoulders by meeting a ball just outside off stump with an extravagant leave that Jonathan Trott would have been proud of.
A great win to end the season. Well done all!
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