Scorecard

In the (hopefully) temporary absence of any match reports on this page, we commend our readers to the match report from the Glenrothes website.

 

Scorecard

RAINED OFF

RAINED OFF

Due to the wet weather, the 2's were forced to reduce their President's Cup first round tie against Teuchters to a twenty over per side contest on the artificial at Grange Loan.  Luckily, one of the days of the season shone on us after weeks of inactivity.

Peachy won his first toss of the season (finally!) and stuck with tradition by opting to bat.  Tradition then went out the window with both teams appearing in pyjamas and the pink ball in use.  Tight bowling kept the rate down and Ali soon fell caught behind for 5.  Ruari joined Zaki and with some fine shots and excellent running between wickets, pushed the score up to 60 in the 11th over before both Ruari (26) and Zaki (30) fell in the same over.  A rebuilding exercise was required against some good bowling.  Wells threatened to unleash and launched a huge six, narrowly missing a family in front of the wall but was soon caught trying to do it again.  Wickets fell steadily and it was left to Allardice senior and Legs to push the score up to 130/7 off our twenty overs.  A good effort.

In reply, good bowling from Legs and Brad kept the score down to 29 off the first 8 overs.  Tight fielding soon brought about a wicket via a run out.  As the pressure grew, wickets started to fall with two falling to Peachy, two for Haris (in consecutive balls - hat trick ball would have been caught if Peachy was another two feet taller) , and two for Fraser.  Wells had a good night behind the stumps with two stumpings and two catches.  Standards were kept high throughout as the light darkened and Ruari came on to finish off with two wickets in the final over as Teuchters finished on 78/9.

An excellent effort, and many thanks to Teuchters for staying for beers afterwards.  

Despite not playing for a number of weeks, the Carlton 2’s travelled across to Largo confident of success, if only because we had the numerical advantage over our rivals.  The carrot for allowing Rob Thornton to play (and captain) was that his extended family also travelled with us.  This gave us not only a 5 man advantage, but the car trip saw Rob’s dad teaching Zaki more about Scottish history than he’d ever learned at school.

The most picturesque ground in the east of Scotland also provided a hard wicket and short boundaries.  It also provided a cow corner with actual cows.  Rob lost the toss and we were asked to bowl first.  Lenney and Legget opened up, keeping things tight but the first wicket didn’t fall until the 10th over, with Lenney taking out Rintoul’s stumps.  Rushy replaced Legs and a wayward first over lulled the number three into a false sense of security as he missed the only ball on the stumps to fall LBW.  Rob replaced Lenney and bowled an excellent tight spell where wickets felt possible at any time.  He accounted for their overseas player for 0 and induced their opener to give Brad a rare catch. 

Rushy had kept up the pressure well after his first over, to be followed up by Mo coming downhill.  Mo bowled great lines and picked up two early wickets to leave Largo is big trouble at 60/6 at drinks.  Mo picked up another two straight after drinks and at 67/8, the end seemed close.  However, Largo dug in and as the tail supported, the number 4, Rajagopal, started swinging.  He took to our spinners and while never looking in full control, boosted his own score to 75 before Mo ran him out with a direct hit.  Largo 138 all out.

The team had been excellent up until about 30 overs. after which a couple of chances went down and the bowling was not as sharp.  Kudos with the bowling go to Lenney (2/24), Rob (2/16) and Mo (4/24).  Special mention goes to Ruari for an excellent job behind the stumps.

In reply, despite losing Ali early on, Zaki and Rob punished the bowling with some glorious driving to quickly bring down the total.  Rob fell LBW for 20 (all boundaries) while Zaki looked untroubled.  Ruari struggled early on but soon found his form, his driving being a real highlight.  At 70/2 off 12 overs, things were looking good. 

The introduction of spin slowed things down a bit and accounted for Zaki for a fine 35.  Things became a bit tighter around drinks as a few wickets fell unnecessarily.  Firstly, Ruari was stumped for an excellent 30 and Fraser was run out going for a second run.  Haris skied one and with a stagnant run rate, what was left of the tail quickly padded up.  However, Mo, Lenney and Rushy saw us limp over the line for a three wicket win with over 10 overs to spare.

An excellent win but not without a few worries.  A good base to work from with Grange at home next week.

 

Scorecard

The stakes were especially high this week for the second eleven, as the visitors came in the form of rivals Grange.  Rob succeeded in providing extra incentive for the team to win during the warm-up, inspiring us to avenge the Carlton Under 9s’ recent defeat to the same opposition.  The dynamic of the side was altered further by new leadership in the form of keeper Wells, usual Vice Captain, promoted to the helm of the team in preparation for Pietsch’s impending disappearance down under. 

Wells’ run as skipper could not have begun more successfully, winning the toss with flawless technique and electing to bat on a characteristically high quality Grange Loan wicket.  In went youngsters Zaki and Ali who began steadily, but unfortunately Zaki was soon dismissed in his trademark fashion: an ‘unsuccessful leave’, providing straightforward catching practice for keeper Roche.

In at 3, Rob Thornton moved swiftly to 29 with a series of elegant boundaries but, in an effort to emulate Zaki’s wicket, dragged one onto his stumps whilst trying to leave the ball.  By this time, however, Ali had accumulated a confident and exciting half century, and Matthew came in at 4 to assist him.  The new captain’s innings was cut short when, contrary to the overwhelming opinion of the spectators, Ali decided that taking a second run would be imprudent, sending his partner for a shuttle run back to his crease which ended in a run-out.  It was noted that a disappointing aspect of Mathew’s innings – aside from its untimely end – was the  lack of a long-expected reverse sweep which would have been, according to the captain (in his new role the dugout were in no position to argue) possible without pre-meditating the shot.

As wickets fell at one end, Ali had made his way to his maiden century for Carlton at the other.  A fine display of shots all around the wagon wheel showed he was unafraid to make full use of the largest gap on any cricket ground: the sky.  His innings closed on 113 as he was dismissed by young fast bowler Duncan Player, and without him to act as the backbone of the innings any longer, useful contributions from Jamie and Nathan saw the side past 200, although neither managed to capitalise on their starts and carry the team through the fifty overs.

Hence, this job was left to new-kid-on-the-block Haris Aslam, recently returned from loan at SMRH.  Eager to please his fans, Haris exhibited his notorious default scoring shot: a deft run-down through third man for which he is revered throughout the East Leagues.  His ability to play this shot regardless of line or length brought him a handy 14* and Carlton’s innings closed on a very competitive 232.

A fight in the field was required and opening bowlers Lenney and Rush worked hard to restrict the batsmen, with Dave causing opener Roche to edge one early on, providing a comfortable catch for Pietsch at first slip.  Grange’s second wicket partnership provided some resistance with Edwards and Haq scoring 25 and 38 respectively.  Matthew’s brief juggling act behind the stumps helped to prolong this partnership, much to the dismay of bowler Rush who had managed yet again to find the edge of Edwards’ bat, and who is increasingly under the impression that Carlton’s wicketkeepers have conspired to deny him as many wickets as possible, based on this and previous weeks.  For fear of losing my place in the side, I should say that other than this entertaining drop, the skipper’s glove-work was solid throughout the game.

Thankfully balance was more than restored when Rob came on to bowl, penetrating Edwards’ defences and then causing Haq to chip one to Ali at cover.  Now, with the in-batsmen gone, Carlton looked in a strong position.  In fact, Rob felt relaxed enough to engage in – as I understand it – polite conversation with the Batsman Munsey.  This benign exchange soon came to an end as his wicket fell, along with Grange’s middle order by a combination of tight bowling and a series of Karbonn Kamaal™ Catches from Fraser, Zaki and Jamie.

All that was left was for Carlton to finish off the tail-enders, but Allardice missing two straightforward caught-and-bowled opportunities – giving him a net catch-count of zero* for the game - delayed victory.  Thankfully both of the batsmen were dismissed soon afterward, meaning the drops were more embarrassing than consequential.  With the number 11 batsman unable to play, the wicket of Grange Captain Rae for a hard-fought 19 marked the end of the match and a solid win for Carlton by 87 runs.  Three wickets apiece for Mo and Rob and economical figures all round backed up a batting performance built largely on Ali’s success, bringing the two’s to 3 wins-1 loss for the season and standing them in good stead for their trip to Dunfermline next week.  Most importantly of course, Finlay Thornton and the Carlton under 9s are suitably avenged.    

Scorecard

* [Our young correspondent is too modest to to mention it but one of his catches was descriibed to me by a veteran campaigner as "one of the best catches I've ever seen" - Ed]

After a week of solid rain the likelihood of a 2nd XI match was looking slim. However to my surprise the text never came through on Saturday morning. With the absence of some key players, Matt Wells having retreated to the woods surrounding Loch Ness for Friday night, Pietsch away gallivanting around Australia and Fraser Allardice on a Duke of Edinburgh wander around the Scottish Highlands the 2nd’s could have been seen to be severely weakened. However with the introduction of the wonderous Tom Clarke, Gavin Rittoo and Craig Everett there was still hope of victory away to the Dunfermline Knights. With the club promoting a youth policy, Tom Clarke at the tender age of 28 took the form of the team elder.

After Mo lost the toss, Carlton were put into bat. Although it was not the preferred choice of the Captain it seemed not to be a bad position to be in. Carlton batting all the way down to number 10. A pre match team talk from the team elder seemed to have a rather profound effect on the two openers Zaki Yusuf and Ali Shah. Normally noted for their ‘range hitting’ and fearless approach to scoring runs. In this instance however there was a far more conservative and careful approach to scoring after Tom advised the openers to take it slow and allow fellow team mates to assess the pitch and formulate a  projected score. After Zaki’s attempt to give the opposition wicket keeper catching practice in the previous weeks his approach to leaving the ball continued to weigh heavily on Jamie Lenney’s mind as Zaki seemed to hang his bat on off stump. The mature batting from the openers saw Carlton off to a steady start, on 27 after 10 overs.

  

However the conservative approach didn’t last for long and patience ran short for Ali who missed a straight one and was dismissed for 22, which led to Kyle Macpherson coming to the crease.  A booming drive straight down the ground struck fear into the opposition bowlers. But with steady encouragement from the more senior members of the Knights team including shouts of, ‘get on with it you tubby git’ instilled confidence in the young bowler. Then Zaki’s attempted slog sweep, led to him being bowled. This brought the Macpherson duo to the middle. Ruari looked very solid to begin and with some nice strokes got fully into his stride. However Kyle followed in the footsteps of Zaki and Ali missing a straight one. This brought Haris to the middle. A productive 65 run partnership between Ruari and Haris took Carlton to 134 off 38 overs, but some lazy running from Haris saw, Jamie Lenney walking to the middle. A quick fire 22 left Carlton on 156. Then the dismissal of Ruari for a convincing 40 left some work to be done. Unfortunately the tail failed to wag and with three successive ducks from the 9, 10 and 11, Carlton’s innings came to a close from a less than par 162.

  

With a star laden bowling line up, including the left arm phenomenon Tom Clarke, Mo wheels and Gavin Rittoo’s line and length, medium pace 162 was certainly defendable.

A vicious short ball from Lenney took the edge of the young opening batsmen which was beautifully snaffled by Everett, the first wicket falling for a single run; a very encouraging start. However a strong second wicket partnership for the home team with their overseas amateur looking good took the opposition to 55. Until inevitably Rittoo struck with the batsmen lobbing one to Zaki standing at mid-on. The amateur continued to play some nice strokes, but the introduction of the captain to the bowling attack saw the 3rd wicket fall. Then a build up of pressure from some solid bowling from both ends paid off and a good catch from Kyle, at point, dismissed the dangerous, overseas amateur.

However some strong batting and sloppy fielding allowed the 5th wicket partnership to flourish, pushing the match out of Carlton’s reach. A tactical bowling change from the young Captain brought the game back and Clarke picked up a key wicket in his first over. The team elder continued to deliver picking up 2 more quick wickets. Carlton still had work to do; with batsmen Wilkinson seeing the ball well pressure was placed on the bowlers. The composure of the attack paid off with Clarke taking the wicket of Wilkinson for a hard fought 30. Another intuitive bowling change introduced Ali Shah to the attack, his slingy action, surprising pace and accuracy turned out to be too much for the tail, and his figures 1-17 off 5 overs put pressure on the opposition batsmen. While at the other end Clarke continued to pick up steady wickets. Then a mix up between the number 10 and 11 saw some composed team work between Yusuf, Everett and Clarke, which saw an end to the opposition innings finishing on 150, 13 runs short of the Carlton’s total.

The batting may not have matched up to the strength of the line up, however some very tight and composed bowling from the Carlton youngsters saw a very well deserved victory. Leaving the Carlton 2’s having played 5, won 4 and lost 1 placing them 4th in the league table.

  

Scorecard

RAINED OFF

RAINED OFF

There is a brief report in the Scotsman Newspaper of this week’s game, due to the washing out of every other match of a higher level in the country. This can be found on the Scotsman website, next to a piece about Carlton amateur Michael Herdman, in which he lists off his impressive bowling statistics from his time playing cricket at the most northerly point of Queensland. For those who were not entirely satisfied with the Scotsman’s coverage of the game, a more detailed and hopefully less Haris-centric report follows…

In undoubtedly the highest standard of cricket played in Scotland all weekend, the twos clashed with the Eastern Under 18 Knights (aka “Cobras”?) at Grange Loan. Carlton selectors were keen to match the teams fairly evenly in terms of age, and as such no player exceeded the age of 25 (aside from Brad who has just turned 26 ...).

Matthew maintained his flawless toss record and sent the Cobras in to bat on an inevitably damp wicket. Opening bowlers Jamie and Leggs built pressure from the start with dot after dot, and batsman Edwards soon fell to Jamie, chipping one to specialist fielder Gavin Rittoo at cover, whose catch was remarkable for its complete absence of foot movement. After a hard-fought 25 from Miller, the number one bat, the Shah Bros. saw to his dismissal: Ahmed inducing the edge and Ali making no mistake at first slip.

Change bowlers Ahmed and Brad continued in an economical fashion. However at this point Matthew unfortunately had to abdicate his wicket-keeping responsibilities due to a chipped fingernail that he had sustained during the week. This crisis, however potentially disastrous it may have seemed, in fact created an opportunity for the team to flaunt our enviable strength-in-depth; Mo Ahmed utilising his experience as a former, part-time, under 15 wicket keeper. A further opportunity to improve self-esteem and morale within the team arose from this incident: As a unit we proved that we are confident enough in our own professionalism and decorum to be happy to give the impression of being a village side – by swapping keepers part way through a game – without actually being so.

Matthew’s faith (having little proof on which to base his decision) in Mo’s glovework was well placed, as Ahmad’s pace forced an edge from Adams and Mo snared the catch with almost dignified technique. Soon Brad, too, was rewarded, trapping East Captain Cash LBW for a robust 32.

Now with Carlton firmly on top, Matthew’s next bowling change to bring on Mo forced yet another wicketkeeper to present himself from the team. Luckily he came in the form of Ruari Mac, giving him an opportunity to prove that there is no cricketing discipline at which he does not excel. The bowling/keeping change kept the run rate down and the pressure very much on the Cobras. Number 5 bat Walker, starved of loose deliveries by Haris and Mo, was forced to take quick singles to try to keep the score from stagnating. He did so for some time, accumulating an enterprising 23, but then began the inevitable onslaught of wickets from young Haris. Walker was stumped (credit to our 3rd choice keeper Ruari) and the remaining batsmen failed to contribute significantly to the score as Haris took 5 wickets for only 17 runs. Mo, seamlessly shifting from keeper to bowler, tied up the other end with a wicket and an economy of 1.33 and the visitors were cleaned up for a sub-par 125.

A combination of excellent strike bowling, good economy rates and a strong fielding unit had put Carlton in a dominant position at tea. Openers Ali and Fraser were well aware that the run rate was not an issue and patience was to be the watchword of the innings. Ali began well, capitalising on poor balls and seeing out the good ones. It seemed he was finding his stride, dispatching a pull shot to the rope, but was dismissed trying to late-cut a straight one next ball, being bowled for 16.

This brought the calm head of skipper Wellsy to the crease, who laid into the spinners with clean and technically solid sweep shots, rotating the strike efficiently. Impressive as the sweeps were initially, it soon became apparent that Matthew had abandoned any attempt at shot selection and was exclusively playing – and increasingly missing – sweeps to the spinners Cash and Miller. The most surprising thing about the execution of this strategy was his ability to either middle the ball or get nowhere near it, and nothing in between. By way of explanation to his partner Fraser, who had only now managed to find his stride and bring his own run rate above one per over, he declared that, “You should be able to play that shot to any ball.” The certainty with which Matthew made this assertion did not inspire Fraser to imitate him, and luckily so, for Matthew soon fell to Miller, being bowled for a decent but less than eclectic 17.

Despite the two losses, Carlton were still comfortably above the required run rate and with plenty of batting to come. Ruari came to the crease at 4 and was unperturbed by the opposition’s comparisons between him and his older brother; he and Fraser built a strong partnership to give the team a good platform for the final offensive after drinks. Around this period the runs came steadily, and so the most pressing concern for the batsmen was thinking of encouraging or constructive things to say to each other in between overs. The conversations soon became monotonous as it was repeatedly confirmed that Ruari and Fraser were, “well above the rate,” and that “the same as last over” was required.

After drinks a bowling change saw the third wicket fall: Fraser being bowled by his teammate Gair Currie for a slow but useful 41.

This departure brought Haris (left) to the crease and, dissatisfied with only the five wickets and motivated by his desire to “finish the innings quickly so I can get home and get some food, eh?” he set about the East bowlers with a series of commanding boundaries that were accompanied by Ruari’s similarly confident strokemaking, and the pair finished the innings on 18* and 19* (Ruari, Haris) with eleven overs to spare.

Another solid win for the twos puts them at 5-1 for the season. Particular credit goes to Haris for his performance with both bat and ball and congratulations to him and Matthew on well deserved call-ups for Scotland under 17s.

Scorecard

RAINED OFF

RAINED OFF

Kismet go through on toss of coin

RAINED OFF

RAINED OFF

After five weeks without playing a single game of cricket, the elite of the 2ndXI decided to come out of early retirement and continue their good run of form against an experienced Holy Cross side at Arboretum. The return of our notorious and experienced leader, Nathan Pietsch, gave the team much confidence going into the game.

Once again, this young Carlton outfit got off to a great start in the warm up showing great enthusiasm and energy in our routine fielding drills which evidently struck fear into our onlooking opponents’ eyes.

Carlton were put in to bat first and openers Kyle Macpherson and Ali Shah got to the team off to a positive start after seeing off most of the opening spell. Ali Shah soon departed which paved the way for the "Mad Man" of the Macpherson household, Ruari, to make his mark on the game. The Macpherson duo both steadied the ship and got the side into a very strong position. Arguably two of the most technically sound batsman the club has ever seen began playing freely and applying plenty of pressure onto the Holy Cross fielders. They could only watch in awe.

Kyle fell to an excellent caught and bowled and ended up on 42. Kyle's work in the 1st innings was not quite finished there though as he was required to handle the book which was handed over to him by the safe hands of Mo Ahmed Wheels. Shortly after it was decided that Kyle must never be allowed to score again...

Ruari was joined by a not so intimidating Ross Burns at the wicket and continued to pile the runs on. Ross brought his attacking nature to the wicket and dispatched one of the biggest sixes of the season. This hit was so big it managed to clear the fence of Arboretum and make its way on to Ferry Road. Many congratulations to Ross Burns as this was only the second time in the history of Holy Cross' 50 years at Arboretum that a six has been hit on the road. Young gun Haris Aslam has offered to buy Ross pints and Carlton lucky bags for the duration of this season. Good one, Haris.

Whilst bandits Haris and Kyle were drawing scribbles on the book by the boundary and Ross Burns was playing Test Match cricket, a lesson in Religious Education was being taught by  Ali and Ahmad Shah on the boundary as this was the month of Ramadan. Whilst the Shah brothers did their best to explain, Wellsy spoke of his sudden new taste in Indian Music and Pietchy reminded us that he was the Real Slim Shady.

Back to the cricket and to the latter stage of the innings where Ruari (34) and Ross (56) fell after fine knocks and the new pair of Kamran Wells and Charles Legget were brought to the crease. The Carlton middle order continued to dominate the Holy Cross bowling attack. We all knew Legs could bat but we never knew he could display a master class in the paddle sweep so well. It was so good that Wellsy tried to follow suit a few balls later and failed miserably. No worries though as Wellsy found other ways of clearing the boundary with a classy slog sweep of the opening bowler. Balle Balle Wellsy.

Carlton finished going into the 2nd innings in a strong position with the score at 226-7.

Back into the field after a wonderful tea provided by our hosts, Mo Ahmed Wheels was handed the new ball along with Ahmad Shah. Early wickets fell with Ahmad and Mo Wheels both grabbing a few each. Ahmad could have had himself another victim although "younger" brother, Ali Shah, blundered a chance on the boundary. Ali was given an onslaught of abuse from a not so happy Ahmad and was surely going to be beaten with Ahmad's bat.

Holy Cross were not able to grab a hold of the game however as 1st and 2nd change bowlers Haris Aslam and Charles Legget were brought into the attack. Opening batsman Mazher (50) lead the Holy Cross fight along with the experienced Shannon Bonfield although this was not enough as Haris and Legs wrapped up the innings with 3 wickets a peace. A wonderful display of disciplined bowling and applying pressure from both ends meant that the Real Slim Shady, Nathan Pietsch, was not required to chuck his dibbly dobblies.

Another strong win means that the 2s will be taking a lot confidence into the next two home games coming up against Watsonians and Largo. This 2nd XI side full of experience and youthful exuberance now has their eyes fixed on the ESCA title and are hot on the heels of leaders Glenrothes.

Scorecard

Match Abandoned

Saturday brought the visit of Watsonians (3 from 5) to Grange Loan for one of the many Edinburgh derbies in the East of Scotland Division One.  Carlton (6 from 7) were looking to maintain their title push especially with Charles Legget’s motivational text message ringing in their ears.

Watsonians won the toss on what, given recent conditions (well done Moon), looked a good Grange Loan pitch and decided to bat. The weather was decent and after a quick 5-minute break for rain at the start of the first innings we played in occasionally sun drenched conditions. I even started to panic at one point, as I had not applied any sun cream.  Watsonians amassed 241 all out from 49.4 overs however my panic vis-a-vis the sun cream situation proved premature as late afternoon showers came in allowing only a few overs of play in the second innings before the match was abandoned.

Mo (10-3-35-2) and Jamie (9.4-2-32-2) opened the bowling and both looked good. Mo made an early breakthrough with a beautiful ball, which jagged back knocking Galbraith‘s off stump straight out of the ground leaving Watsonians 14 for 1 after 5.  Mo and Jamie continued to bowl well but could not make another breakthrough despite some excellent LBW shouts at both ends. With Watsonians 35(ish) after 12 Nathan Pietsch introduced Nathan Pietsch (3-0-24-0) into the attack for his first bowl in a match since June 2nd. Nick Martin (3-0-24-1) soon took over with Haris (10-0-46-4) twirling at the other end. Both of Watsonians batters were starting to look good but Carlton to their credit kept their heads up and maintained high energy levels in the field.  At drinks Watsonians were 130(ish) and looking solid.  Fraser Allardice (7-0-43-0) by this point had taken over from Haris and kept things tight with his left arm spin.

The turning point came in the 26th over when Nick Martin fielding off his own bowling miraculously dived, swivelled, moonwalked then threw at the bowlers end leaving the backing up Yellowlees (48) stranded and run out.  Some luck had gone Carlton’s way. I think that is how it went down but I was daydreaming at the time so can’t be sure. Fleming (60) for Watsonians came in however and immediately looked solid. It took the reintroduction of Mo to break the partnership in the 37th over dismissing Flannigan (58) LBW finally. Nick and Mo continued to bowl well together and Nick was rewarded for his hard work with a wicket by snicking off McDonald (6).  This was also a very good take from wicket keeper Matt Wells standing up who was fully warmed up from the skippers spell earlier in the innings. Nick Drummond will have been pleased with his work, as he had been eyeing up a 10 over spell at the start of the day.

With Mo having finished his allotment of overs, Haris was reintroduced salivating at the prospect of cleaning up the late middle order/tail. He did just that picking up 6,7,8,9, three caught and one stumping. Jamie was brought back on to bowl at the death/pick up a few easy wickets and he and Haris managed to keep Watsonians to 242.

Carlton were impressive in the field and can be pleased to have restricted Watsonians to 242 all out given their strong position at drinks. Carlton maintain their 88.57 winning percentage which keeps them firmly in the mix for the league title.

Scorecard

Sunshine bathed the home of cricket as the 2nd XI arrived hoping August would bring more than the solitary game against Holy Cross managed in July.   After a warm up that was refreshingly warming rather than dampening, the skipper lost the toss even with the side-slant toss advised by Wellsy to try and avoid a 6th straight toss loss.  We were told to bowl first leading the embittered old captain to resign his toss duties for the rest of the year.

 Largo got off to a solid start under the watch of captain Kinnear but Mo and Gair tested their technique and patience with accurate and taxing bowling. After the skipper dropped a dolly of Mo at slip, Gair picked up the wicket of Ali and when Ahmad Shah replaced Mo and picked up 2 wickets the innings was evenly poised.  

Bowling down the hill at a pace only slightly faster than the slight puff of wind that accompanied the summer sunshine, Nick Martin proved difficult to deal with.  Just as the Largo batsmen were looking set he picked up a few handy middle order wickets to keep the total in check.  

After 3 wickets in 5 overs, Gair Currie was given the decision of letting Nick carry on or bowl himself.  Greed for wickets won out (as it should with any fine young fast bowler) and Gair bagged another, with Mo also picking up a tail ender to help his figures look somewhat representative of the fine way in which he bowled.  At the death, Pietsch picked up a couple of tail enders just to make sure none of the youngsters got all the glory. Largo 173 all out in 49.5 overs, a good all round effort on a fine batting wicket.

The chase didn’t start well: 0-2 in the first over.

The chase didn’t get any better: 17-4 in the 8th over.

The chase then got worse: 35-6 after 16 overs.  The top 6 having made just 23 between them, with almost half coming from the bat of Basil Letts.

Fraser Allardice then set about trying to convince Largo that the game wasn’t over just yet. Supported briefly by Pietsch with 15, he made a dogged 46 with a couple of fine shots and clever running between the wickets.  However, with the score approaching 100, his undoing to a dipping offspinner was followed by more of the same from a tail end that promised a lot more hope on paper.  The dismal end coming on 108 in the 36th over.

This was a game where we let ourselves down.  178 was a very gettable total (and one we all felt confident of making with a batting line up that had Mo at # 10).  But as has frustratingly often been the way at Carlton, no one stood up when it really counted (other than Fraser for a period).  The result has dashed our title hopes, as we are now reliant on Glenrothes faltering.  

But it’s not all gloom - this year has seen some fine cricket from the 2nd XI and we possess the talents there to turn things around quickly (weather permitting).  

 

Scorecard

Wellsy reports ...

Before I start this report I would like to bring to your attention that I recently received my exam results... English was not one of them but I did get an A in French so I’ve decided to write the report in French!

Alors..

L'équipe s'est réunie à Grange Loan cherchez à rebondir après la semaine dernière, quand ils furent vaincus par largo. Quelle meilleure façon de faire d'autres que de jouer notre Grange rivaux.

Quand nous sommes arrivés à Fettes, on m'a dit que j'allais le capitaine du jeu. J'ai gagné le pile ou face et j'ai choisi de chauve-souris. Craig et Kyle ont ouvert le bâton. Malheureusement, Kyle a été licencié au début. Cependant Basil et Craig a eu un grand partenariat, Craig a marqué 26 et Basil 45. Ensuite, Grange ont décidé d'utiliser 4 fileurs, bowling près de 40 overs de spin. Cela a ralenti notre bâton vers le bas beaucoup. Nous avons finalement terminé sur 166 tous dehors, grâce à quelques gros coups de Jamie.

Avec seulement 166 à défendre, nous avons dû commencer bien. Mo et Jamie bouleversé bien à l'avant. Chiffres impressionnants de Jamie étaient 10-4-19-3. Mike Powell et Jamie Burton alors regardé comme si elles allaient prendre à la maison pour Grange. Les deux d'entre eux bâton avec soin. Puis Pietsch a roulé une livraison magnifique ( sans aucune aide du tout du wicket...) pour supprimer Powell. Ce fut un grand tournant dans le jeu. Nous étions dans une bonne position de premier plan dans les 10 derniers, Grange ont besoin de 60 pistes et nous avions besoin d'une wicket. D Player et R Paterson frappée bien pour Grange, seulement besoin de 4 hors des 6 derniers boules. Pietsch intensifié dans un bol les 6 dernières balles.

boule 1..

dot billes..

boule 2..

regarde comme si c'est une 4 mais... Gair plongées dans l'air et l'attrape d'une main!! C'était super extraordinaire magnifique! Carlton 2 ont gagné par 3 pistes!

Merci à Grange pour un tel jeu passionnant! La partie supérieure de la table est toujours grande ouverte pour les 2's dans les 2 derniers matchs de la saison...

To finish, I don’t think I would have managed to get my A in French without the trusty help of google translate so here is a link for you to translate my hopefully wonderful French!

http://translate.google.com/

Scorecard

Carlton cricketers woke on Saturday morning with no noise of rainwater hammering against their windows which made a pleasant change to the start of their weekend and brightened everyone’s mood. When we arrived at the ground clouds had rolled in and we feared the worst but as the day went on the weather picked up and we got some lovely blue sky.

The 2nds still had hopes of sneaking past Glenrothes to snatch the league title so our warmup was focused and we all had a good stretch.

No surprise that Pietschy loss the toss and we were put into bat though the team was happy to bat first on what looked like a decent batting wicket considering the wet weather again during the week and with some short boundaries on the road side. Our captain, wanting us to get off to a flyer, sent in the Boroughmuir Blockers Kyle and Craig! “Test Match” Kyle and “1 run in 20 overs” Craig got Carlton off to a good solid start until unfortunately Craig was caught at mid-off for 18. However a solid platform had been laid by the opening partnership and had dealt well with the Dunfermline opening attack. Good signs.

Kyle stuck in and after a couple of unlucky wickets falling at the other end including Ruari, runout in his new fancy luminous orange/Dutch style Nike shoes, but thankfully no blame could be attached to big brother on this occasion! Kyle was then joined by Matt “Gilchrist” Wells. The youngsters batted well together and went onto share an 80 run partnership showing good technical ability mixed with being able to put away the bad ball and some sharp running. Matt (right) was in his usual attacking mode hitting some bit shots including a beautifully struck 6 over wide mid on. Finally Matt was out caught on the boundary for an excellent 51 going for another big hit.

 

Unfortunately Kyle followed almost immediately run out too by sharp reactions from bowler Service for a well made 77. Both youngsters had put Carlton in a position to now push on with 5 wickets down and with almost 20 overs still left.

Fraser Allardice and Pietschy settled in after the quick loss of those two wickets and both looked in good form and ran well between the wickets. Pietsch in particular looking very positive playing big shots from the start. Fraser “Gower” (classy England lefthander from the 80s and 90s my Dad says and now a Sky commentator!) Allardice played some well timed classy shots before he was out caught for 9 playing positively for the team.

Nathan (left) had progressed well to 33 and was looking set before he was out stumped by the keeper standing 15 yards back (keeper with very long arms? no, our captain caught unawares standing outside his ground and the sharp thinking keeper hit the stumps with a good throw). Haris and the rest of the batters put on 20 more before Carlton’s ruthless display with the bat was over making 226 from 50 overs having lost 8 wickets.

As Carlton warmed up the focus turned to youngsters Mo Ahmed and Gair Currie who were to open the bowling. Mo with his blistering pace, and Gair swinging it all over the shop (Carlton’s view on the opening spells!)  caused havoc with the early batters!

Carlton got off to a great start with Gair picking up the first wicket of Duran bowling him for 1, and things were up and running. Shortly after Mo (below) picked up his first wicket after Kyle caught Amir at cover. Dunfermline offered some resilience with Coker hitting some nice shots before Brad “drugs test required” McKay took a stunning catch of Mo’s bowling down at his ankles (a long way down for Brad!) and Mo was on fire!

Gair (below) picked up 2 more wickets of Wilkinson (LBW, might have pitched outside leg?) and Reddy (Bowled, no questions there!) Mo and Gair had taken 5 wickets between them and the Dunfermline innings was in tatters (41 for 6), a tremendous opening bowling display from the two youngsters.

Haris “Warney or is it Qadir or Mushtaq?” Aslam and Brad came on and kept up the pressure. Haris soon picked up his first wicket getting Gibson out caught for only 1 by Pietschy low down at slip. Haris then later bowled Petrie for 8, everyone was delighted… except Haris. The way Vishwanathan was playing him was frustrating him like nobody’ss business with stubborn defence being shown, something our spin king is not used to. Despite this Brad soon picked up the wicket of Hussain getting him out caught from a great catch from Fraser (Gower was a superb cover fielder too!) Skipper Pietsch, our hard mean quick bowling captain, then brought himself on to try and finish the job off. 

Dunfermline now had two juniors at the crease who stuck in well playing some good solid shots and valuing their wickets greatly. The pair of Vishwanathan and Day did really well. But things were about to change. Nathan like his great countryman DK Lillee seemed to have had had enough of the grit and stubborness being shown by the youngsters! A short of a length delivery hit the 13 year old Day hard in his ribs, down he went like a sack of potatoes! Within a few minutes the youngster was up and ready for battle again, showing great character for one so young. But Nathan’s pace continued to cause problems and Vishwanathan was also struck in the ribs, but as he reacted he suffered an intense burst of cramp in his hamstring and he too collapsed but screaming not from his rib injury but the killer pain in his hamstring! Everyone except poor Vishy found it all very amusing!

After these antics had ended, Mo came back on and had Day out caught behind finishing on 4 wickets. The last two batters had fought bravely for their team but the match was over and Carlton 2’s had won by 139 runs. This will give Carlton great momentum going into their final match of the season against Marchmont, hopefully the rain stays away, we play well and win and Glenrothes slip up and we can break out the Irn Bru and the Lucky Bags for this young 2nd XI!

 

Scorecard

Photos

Scorecard