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Omar reports ...

It was another glorious cold and windy day at Grange Loan; the wicket was green and hard - a perfect pitch for the 5-for King’s eagerly awaited return.

There were a few small names who also were playing their first game of the season, such as Cheeky and Drummo.  We started off with some touch rugby which I didn’t like and will make sure is changed to football when I’m next back. The young Aussie pairing of Freshwater and the new Amateur proved to be too much for the old ones. The score was 3 tries to 2, but who really cares, I aint no egg chaser, football any day!!!!

We then switched on and went into a tough cricket based warm up, everything pumped up for the first ball to be bowled. We won the toss and elected to field. My back was pretty sore from carrying the team last year so I was taking it easy during my warm up bowling. Cheeky still in Indian climate had 4 jumpers on and those silly hand warmers. Our team looked the stronger of the two but we weren’t taking things for granted.

Ali Evans opened the bowling with our new Overseas Gun! They bowled but didn’t do much; Roy got a few wickets early up and Evo got one, I was standing there at fine leg thinking we need to get a move on here as I had dinner plans.

I came on about the 10th over finally to show Roy who I really was as he had heard a lot but not actually seen me play a game. He was giving me big talk about the previous win at Arbroath and how he got a few wickets. I stepped up to bowl my usual spell, got 5 wickets gave 4 runs away and told him ‘that’s how it’s done champ!’ Here's a picture of all the boys celebrating one of my wickets. I'm just keeping it cool as usual.

We bowled them all out for 59. As we bowled them out early on we didn’t stop for tea and instead went straight out to try finish the game early, Hamish in excellent form hit an impressive 41* to finish the game at 2:30pm. Here he is.

All in all a very good day for the club with a brilliant performance from everyone who participated (apart from Cheeky who misfielded the only ball that came to him).

MATCH CANCELLED - WET GROUND

Carlton are grateful for the generous support of our match sponsor: Archie Gray

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Cheeky reports ...

This week Forfarshire travelled to the Loan. Carlton are still unbeaten this year in the league and were looking to extend that 100% record. 

The warm ups these days include touch rugby which I'm not a big fan of. Unlike football, I can't stand around and do nothing. Nevertheless Youngies won again. Freshy and Hamo were good but the difference between the two teams was my try! And the fact Omar can't catch the ball. 

Drummo was back this week so we actually had a chance of winning the toss unlike with Preston. Carlton were fielding first and under pressure straight away by Forfs openers Wallace and Parker. Wallace was looking to be aggressive early on and take advantage of the powerplay. Important breakthrough was made by Freshy who cleaned up Wallace as he looked to go big over mid on. He also took the key wicket of Leask...again. I'm told it was a Jaffa. I don't believe it though.

Omar came in to the attack and took 2 wickets in 1 over.  Surely everyone knows the "roof" in the league now! If you don't, he bowls quick leggies.

I was still yet to bowl my first league ball this season and we were halfway through May! Thought it would be another day without getting a bowl. I can always rely on Gordon though! I came in to the attack and burgled my first 5for for the 1s. Omar said it was "Tom Clarke" style. Indeed, it was. Here's me taking the first one:

Preston took a good C&B off his own bowling...on the third attempt! And Forfs were all out for 160. 

The teas were excellent as always. However, my only complaint would be the lack of cakes. Very disappointed to see Carlton going for the healthier option this season. 

Onto the batting. Fraggle "roof no. 2" opened the batting with Hamo. The team was shocked he couldn't find another wedding to go to in Egypt or Qatar. Pretty much anywhere.

Hamo looked in good touch until he was adjudged lbw. Fraggle batted well for his 50 but then hit a half tracker from the spinner to cover. Standard.

Preston then knocked it around for a while then unleashed 2 sixes in 1 game. Everyone is still in shock. But then he finished the game with a red inker so nothing changes there.

Drummo clearly had a different approach to Preston. He muscled the ball about the ground. He hit a huuuuuuge six over the newly built fence off his legs and it cleared it with ease. Carlton won by 8 wickets and maintained their 100% record. 

P.S. Fraggle is unavailable next week because his uncle’s son’s girlfriend’s brother’s wedding is next week in Tajikistan and he can't travel to Stoneywood.

Carlton are grateful for the generous support of our match sponsor: Bill Borthwick

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Freshy reports ...

For the second day in a row at Grange Loan, the winds were strong enough to blow Max D'Ulisse over the wall and onto the square.

Carlton went into the game losing the toss and being sent into bat with possibly their strongest outfit for the season thus far. (Minus Toby Drummond, due to match fitness.)

The old faithful Fraggle Watts and the young and in form Hamo, had Carlton off to a cracking start with a partnership of 97, before Fraggle padded up on middle stump to be dismissed for 47. Hamish went on to turn over 77 alongside Rory (father of the year) McCann. With McCann dismissed just shy of 50 (47), the platform was set for a big total. A bit of flair from Fraser Boyd, reverse sweeping 4's and some hard running from Stevie Gilmour kept the scoreboard ticking over. Finally swinging hard, the two Aussies finished the final overs, bringing the target to 266.

Unfortunately the boys missed out on Gordon Drummond's tea break cliches, before taking the field for the second half. A solid opening spell from Ali (bad rain card) Evans and Roy McCloy saw the away team 1 for 15 in the first 5 overs, with an LBW to Aussie no. 2. Another wicket down and the visitors were 2 for 39.

With captain de Lange and Scottish international Berrington at the crease, the strong Carlton outfit battled to keep a lid on the run rate. There were some tidy spells from Cheeky and the big tattie scone (Omar Ahmad) in the middle overs, of what was turning out to be a very close game, before the persistence of Chayank Gosain broke the partnership of 87 and sent the skipper on his way.

However the Scottish cup finalists of 2014, still had one last battle within their ranks as Sabri came out swinging. The former Scotland U/19s player muscled the current Scotland captain back over his head for 2 lovely sixes into the wind before Chayank Gosain struck again sending Sabri for an early shower. 

With the big guns removed Carlton cruised home bowling the away side out for 218. Chayank Gosain finishing with figures of 4 for 54.

All round a good weekend for the 1s and a great weekend for the club. 

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Rory Mc reports ...

With the threat of all 11 having to get up to the 'Dyce' in two cars, morale was not at its highest point when we arrived at Grange Loan for an early start. Drummo came to the rescue and we set off for another important game against Stoneywood. Unfortunately, due to 'workload management' golden balls (Mommsen) could not drive and I was blessed with his chat all the way up the road....this gradually improved when he found out he was getting 25p a mile.

After arriving at a balmy People's Park in Aberdeen we lost the toss and our hosts decided to have a bat first. On what seemed a warm day in the rest of Europe, the 40Mph winds and jet stream from overhead soon changed that. With the tallest guy I have ever seen opening the bowling from the 'non airport' end we got off to a tidy start, limiting the hosts to under three an over for the first 15. The 'Dyce' then fought back well dispatching any loose bowling. It was then time for the introduction of Calum Everett, making his debut for the 1st XI. He was excellent, containing the top order batsmen and very unlucky not to get his first wicket for the 1st XI. An exciting prospect and I look forward to playing more cricket with him.

What was next was quite incredible. Skipper Gordie 'YES' Drummond took the ball. Instead of seeing him waddling in and carrying the ball through to the keeper we were met with a hop, skip and a jump and 11 overs later the big man had picked up four wickets. This gave us a total of 154 to chase on what was a testing track.

After attempting to warm up at half time it was the turn of the Carlton batters to do the business. This was never going to be easy and would require patience and discipline with batters having to play as straight as possible to get value for shots.

Hamish once again looked very impressive at the top of the order. However, he was bowled by the biggest Will Ferrell lookalike this side of Aberdeen.

Golden balls then strutted to the wicket and straight away showed his class with some beautiful stroke play. After some dodgy running by Mommsen and definitely not McCann we knocked off the score with 20 overs to spare. Both batsmen were unbeaten.

A professional performance but still plenty of work to do in the field. We jumped back in the car and I was delighted to have the company of King Ken the scorer, the general Freshmeister and the youngster Everett. Back by 8.30pm and were welcomed with the great news the 2nd XI had defeated SMRH. Well done boys. Bring on Aberdeen next week I hope we can get a good crowd at home to cheer us on.

 

Carlton are grateful for the generous support of our match sponsor: Colin Campbell

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With the weather standard for summer 2015 – bright, breezy and chilly – Aberdeenshire won the toss and asked Carlton to bat after some early morning rain.

Hamo and Fraggle were quite happy with the prospect and got things off to a good start, with Watts hitting the boundary regularly, and took the score past 80 before pro Cooray had Hamo caught behind for 17. Things were looking bright at drinks with the score on 100 for 1 and the club captain on 56.

Shortly after the restart there was a bit of Under 11 style calling and Preston sacrificed himself to a runout. McCann was in next and he looked sharp from the start, keeping Fraggle company until he reached his hundred before seeing the old fella run out. Rory then upped the pace, pinging his trademark reverse sweeps while wickets tumbled at the other end in the chase for quick runs. Rory was finally caught for a fine 63 and with Cheeky run out off the last ball Carlton finished on 263 all out.

You’d have been forgiven for thinking that McCann’s sleepless nights might have been catching up with him but he was sharp from the outset and a diving stop and throw saw opener Martin runout. Next came two vital contributions from the Queenslanders – first Freshy found the edge of the dangerous Venske’s bat to give Boydy a low catch and then Roy saw Cooray’s expansive drive head into the clouds where Gilly waited … and waited … for the ball to fall into his hands.

28 for 3 and the Dons seemed to sense the game was over. After Evo and Drummo pitched in with wickets, Cheeky did a bit of his customary hoovering to reduce things to 78 for 9. A minor recovery took Aberdeenshire to 120 before Preston dismissed skipper Buchan, with another catch to Gilly.

Carlton are grateful for the generous support of our match sponsor: Angus Mair

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Evo reports ...

Despite the wind that descended on Edinburgh, both teams turned up at Grange Loan with high confidence levels. Being the only two sides left with their 100% league records still intact, both Carlton and Grange knew that this top of the table clash added an extra flavour to an already spicy rivalry.

After winning the toss, Grange elected to bowl first, looking to make the most of the green surface of the pitch. This despite the fact their opening bowler and player/coach John Blain would be late to proceedings. Despite some wayward bowling that was put away by Hamish, the Stockbridge outfit had some early success. Watts, Gardiner and Drummond were all back in the shed with the score on 72.

It was down to vice-captain Preston and coach Stevie (below) to rebuild the innings. The latter, rolling back the years and reminding everyone at the ground that his stroke play has not been lost behind his greying beard. The 100 partnership was broken in the cruellest way however. Just as the pair where ready to put the foot on the accelerator, Stevie over stretched to avoid a ball and his hamstring found it too much. The coach was carried from the ground after making at excellent 59.

It was left to Preston to bat through the innings with the middle and lower order to get the home side up to a good score. And that he did; with some superb placement he was able to collect twos and boundaries with ease and reached a very well deserved 100 in the last over of the innings. The Fist Arrows ended their innings on 273.

With there being a couple of rain breaks during the first innings, the game had been reduced to a 49 over per side affair. So openers Munsey and Lang strode to the crease knowing that they would need to bat well to chase the score.

It was a patient start by the Stags, as Carlton looked to take early wickets. Both batsmen were riding their luck at times, playing and missing on a number of occasions, however they looked to capitalise well on any loose deliveries handed up by the bowlers.

Then when both batsmen where on 33* the tide of the match changed. Former Loretto pupil Munsey (below) decided it was time to go through the gears. And that he did. Using the 50mph wind as his friend, he took the attack to the Carlton bowling unit, finding and clearing the boundary with ease. It is an innings that the young opener has been threatening for a while. He did provide an opportunity on 93, when having already struck Cheeky for a couple of maximums he went again, only to sky the ball straight up in the air. Unfortunately, the southern capital men were unable to hang on to the catch as it swirled around in the wind. The opener then went on to make the most of the opportunity and took the game away from the home side.

Munsey finished on 177* out of his team’s 274/2, chasing down the score with 7 overs to spare. He was well supported by his opening partner Lang, who got himself to 57 before being bowled by Evans. In the same time it had taken him to get to his half century, Munsey had got to his 150. There was also a wicket for Freshie, who continued his fine start to the season with the ball having Flannigan caught for single figures.

An excellent game of cricket, which was highlighted by two excellent century makers. It’s fair to say that anyone at the ground on the day will already be looking forward to these two sides clashing again at the beginning of August.

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It was a dampish day at Mannofield when Carlton arrived for their Scottish Cup second round clash with Aberdeen. 

The Dons won the toss and asked Carlton to bat first on a slowish dry wicket. Watts and Gardiner got Carlton off to a solid start in between rain showers but put on 104 for the first wicket before Watts perished for 49 trying to increase the scoring rate as the match at that point had been reduced to a 34 over a side affair.

Mommsen arrived at the crease in a good mood but left a couple of overs later in a less good mood as he was given out LBW after edging a sweep onto his pad. Gardiner was then out for a solid 64 when trying to up the scoring later on.

McCann was next in and clothed his way to an important 31 not out that lifted Carlton to 190 from their 34 overs. The usually fluent McCann was seeing the ball like a ‘pea from a cannon’ (in his own words) but stuck in with useful assistance from Freshwater and Macpherson. 

Carlton’s new scorer, Ken Nisbet, was in his element through the day as the overs kept being reduced and the score recalculated.  I have never seen a scorer so excited! The Carlton score was increased to 210 via the DL method. 

Freshy and McCloy started soundly with Freshwater continuing his good form by bowling the dangerous Venske.  Drummo relieved Freshwater down the hill and bowled his usual miserly meds.   Ahmad Shah came on for an important spell at the bottom end and snared the dangerous Howard, drawing him into a swipe across the line that was snared brilliantly by Gardiner in the deep. 

The match was evenly poised with the Aberdeen Pro and someone else at the crease when the pivotal point in the match occurred…..

The pro nudged one into the covers and called the other chap through for a quick single, obviously being lulled into the false sense of security that is Drummo’s wide shoulders……surely he couldn’t pounce on the ball like a cat on speed, spring up to his feet, pivot on one foot like a ballet dancer and throw the stumps down at the non-strikers end.  However Drummo pounced on the ball like a cat on speed, sprung up to his feet, pivoted on one foot like a ballet dancer and threw the stumps down at the non-strikers end to remove the dangerous pro…… the crowd were silenced and the Carlton crew went mad; big Toby had done it….! 

From there, we did our best to lose the game (there were reports of match fixing) but managed to hold on to take the game and move into the quarter finals.

We enjoyed the sedate drive back down to Edinburgh without incident…….

 

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Fraggle reports ...

It was a balmy 15 degrees at Myreside for Carlton’s game against Watsonians. 15 was also the average age of the Carlton team that was packed with youth. The club’s decision to axe Scotland stars, Evans and Mommsen, along with club coach Gilmour was controversial but paid dividends as Carlton ran out winners in a reasonably tight contest. Having been axed for poor banter and fashion indiscretions respectively, Evans and Mommsen took the opportunity to have a game for Scotland instead whilst coach Gilmour, binned for hypochondria, dragged himself through a hedge backwards before coming down to support the youthful first team.

Carlton batted first and a sound platform was laid by Gardiner and Macpherson (below) before the first wicket fell with the score on 44. Macpherson nicked one to slip after a solid 15. Watts strode to the crease and proceeded to break the record for the most boring innings ever played since cricket began. He and Gardiner ticked the score along before Gardiner got bored and chipped one to extra cover.

Drummond made 10 before nicking one to the wickie.

Ali Shah was next man in and batted with good composure and purpose, posting a classy 28 before chipping one to extra cover. The inform 2s batsman was called up after the axing of Gilmour, Mommsen and Evans, and did a very good job under pressure. Hopefully he can go on and get a big one in the weeks to come….

Ru Mac and Judas came and went and at 130-6 we were potentially in a bit of trouble….. but Freshy came in a boomed a quickfire 20 to steady the ship before the debutant Olly Brown entered the fray. At 7 down the game was finely balanced but Olly played a superb knock that propelled us to 242, a defendable score. Olly showed no fear or trepidation and played his shots from ball one, scoring a quickfire 36 before succumbing in the second last over. The partnership with Watts was a contrasting spectacle to watch with Brown’s clean, crisp hitting in stark contrast to Watts’s edging and ‘clothing’ (slang for not hitting it very well) that was anything but pretty. It was nice to see such a young lad coming in and making his mark from the off…..he despatched ex Scotland fast bowler Dewald Nel for a few big blows, again showing no fear or respect for big names…..great to see!

Watts’s innings was very slow and boring there were constants shouts from the travelling fans (Messrs Parker and Boyd Snr) of ‘hit out or get out’, play some f’ingshots’ and ‘get on with it you boring g*t’. Both Parker and Boyd will be internally disciplined for their actions….

Our bowling started well with big Roy Mcloy taking a wicket early on, dismissing the dangerous Hislop with a ball that sneaked between bat and pad.

Freshwater and big Roy bowled tidy opening spell, setting the tone for our fielding session. We were very good in the field, something I think was a huge factor to us winning the game. It was a real team effort and we kept the intensity up for the majority of the session.

Olly Brown replaced big Roy and after some initial nerves, settled into a nice rhythm. He took a bit of tap in his first couple of overs but skipper Drummond showed faith in the youngster who then took a wicket in his 4th over removing the dangerous opener Learmonth nicking off to Kyle Macpherson at deep cover…

Freshy burgled the Watson’s skipper Chalmers with a leg stump half volley that Chalmers nicked to Judas behind the stumps….

Watsons then had a dangerous partnership with O’Connell and A Chalmers before Brown lured O’Connell into pull shot that was mistimed and skied out towards deep mid wicket. Big Roy was out there and it looked like he might not get to the ball, but he came haring him and leapt like a salmon (a well fed one), diving like a swallow in summer to get his fingers under the ball to take a crucial catch.

Drummo came on and bowled a few overs before pulling a fetlock and was unable to continue. The course stewards came on, put up the tent around the fallen equine and put him out of his misery….. The game continued with Ru Mac and Cheeky bowling superb spells of miserly bowling that sealed the win for Carlton. Ru Mac, in his first 1st team game of the year after some time off for cosmetic surgery, bowled with accuracy and control, tying up the batsmen and drawing them into loose shots that were snapped up by the fielders – a passing spectator compared the Carlton fielding effort to that of a pack of hungry panthers closing in on their prey.

Cheeky bowled the best spell I have seen from him this year. He has been working very hard on his technique and it looks like his hard work is paying off and something may well have clicked. I know nothing about bowling (although I did once take 6 wickets against Leicestershire in my youth, including Dan Marsh twice in the game – I’d be happy to talk you through it over a beer!) but it looked really good and rhythmical from where I was standing. He was getting the ball ‘up and down’ and seemed to have real control. Again, great to see. A top quality spell from young Bambi.

Watsonians were 7 down and 60 short when the turning point in the match took place. The number 9 took a massive swipe at a ball and popped it up to extra cover where the stricken equine Drummond was being attended to by course stewards…..Watts was at 3rd man and seeing the danger that Drummond might not be able to move a pace to his left to take the catch, took it upon himself to do the business and took off at pace, charging over to where the stricken Drummond as located, dived full length and taking what surely will be catch of the season. A heroic and selfless effort that snatched victory from the jaws of defeat for the Carlton massive.

Big Roy finished the clash off in the next over with a super slower ball (below) that flummoxed the number 11. Carlton had won by 44 runs, huzzaarrrrhhh!

 

A really pleasing team effort all round and good to see a new look and youthful Carlton team holding their own to record an important victory…The Carlton bandwagon marches on……

Carlton are grateful for the generous support of our match sponsor: Alastair Ritchie

'Roy' McCloy reports ...

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With a place in the Scottish cup semi-final up for grabs Carlton welcomed Kelburne and their bus of supporters (several of whom were 4 stubbies deep already).

The day started with a change of warm up with an intense football match instead of rugby. But, without surprise, the game finished with the old guys cheating.

Anyway the coin was tossed nicely by Drummo and we were going to have the pleasure of batting first. Hamish and Fraggle got to 17 before Fraggle tickled one through to the bread basket of Kelburne’s keeper. Kelburne bowled well to dismiss Preston and Rory fairly cheaply, bringing Gordon to the crease who was looking fairly sharp after a night of warming up on the dance floor at a wedding.

Hamish and Drummo batted well and got the score back on track, before both guys ended up at the same end leaving Hamo no choice but to run all the way to the dressing room as he was run out for 63. The wicket proved a turning point for Kelburne as they took 3 wickets for just 5 runs. Thankfully for Carlton Freshy and Drummo were able to steady the ship once again and put the Kelburne bowlers around the park a bit. The opposition’s pro set the Carlton skipper up bowling 3 or 4 short balls which all went to the boundary then pitching one up and taking his stumps. After the loss of the skipper, Carlton’s tail offered little fight eventually being toppled for 184.

Drummo on his way to 66 (Pic: David Potter / Cricket Europe)

The Grange Loan teas as always were top class and very appreciated by the players (me especially).

With the cup on the line and a hostile Kelburne crowd, the Carlton lads set out with everyone excited to see the former Irish keeper Rory McCann take the gloves for the first time at Grange Loan.

The Aussies opened the attack and got off to the perfect start with the visitors struggling at 2/11. The Kelburne supporters didn't get quiet but with the beers going down like water for them, they started to throw a little bit of chat around and got into the best looking fielder (me).

Some hostile chat from the crowd fired Carlton’s big ginger up and saw him bowl the quickest spell of bowling we have seen this year, taking the next two wickets and having them a long way from the target and 4 wickets down. Drummo decided to take the pace off and in the end it worked as Preston, Cheeky and Omar took 4 wickets between them and gave the visitors no hope of getting to the target.

Consistent wickets hurt Kelburne who were on the end of one of Carlton’s best team bowling efforts of the year. Eventually Kelburne fell 61 runs short to send Carlton through to the semi-final.

RAINED OFF

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Boydy reports ...

Carlton finally got the chance to face up to Heriot’s after this season’s first fixture went frustratingly unplayed due to a waterlogged square. The team were without the services of Preston and Ali Evans who were both on Scotland duty. Fraser Watts was also conspicuously absent and rumours were rife that he was spotted in Monty’s with his new best mates Jonts, Butch and Corky.

Carlton won the toss and chose to bat on another Grange Loan road. Fresh was bumped up the order to give it a bash and opened with Kyle Mac. Fresh managed to smash a couple of boundaries before he hit one pretty hard at cover who managed to finally cling on after the 13th attempt. This brought Hamish to the crease who immediately looked like he was in a decent bit of nick. Kyle and Hamish proceeded to knock the ball around nicely until Kyle was adjudged run out with the score on 51. McCann strode to the crease as the next batsman in. Hamish was clearly trying to make a point to cricket coaches all around the world that training was overrated as he reached his hundred with ease. Around this time, the mysterious Fraser Watts turned up. Everyone was hoping he would bring his legendary mates along but they had supposedly kicked on from Monty’s to Indigo Yard where they were meeting up with Pommie Mbangwa. Although the disappointment was evident amongst the spectators Watts attempted to appease the crowd by sharing some of the pearls of wisdom that got him the Sky Sports commentary gig in the first place. He could be heard providing astute observations on the subtleties of the game such as “Hamish is particularly strong square of the wicket” as ‘Mish cut one to the boundary for the 23rd time. Another crowd favourite was his suggestion that “Heriot’s might be up against it here” as McCann brought up his hundred. Insightful.

Hamo finally fell for 110 and left the field to a standing ovation. Fraggle shook his hand on the way off. Hamish told me recently that he’s not washed that hand since.

McCann was joined at the crease by Ali Shah. The Carlton support felt a bit sorry for the Heriot’s skipper as Ali Shah faced up to an off spinner with a rather large space at cow corner. Sure enough, Ali smoked a couple of those sweep shovel things that he does to push the score on. He holed out for 14 which brought big Raikesy to the crease. He’d been moaning about not eating all day but managed to grab a bite of a burrito off one of his Merchi chums just before he went into bat. Those last minute calories obviously took a little while to kick in as he knocked it around for a bit before he finally unleashed one of the straight sixes that he practises against Cheeky every training session. McCann batted beautifully for a top notch 112*. Carlton posted an imposing total of 309-4. Watts wasn’t wrong, Heriot’s were going to be up against it.

On the resumption of play, the two angry Aussies opened the bowling. Freshy is obviously scared of big Roy as he had to come up the hill again. He struck straight away as Davey Ross popped a simple catch to Ollie Brown at mid-off. At the other end, Roy was obviously enjoying versing Heriot’s as he was bowling with pace. The batsmen could barely lay a bat on it and one of them decided to employ his head instead. Roy was bowling roughly 6 bouncers an over, somehow managing to keep 5 of them below shoulder height to avoid being no balled by the umpires. Mystical stuff. Whilst Roy just kept beating the bat, Fresh managed to nick the other opener off and the hairy guy behind the stumps managed to cling on for the first time this season. Fresh then got rid of the dangerous Pete Ross thanks to an absolute screamer from Hamo at backwards point. Roy and Fresh had both been frustrated by the Heriot’s number 3 who they just couldn’t get out despite bowling like gods. In these situations there’s only one thing for it. Bring Cheeky on to bowl a full toss and get him caught on the boundary. In another Carlton classic, Omsy Goms then came on to burgle a 4-fer. Poor Roy was inconsolable. Ollie Brown finished the game off by tempting the number 10 from his crease to be stumped by the hairy guy. Job done.

The Carlton boys retreated to the bar expecting to be congratulated by Fraggle Watts but we heard through the grapevine that Butch had called him up to let him know that they were hitting up Cav and would see him on the cheesy pop dance floor.

Carlton are grateful for the generous support of our match sponsor: Alan Kemp

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Cameron reports ...

After last weekend's comprehensive victory over Heriots, we were aiming to produce a repeat of that performance against a Watsonians side who have been struggling in the league all season.

On a bright and breezy Saturday at Grange Loan, Carlton won the toss and Hamish decided that we would have a bat. The innings got off to the worst possible start when Fraser Boyd nicked off to the former Scottish International, Dewald Nel, in the first over. Kyle and Hamish set about establishing a platform with some sensible batting including a number of nice shots. They had just taken their partnership past the 50 mark when Hamish was also out, caught behind, for 37.

Fraggle and Kyle continued to build the score and added another 30 runs before Kyle was stumped for a well made 28. This brought Ali Shah to the crease and he and Fraggle immediately looked to up the tempo, Ali in particular hit some excellent shots all round the wicket. With the score on 121 for 3 and with the home side seemingly well placed to push onto a big total, Fraser was caught for 28, three of the top four all getting starts.

Raikesy came and went fairly quickly but there was then a good partnership between Ali and Freshy of 45 for the 6th wicket made in quick time. Unfortunately when both Ali for 45 and Tom for 21 were bowled in quick succession the Carlton innings lost momentum and the final total of 205 all out in the 48th over was both below par and someway short of where we had hoped to get to had the half way stage.

Chasing 206 to win Watsonians understandably fancied their chances of pulling off a shock victory. Their openers got off to a flyer , assisted by a couple of dropped catches. However, when the visitors' reply had reached 48  Carlton made a double breakthrough to get themselves right back in the game. On his 1st XI debut, Cameron Shoebridge (below) got one of the openers to edge one to Fraser behind the stumps and in the next over Freshy repeated the trick.

With two new batsmen at the crease the scoring rate slowed and the home side began to exert some control on the match. With the Watsonian total on 62 Cameron struck twice in an over, getting one with another nick to the keeper and the other bowled, so now it was 62 for 4 and definitely game on.

Great credit should go to the 5th wicket pair for Watsonians who set about re-building their innings, no matter how much Hamish rotated his bowlers Carlton just couldn't get another wicket. By the time Tom induced an edge to give Fraser his 4th catch of the innings the visitors were on 175 and in sight of the finish line.

That wicket brought Dewald Nel to the middle who batted like he had a plane to catch later that afternoon, some wonderful clean hitting straight out of the IPL coaching manual led to a swift end to proceedings in the 43rd over.

There were some decent individual performances, 4 catches for Fraser, 45 runs for Ali, 3 wickets for Cameron, 2 for Freshy and a really good spell from Cheeky that went unrewarded. Apart from Ali, Hamish , Kyle and Fraggle all got starts but the bottom line is that we didn't make enough runs.

Still apart from the 1st XI result  Saturday was a great day for Scottish Cricket with both Scotland and the U19s qualifying for their respective World Cups. Next weekend will be perhaps the biggest of the season so far with an Eastern Premier League match on Saturday against Stoneywood Dyce and the Scottish Cup Semi-Final against our friends from Stockbridge on Sunday. All in all it's going to be an important week of cricket at Grange Loan.

Match sponsored in memory of our long-time supporter & friend: the late Frank Millar

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Freshy reports ...

It was an abnormally sunny and windless day at Grange Loan. The wicket was green and nippy, some would call it a bowlers paradise. 

We started the morning off, in usual fashion with some touch rugby, which was unfairly refereed by the Tour De France winner himself Chris 'froomey' Froome. 

After winning the toss we decided to send the visitors in for an early bat. 

It didn't take long before the 2 and half hour car trip took its toll on the boys all the way from Dyce, with the first wicket falling after just 4 balls into the innings. 

After taking the first wicket, the Australian left armer found himself with figures of 6 for 8 just 7.2 overs later. Which meant the Stoneywood team were 7 wickets down with just 25 runs on the board. The captain decided it was too much and had to change the attack giving the younger boys a chance to grab themselves a couple of wickets. 

With Omar and Cheeky trying to the best of their ability to get the most out of the wicket they managed to let in 49 runs between themselves (and maybe a couple of other bowlers), managing to only pick up two wickets.

Enough was enough so the pick of the bunch returned to his mark at the bottom end of the Loan, only needing 1 ball to remove the top scorer and finish the innings, leaving Stoneywood with a total of 74 to defend. 

Due to the first innings only lasting 32.1 overs, the umpires weren't sure if we should take an early tea. Don't worry, their minds were soon made up by ex most capped ex Scottish player D Watts, with a plate full of sausage rolls sitting back reading the paper. 

As we watched big Toby roll the wicket, Boydy and Fraggle were getting ready to chase the mighty total of 74. 

Despite losing our two openers and a downpour of rain, we chased the total in just 6.3 overs, giving the visitors an early departure back to the shire.

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Hamo reports ...

It was a perfect day for cricket when Carlton hosted Falkland at Grange Loan in what was a must win for the home side. With only two fixtures remaining in the season and the team sitting third on the Eastern Premiership table, they required at least two victories and slip ups from both Arbroath and Grange to push for the title.

 
Prior to the team warmup it was time for the 1st team photograph and a mandatory game of touch football.  Despite boasting a strong side (including all our current and former internationalists, Aussies, Indians, Irish and South Africans) and a hard flat batting strip, skipper Drummond invited the Fiferes to make first use of the wicket. The Australian duo of Freshwater and McCloy (below) took the new rock and they wasted little time in hitting some challenging areas, reopening Falkland's scars inflicted by the pair earlier in the season. With the score on 7, Freshwater induced a false shot from the opening batsman only to be pouched safely by McCann running back over his head at cover. McCloy who bowled with great discipline found the edge from the dangerous Strachan shortly afterwards which was well held by Drummond at second slip.

With the score on 2-36 Freshwater picked up his second wicket as Watts held a good catch running over his shoulder at mid off (well done Fraggle!). Two balls latter Freshwater rocked back the off stump with a brutal in-swinging delivery to reduce the Falkland top order to 4-37. The introduction of Evans into the attack from the pavilion end paid dividends almost immediately ending Doig's brief resistance, as he found a thin edge safely taken by Boyd. The rest of the Falkland batting order succumbed rather meekly to the combined efforts of Evans, Gosain and the reintroduction of McCloy to be bundled out for a disappointing tally of 62 in only 24 overs.

With the tea-makers under pressure there was a 10 minute change of innings. Despite some tight bowling, McCann and Gardiner set about the small total in positive fashion. Just when it looked like McCann was about to unleash he chopped on for 13.  Gardiner was then joined by coach Gilmour (below), who looked in great touch, to see Carlton to a resounding nine wicket victory.

Beers were then had.

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