A comfortable win over an inexperienced Heriots side. New boy Angus Hinton opened and scored 50no on debut, building his innings well. He let Ruari Macpherson, who played a range of good cricket shots, do the bulk of the scoring in an unbeaten second wicket partnership and then took over after Ruari retired, increasing his tempo towards the end with lots of good straight shots. Greg Murdoch also batted well for 20 and Dougal Main showed great promise towards the end of the innings.

In reply, Heriots never got going in the face of some impressive bowling. Dougal bowled well, swinging the ball back in late while Calum Everett impressed the coach by delivering 11 of his first 12 deliveries right on the spot with good pace. Mitch delivered his left arm spin with skill and Rory threw the ball up well and deceived a couple of the batsman, giving Tom one of his two impressive stumpings on the night. Adam MacDonald also bowled 3 tidy overs and Euan ran in hard and getting through the crease well.

The Carlton under 15s will now split into two to begin their league campaign before heading to the Borders in the next round of the cup to take on Kelso or Gala.

After Rory and Olly fell early on, the experienced duo of Haris and Ruari put together a 57 run partnership, before Tom played some nice shots at the end to take Carlton to a total of 99 in this 'derby' match.

Sam, David and Gregor all impressed with the ball and Olly showed how much he has developed recently by generating genuine pace and picking up a couple of wickets.  However, the bowlers had no answer to the hard-hitting Paddy Halliday, whose unbeaten 50 proved to be the difference between the sides.

Scorecard

MATCH POSTPONED AT THE REQUEST OF SMRH

MATCH CANCELLED - EDINBURGH ACCIES WITHDRAWN FROM LEAGUE

RAINED OFF

Carlton won 4-1 on a bowl out after a series of cancellations

RAINED OFF

Carlton made full use of a bowler-friendly surfaceat Stenhousemuir to skittle Prestwick for just 23. Calum opened the bowling and each time the batsmen attempted an attacking shot, the ball stopped on them and there was a Carlton fielder waiting to take a catch. The result was three wickets for Calum and catches for Adam (2) and Rory. With their top order gone, the Ayrshire youngsters had no answer to the spin duo of Haris and David who picked up 6 wickets in next to no time (2 to Haris, 4 to Mitch) and, with the help of a run out, the innings was all over with just 23 on the board. No disgrace to the Prestwick side, as none of the 44 youngsters taking part in the finals day are likely to have had to bat on such a challenging surface before.

Haris and Angus then knocked off the runs with the minimum of fuss to set up a final with Forfarshire, who had overcome Drumpellier in a thriller earlier in the day

. 

Photos

Skipper Ruari won the toss and asked Forfarshire to bat and his team were soon celebrating when Greg produced a great yorker to dismiss Scott Cameron, who had scored a rapid half-century in his side’s semi-final earlier. A superb direct hit from Dougal reduced Forfs to 12 for 2. A wicket for Calum and a couple from Haris had the score at 31 for 5 with just 5 overs to go, but a good fightback from the young Forfarshire lower order took them to 59 for 9 at the end, despite a wicket apiece for Rory and Olly and another couple of runouts.

A target of 60 in 20 overs could normally seem straightforward but nobody was under any illusions given the nature of the surface. And sure enough, Haris was heading back tot the pavilion at the end of a superb first over from Scotland U15 skipper Cameron. 1 for 1 became 11 for 3 after 5 overs, with Greg bowled and Ruari departing courtesy of his Scotland team-mate. Angus, however, was batting calmly and Dougal showed good resolve to see out Cameron’s remaining overs before the turning point of the innings came when Angus pounced on two rare short balls to hit two massive sixes – the second of which required a replacement ball.

Although Dougal went and Angus eventually fell for a fine 28, this Carlton side bat all the way down and a boundary from Olly eased the nerves of the watching parents before he was lbw with just 3 more needed. No problem for Rory, however, who stroked the winning boundary to see his side home with 4 wickets and a couple of overs to spare.

Photos