If there has ever been a colder evening for cricket, none of the watching parents could remember it. Luckily the Carlton youngsters were undeterred by the Arctic conditions and won convincingly.

Calum won the toss and decided to bat. Angus H and Tom S were both patient, waiting for the ball to come to them and resisting the temptation to go for the aerial route. Both retired unbeaten on 30 after classy innings and Calum was going well before his partner ran him out. Once Kamran found his timing he got the scoreboard ticking over with some stylish shots before playing over the top of a ball that just clipped the bails.

Sam and Gregor formed a good partnership and they were both timing the ball well towards the end of their innings before Gregor fell to a fine catch off the last ball of the 20th over as Carlton posted a formidable 153 for 3.

Three overs into the Heriot's reply and the score was 1 for 3, with openers Angus H (2) and a rapid Sam M (1) immediately in the wickets. Everybody got 2 overs and bowled well - Tom K was on a hat-trick at one point, Angus B bowled two great overs for just one run (a no-ball), Gregor Shand also picked up 2 wickets and the skipper bowled one ball and picked up the final wicket by hitting middle stump.

A comprehensive win. Surely it will get warmer soon?

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Another comprehensive Scottish Cup win, this time over an inexperienced SMRH side in a match that was switched to Grange Loan with Inverleith still waterlogged.

Batting first, Angus H started aggressively and was fortunate to benefit from a dropped catch in the first over. However, he then found the boundary with ease and soon retired on 31. Fellow opener Tom S once again played the anchor role perfectly, while Olly came in at 3 and played some fine shots. Tom and Olly retired in the space of a few balls, allowing a fine partnership between Sam and Kamran to take Carlton to an imposing 171 for 0 off their 20 overs.

Angus B and Tom K opened the bowling and after the first four overs the score stood at 2 for 6! A tight opening over from Angus immediately put pressure on the SMRH openers, resulting in a great run-out from Ruairidh with only one stump to aim at. Tom picked up a wicket in his first  over, which Angus followed with a maiden. The next two balls each produced a wicket for Tom, who then held his nerve to deliver a hat-trick ball that demolished the stumps and sparked prolonged on-field celebrations.

Tom's hat-trick ball

Not content with this, Tom then collected his fourth wicket of the over off the final ball.

A fine innings from the SMRH no 8 Seb stopped the rot before wickets for Ruairidh, Kamran, Angus H and Sam sealed a comprehensive win. Special mention for Murray who was unlucky to see two catches go down off his bowling.

A huge thank-you is due to Liz for managing the last minute change of venue and Alasdair for making it possible.

A second comprehensive Carlton victory over SMRH in two days, this time by the Carlton Cobras squad in their first League match of the season.  

SMRH won the toss and elected to bat. Calum E claimed a wicket, clean bowled, with his first delivery. Ruairidh effected a run out in the third with the score on 8. When Callum W bowled a wicket maiden, SMRH looked in trouble on 22 for 3. However, they did well to rebuild and as the tenth over began with them on 40 for 3 it looked as if we might have a match on our hands.

However, their top scoring batsman was dismissed to a sharp stumping by Tom off the bowling of Maxwell. At that point SMRH virtually ceased to score and in an attempt to force the run rate up they lost another wicket to a sharp run out, this time from a direct hit by Callum W.

Captain Everett then hit on the clever ruse of bowling the youngest members of the team, Harry, Gregor and finally Pete. Harry won two wickets with sharp stumpings off brother Tom (there will be harmony in the Simpson household tonight!) and added a third clean bowled. Gregor further applied the screw with a tight maiden over, before Pete stepped in for the kill with two clean bowled wickets from his first two deliveries in U13 cricket leaving him poised on a hat-trick! SMRH all out for 47.  

Carlton's openers, Tom and Calum E, knocked off the runs very comfortably with only one chance given but dropped. A Carlton victory by 10 wickets.  

The Cobras can take great heart from this performance, albeit against an inexperienced SMRH side. There will be much tougher games ahead but they can go into them knowing that the squad has real depth and talent. Hopefully those boys that did not see much of the action today will see their moment come in future games.

SMRH won the toss and elected to bowl. Captain Tom stood aside and allowed someone else to volunteer to open. Ruairidh was the only taker and so it was he and Calum E who got proceedings under way. The pairing put on 40 with some deft shots and smart running between the wicket, taking advantage of some loose SMRH fielding. They were looking set when Calum E was out LBW for 13 trying to clip one off his legs. Hector joined Ruairidh and they added a further 11 before Ruairidh was runout for 17.

George came in at 4 and added 16 with Hector before Hector was bowled trying to up the run rate with some big hitting. George scored 16 before being runout, with Callum W caught on 7 and Maxwell also caught for 1. The innings was ended with Tom coming to the crease and running up byes and singles with Callum  W and latterly Kit. 95 for 6 was not as many runs as we felt we could have made but it felt like enough.  

But was it?... The SMRH innings got off to a flying start with 15 comng off the first over -  the SMRH openers looked like they might be rather dangerous after all. Andrew immediately impressed with his looping accurate balls and dismissed one dangerous opener in his first over, and the second in his next over. He finished an excellent spell with 3 wickets for 3 runs off 3 overs. These dismissals had only served to bring the SMRH captain to the crease and he batted very well for a long time to retire on 31 whilst wickets fell around him ... but this was not enough to ease the anxiety of the coaches and the watching parents who could see the score creeping ever closer to our own. With SMRH on 71 and after 16 overs it looked tight.

But cometh the hour, cometh the Everett! An excellent spell from Calum yielding 3 wickets for a miserly 3 runs pegged the opposition back and with the retiral of the only batsman to score big runs we could all breath. Maxwell further eased the pressure coming back for a maiden over. With only 6 taken off the last over by George, Carlton claimed victory by 16 runs....a little closer than we might have liked...  

Thanks to SMRH for an exciting game played in good spirit.

At a sunny, but still not exactly warm, Raeburn Place Grange Gladiators won the toss and inserted Carlton Cobras in to bat.

Tom and Calum started slowly but with assurance against a good Grange attack. The bowling was accurate and on a good length, and the fielding tight. Runs were slow to come by, but the openers applied themselves to getting in and accumulating. It quickly became apparent that anything bowled up on a good length would be difficult to get away. The few balls that were short were hungrily put away, but there were few of these so scoring was slow. After 10 overs Carlton were on 39 without loss and struggling to accelerate particularly against the left arm spin of the Grange captain.

Tom fell for 11 in the 12th over, followed by Kamran next ball whose rush of blood to the head resulted in a skied top edge. Ruairidh survived the hat-trick ball and he and Calum set about rebuilding. Having done the hard work of getting in, Ruairidh then holed out trying to up the run rate by attempting to loft a drive over mid off. Calum continued to add runs but soon retired on 30 leaving two new batsmen at the crease just when we needed to accelerate. George fell for 1, leaving Kit and Archie to play out the last few overs which they did well, having decided to go for it, which they did well adding 8 and 4 respectively. 79 for 5 was probably 15 to 20 short of what was required.

The Grange innings got of to the best possible start for Carlton with Calum trapping the number 1 LBW first ball. Some confused calling by numbers 2 and 3 led to a sharp runout leaving Grange on 2 for 3 runs after 2 overs. Another LBW for Calum in the 3rd left Grange reeling on 3 for 4.

However, numbers 4 and 5 rebuilt well as Carlton struggled to find the right length dropping too many balls short.The partnership was not broken until the 14th over when Maxwell bowled the Grange keeper and number 4 for 27. A wicket maiden for George had Grange on 64 for 5, but with 5 overs still to go and only 16 runs required Grange could afford to run up the singles and punish the short delivery. The target of 80 was attained in the course of the 17th over and Grange won by 5 wickets.  

Despite losing it was excellent to have a truly competitive game of cricket played to a high standard that stretched the boys' skills with the bat, with the ball and in the field. There was a lot to learn for everyone individually and for the team as a whole. Grange were also glad of a tough match that they played in a good spirit, showing magnanimity in victory . Thanks to Mo for filling in for the otherwise engaged Herdy, to David Simpson for scoring and to youngsters Pete and Harry for stepping up to the team at the last minute.

MATCH CANCELLED - WET GROUND

It was with mild surprise and some delight that we all blinked into the unaccustomed sunshine, warmth and general dryness at Grange Loan on Monday evening. After the weekend's deluge the prospects of any cricket at all looked unlikely, but thanks to the excellence of the ground and the groundsman the Grange Loan was playable using the artificial strip. So it was that Carlton Cobras won the toss and elected to bat first.  

Kit and Tom opened for the Cobras. Tom was unfortunate to hole out early on pulling a short ball upishly to square leg where he was well caught. Callum W then came in and put together a good partnership with Kit of 51 before he was bowled for 15 playing across the line whilst trying to accelerate the scoring rate. This brought in Tristram who was clearly bent on upping the run rate by putting pressure on the Accies' fielders with some very sharp running between the wickets. The retiral of Kit for a well made 30 in which he was not really troubled at all brought Ruairidh in. It took the two dimiutive batsmen a little time to get on the same wavelength with their calling and there was a fair bit of 'yes', 'no', 'maybe' before Tristram was finally run out for a positive 9 along with some well run (and some narrowly run!)

byes. Ruairidh batted through the remainder of the innings for 17*, with Kamran (5) and Callum (7) adding runs off the bat and some more sharply run byes. A total of 115 looked good and the boys took to fielding in positive mood.  

In truth, the Accies batsmen never got settled. A combination of inexperience on their part and trademark sharp fielding by the Cobras saw regular inroads being made into their line-up. Highlights were a sharp run out with a direct hit by Callum W from fine leg; George getting some steepling bounce out of the artificial pitch; and Andrew's 2 for 2! George, Ruairidh and Kamran each took a wicket, all bowled. (One wicket, caught, is uncredited on the card...if anyone has a genuine claim it, just let the manager know.) Accies finished on 34 all out in the 18th over. A comfortable victory to Carlton Cobras by 81 runs.  

Thanks to Simon Holden for scoring.

A beautiful summers' evening at last. And the heating was on at Goldenacre...the first time your correspondent can remember being warm at this venue in four or five years of attending youth games here!   Carlton won the toss and elected to bat. The going was tough for openers Callum W and Ruairidh who struggled to get the ball away on a soft wicket. The opening bowlers found some swing and tested the batsmens' patience with some accurate, well pitched balls making it difficult to score. However, the they dug in and batted slowly but sensibly to build a platform for the team.

With 9 overs gone and 29 on the board, Ruairidh (8) trying to accelerate was unlucky to play on to a ball that hung in the air a little too long. Captain Kamran came in and immediately struck out positively, scoring a quick 17 before being out LBW playing across the line of a double bouncer. Callum W (13) and Archie followed soon. 51 for 1 became 56 for 4. The two new batsmen, Kit and Tristram, did not panic but continued to play positively with good running and some fine shots, particularly from Kit. They batted out the remaining overs taking the score to 99 with Tristram being run out on the last ball. 99 for 5 looked a reasonable total in the conditions and so it proved.  

A great spell by the two openers, George and Gregor M, left Heriots reeling on 6 for 16 after 6 overs. Both claimed 3 scalps, Gregor taking two in successive balls. Robert and James then continued the attack and bowled with great confidence for two boys making their u13 debuts. Robert bowled economically to finish with 0 for 5 off his two overs; James with 1 for 7 off his.  The remaining three wickets were taken by Andrew, Archie and Kamran, the last off Kamran's bowling was a great catch by Archie, much to his dad's delight! 40 all out in the 15th over and a Cobra's win by 59 runs.  

Special mention to Kit who continued to impress the coaches as he donned the gloves to keep wicket in Tom's absence which he did like he'd done it many times before. Overall, a great team effort. The Cobras boys are really beginning to develop their cricket in all ways and look like a good squad with considerable depth.  

Thanks to Charlie and the Heriots' boys for a good game played in a great spirit, and to Steve O'Brien for volunteering to score.

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