Match conceded by West Lothian

The Carlton innings got off to the worst possible start with Fraser out from the first ball of the game. Kyle, however, held things together with 44 before being run out, well supported by Haris who hit a positive 17. Batting at number 4, Cheeky responded with a vital 35, with Ruari contributing 20 not out.

The Watsonians reply had them in a good position before the return of Cheeky delivered a hat-trick, including two stumpings, as he finished with 4 for 18 to leave the visitors just short.

Match conceded by Ferguslie

After a long, hot summer (by Scottish standards at least) it was something of a shock to the system to be greeted by a grey, cold day at an otherwise immaculate Falkland Cricket Club.

A combination of a strong cross wind and final day nerves saw the Carlton seamers get off to a wayward start before skipper Fraser Allardice made a fine catch look easy off the bowling of Adam MacDonald. At 40 for 1 after 5 overs, the captain turned to spin and two quick wickets to Haris Aslam, courtesy of a catch and stumping by Matt Wells (below), gave Carton control before Fraser’s left arm spin trapped big hitting opener Selby lbw. Gavin Rittoo’s second spell saw the seamer back to his usual accurate self and he picked up a couple of wickets, the second courtesy of a sharp Wells stumping, to restrict Clydesdale to 106 for 8 after their 20 overs; a lot less than had seemed likely early on.

Fraser and Kyle Macpherson (below) got the reply off to a steady start putting on 38 before Fraser was bowled for 12. Matt came in and pulled a long hop down the throat of deep square before Haris joined Kyle to see Carlton to the final with 8 wickets and 5 overs to spare.

 

Innings of Clydesdale

A Ghaffar	c F Allardice	MacDonald	13
I Selby	lbw	F Allardice	25
S Awan	st Wells	Aslam	4
F Walker	c Wells	Aslam	0
A Chaudry	run out (K Macpherson)		21
Z Siddiqui	c R Allardice	Rittoo	13
Z Ashraf	st Wells	Rittoo	0
K Dhani	not out		5
S Siddiqui	c R Allardice	F Allardice	0
G Anderson	not out		0
	dnb
Extras (15w, 5lb, 4b)			24
TOTAL (for 8 wickets)			105

G Rittoo	4	0	2	35
A MacDonald	4	0	1	21
C Gosain	4	0	0	16
H Aslam	4	0	2	11
F Allardice	4	0	2	13

Innings of Carlton

K Macpherson	not out		33
F Allardice	bowled	Anderson	12
M Wells	c Z Ashraf	Selby	4
H Aslam	not out		28
R Macpherson	dnb		0
A Hinton	dnb
C Gosain	dnb
O Brown	dnb
R Allardice	dnb
G Rittoo	dnb
A Macdonald	dnb
Extras (28w, 1nb, 1lb)			30
TOTAL (for 2 wickets)			107

S Siddique	3	0	0	22
K Dhani	1	0	0	15
A Ghaffar	2	0	0	9
A Anderson	4	0	1	25
I Selby	3	0	1	20
F Walker	1	0	0	8
S Awan	1	0	0	7

After a brief break, Carlton were back in the field for their third Scottish U18 Cup Final in four years and, like their senior counterparts the previous week, still looking for their first ever win. If there was one player on the field who was particularly determined to win, it must have been Cheeky Gosain who had appeared in 6 Scottish Cup Finals from Under 13 to senior level and was still to finish on the winning side!

Right from the off, the standards set in the field were very high, with Adam MacDonald putting his body on the line twice in the first few balls to save boundaries and keep the batsmen under control. Gavin Rittoo (below) started much better this time round and picked up up two early wickets thanks to good catches from Ruari Macpherson and Cheeky, before Haris made an excellent job off a steepler from Cheeky’s bowling and a catch from skipper Fraser Allardice saw Cheeky pick up his second wicket.

If there were any thoughts of an easy win, big hitting Ben Wilkinson put these to one side as he smashed a series of massive sixes, seizing on anything off length. The skipper turned to his fourth spinner of the day, younger brother Rory, and the offie stared with a tight over before Gavin made the big breakthrough next over by trapping Wilkinson lbw as he tried to smash a good ball over mid wicket. Gavin’s celebrations showed what a big moment it was as he only just failed to demolish the stumps in his follow through.

Once Lucas had been well caught at long on by Olly Brown off Rory it was one-way traffic. Gavin picked up his fourth wicket courtesy of a lightning stumping by Matt Wells and Cheeky matched him with two late wickets to dismiss the Heriot’s/SMRH side for just 99.

The Carlton boys knew that the opposition’s best chance lay with opening bowler Alex Anderson and they took no liberties while keeping the scoreboard ticking along at a steady 5 an over. However, bowling his four overs through, Anderson disturbed the stumps of openers Kyle Macpherson and Fraser Allardice to bring Haris Aslam and Matt Wells together at the crease. Both players were in no mood to make mistakes and mixed solid defence with attractive strokeplay to take Carlton to the brink of a victory before Matt (below), looking for a boundary to win the cup and bring up his 50, was well caught in the deep by Anderson.

Ruari Macpherson walked out to the wicket just in time to see Haris play a scoop shot to the fine leg boundary to seal a seven wicket win with four overs to spare.

Cricket Scotland President Jack Ker was on hand to present the trophy to skipper Fraser Allardice. Many thanks to Jack and to Falkland CC, who were perfect hosts throughout the day.

 

Innings of Heriot's/SMRH

C Aitcheson	c R Macpherson	Rittoo	9
D Anderson	c Gosain	Rittoo	5
B Wilkinson	lbw	Rittoo	52
J Penman	c Aslam	Gosain	1
D Sharkey	c F Allardice	Gosain	2
S Lucas	c Brown	R Allardice	15
A Anderson	c Rittoo	R Allardice	1
A Tetley	st Wells	Rittoo	0
E Campbell	not out		6
A Khan	st Wells	Gosain	4
S Robinson	bowled	Gosain	1
Extras (2w, 1nb)			3
TOTAL (all out)			99

G Rittoo	4	1	4	24
A MacDonald	1	0	0	9
H Aslam	4	0	0	22
C Gosain	4	0	4	11
F Allardice	3	0	0	21
R Allardice	3	0	2	12

 

Innings of Carlton

K Macpherson	bowled	A Anderson	3
F Allardice	bowled	A Anderson	8
M Wells	c A Anderson	D Anderson	46
H Aslam	not out		27
R Macpherson	not out		0
A Hinton	dnb
C Gosain	dnb
O Brown	dnb
R Allardice	dnb
G Rittoo	dnb
A Macdonald	dnb
Extras (14w, 3lb)			17
TOTAL (for 3 wickets)			101

A Khan	2	0	0	14
A Anderson	4	0	2	18
S Lucas	4	0	0	17
D Anderson	3.4	0	1	29
C Aitcheson	1	0	0	12
E Campbell	1	0	2	10

Pictures from Finals Day