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The Carlton 3’s first game of the eagerly awaited 2016 season saw them heading east along the A1 to compete for first-win bragging rights over a fairly youthful Haddington team. We had been made aware that Captain Kentish had received a call from Haddington’s captain telling us to expect a ‘slightly soggy wicket’, yet his use of the word slightly could easily have been put into contention for the understatement of the cricket season as we arrived at a sunny Neilson Park to find a wicket which resembled the colour of a chocolate Labrador, black with patches of brown in the middle put in for good measure.

New 3rd team captain Paul won his first toss by (take note FB) a considerable margin. As we heard back of Paul’s choice to bowl first Cal Sibley took opportunity to show off his new purchases, a pair of Nike skins plus several layers of new under-armour. Amit and Sibley opened, Amit’s left arm spin was very effective as Haddington found themselves one down in the second over. Cal was soon replaced by Spike as Captain Kentish hoped to bog down and bamboozle the batsmen with our left arm duo. Spike and Amit bowled well in tandem and Spike managed to produce a wicket before GMac replaced Amit from the top. GMac bowled well, producing a wicket maiden in his first over before proceeding to take two catches at extra off Spike’s next over, Haddington 26-5 off 12. Spike finished his eight overs with three wickets although he undoubtedly deserved more. In truth despite taking wickets at regular intervals we let Haddington off the hook, letting their big batsmen make 40 before Simmo took his wicket with a brilliant quicker ball, we had hoped to keep them to under 60 but ended up letting them get 90 odd. Hari took two wickets to finish off the Haddington innings and Amit had another as well.

After a quality tea which consisted of healthy snacks such as Snickers bars, various KitKats, Pringles and Costco cookies Paul and Fed set off to chase 94 on a pitch which now resembled a mud bath. Paul and Fed found the going tough and whilst going for a quick single Fed was run out by a very good direct hit. He came off and without consent from Paul claimed Captain Kentish would be buying him a Pint back at the club for calling him through ( Your reporter would like to state that he is unsure whether Fed managed to claim a Pint but he is sure Fed would be able to buy himself one) . Ru Main stuck in but lost first Paul then Nick Thompson. Ruairidh then fell feeling frustrated at the slow pace of the game. Hari and Ben hit a few before both falling Carlton 17-5. GMac and Amit built a small partnership and managed to take advantage of the bowling change at both ends until both fell soon after. Both felt frustrated as they knew if one person stuck in we would have a decent chance of chasing the total. Simmo fell soon after to the leggie before Spike and Sibley had small cameos at the end. Carlton finishing on 42.

Despite how the scorecard may suggest Carlton did play well, bowling only one wide in the whole game, which came from the second last ball of the innings. The whole team fielded well and on any other given day on a different wicket we could have battled through and chased down the 94 needed. A big thank you to Haddington for their hospitality and their free beers for the members of the team who were over 18.  Hopefully next week we can push for a win and look to start off what will hopefully be a very promising season.

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The Carlton 3rd team arrived at a foggy, cloudy and very Scottish morning at Grange Loan. Spirits were high following rivals Grange getting pumped the previous day. Skipper Spike tossed and elected to bowl first. After kitting up and a brief kick of a size 1 football the Carlton team headed out to the wicket.

Steven Andrews bowled a very tight opening spell from the pavilion end getting it to nip around of the seam. Saif was the accompanying opener, also bowling a tight, consistent line. The Glenrothes openers started slow and were fortunate to still be at the crease at the tenth over. An abnormal amount of sunshine and heat came with the introduction of bowlers Ruth and Amit. Ruth bowled a fantastic maiden to begin; limiting the batsmen’s shots. Followed by a superb maiden from Amit. The first wicket came in spectacular fashion: a great ball from Amit turning away from the batsmen who glanced a faint edge which was taken well by Fedz behind the stumps. Ruth also claimed her reward later, a good ball and a sound catch from Gmac at cover.

After a drinks break that was extremely well poured and diluted by Cheeky (according to himself!) Spike bowled an unusually expensive over before he took himself off for Harry and Olly.  Olly bowled with great pace and accuracy and Harry got an unusual amount of turn on the well prepared wicket. Gmac bowled an effective spell taking a wicket before Saif managed to take the crucial wicket of Culley with a magnificent slower ball demolishing middle stump. Olly came back to bowl the penultimate over, in which he claimed a wicket (caught at long on by Harry) and got hit over the clubhouse by their big hitter Gosse. Overall a good fielding performance; including David’s fantastic control using his knee!

Teas were made to Carlton's signature standard including some scones that were highly praised by the opposition. The remarkable sunshine had produced a good crowd for the second innings.

Dougal and Fedz opened. Fedz was out early to a good yorker. Olly went in three, and he and Dougal began a solid partnership. Olly was timing the ball nicely - he hit a beautiful cover drive about 3rd ball along with a car window bound six. Unfortunately, he was victim to a ball that span round his legs by their lethal leggie. Gmac, in at four, showed his intent early with a super one bounce on drive four. He battled through the wickets of Dougal, Amit and David.

Gmac and Spike then made an effective partnership both running and communicating well. Harry came in at the fall of Spike. He supported Gmac as he passed the half century mark. In the end after much perseverance and a few more lost wickets, Carlton lost, by 54 runs.

Congratulations to Gmac for his first senior 50 and thanks to the ground staff for such a good wicket.

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As the Carlton 3s arrived in stages for their game at Roseburn to play against Murrayfield Dafs (MDAF 2s as they will be referred to from now on) they were greeted by the unfamiliar face of the Scottish sun. There were even questions going about the changing room such as under armour or no under armour? something not often said in Scotland.

With the excitement of a day's game in the sun the 3s made it to the outfield for a look at the pitch to then get halfway there and decide as normal to bowl. With the casual pitch inspection done it was time to play…football. The game of shorts vs trousers is already contender for game of the season with some fine skills being shown by Spike and the other oldies. As the game approached it was time to toss and as often with Carlton they lost the toss and were placed into bat.

In the opening spells of the Carlton innings the loss of the toss seemed to be more significant as after 5 overs Carlton saw themselves 9-1 with Zaki missing out on a juicy full toss bowled by Bakie and clattering his stumps. With skipper Paul Kentish also struggling in the opening spells by playing many full blooded drives but missing the ball. The introduction of R.Main to the crease saw some stability for Carlton for the next 7 overs allowing Paul to begin to get his eye in. However all good things must come to an end and after a 22 run partnership R.Main was deceived by a ball he expected to be short and caught in the middle of a defensive shot and pull which resulted in a chip to short extra and Carlton in trouble again.

The sorrow continued with Craig Everett also falling in the same over for 0. This brought hot topic G.Mac to the crease after smashing a 50 the week before. Much was expected and he looked very promising hitting two very well timed 2s and scored a great boundary but unfortunately fell short by getting out LBW to Kumar who with precise bowling finished the game (8-3-19-2). The loss of G.Mac brought Mohammed Ahmed who, playing his first game of the season, wished to show truth to his previous statement in the changing rooms of “I'm a batsmen.” The introduction of Mo was instant with his second scoring shot reaching the boundary. At which point the team began to realise the steady skipper was approaching a resounding 50 which included 5 boundaries on an outfield that seemed to not have been cut the whole of the summer. The partnership of Mo and Paul began to blossom with consistent 2s and the occasional 3 being struck which meant that the score started to show real promise.

As the pair continued to place the ball around the field and more occasionally find the boundary the 3s made it to 100 in the 30th over. As always with Carlton there had to be the odd obstacle in our way and this came in the form of Paul's Calf taking some serious strain. A runner was required and of course there wasonly one man “fit” for the job: Zaki Yusaf. After 20 minutes of getting ready he made his way to the crease, Paul had decided that there will surely be a mix up with a runner so instead decided to deal only in boundaries smashing several 4s and even the first 6 of the day. With Mo also smashing the gaps Carlton saw a terrific partnership of 91 between the pair until of course a run out due to a mix up with the runner saw Mo ran out for a very well played and needed 31. After several more well placed runs by Paul, Carlton found themselves in a very respectable position of 164-6 after their 40 overs with the skipper carrying his bat on a very well played 83*. The MDAFS top bowlers Kumar (8-3-19-2) and Bakie (8-1-31-1) bowled well and the general fielding of their 2s side saw them show a very strong innings and gave them a very achievable score.

After a below average tea by a opening bowlers' standards it was Carlton’s turn to show an impressive outing with ball and in the field. The first over was handed to Mo - once of course Paul sent someone to the changing room to grab the ball (again.) Off the back of his impressive outing with the bat he wanted to prove himself with the ball and that he did. With his first over on the spot beating the outside of the batsmen’s bat many a time, it was inevitable that one was going to hit. And it did with the last ball of the over smashing the stumps leaving MDAFS 2’s 1-1. At the other end C.Sibley had no such luck after beating the bat several times but not finding the edge, Mo saw this tentative batting and went for the jugular and took another in his second over. Once C.Sibley took his first the MDAFS flood gates opened and after 12 overs from the opening spell of Ahmed and Sibley they found themselves 15-5.

With Mo bowling straight through and managing to pick up figures of (8-3-6-4) this left it open for the other two seamers to have a crack in the shape of Gavin Rittoo and G.Mac. Their tight and accurate bowling began to frustrate the batsmen who struggled to find anything more than a 2. This exceeding pressure by the two bowlers forced them into taking risky runs and this resulted in a bizarre run out by Rittoo who no handbag required launched it in and the batsmen forgetting that you can slide your bat saw him take a disappointing walk back to the shed. This was the beginning of the end when Rittoo after taking a run out steps up and takes a wicket leaving MDAFS 7 down.

This is when the seniors step up to show us young ones the art of hoovering. Amit Biji and Spike (Alan Macleod) step up for a bowl at the end; a masterclass in spin bowling was shown as Amit beat the bat several times in his 2 overs but no such luck. However the experience of Spike showed immediately. As instead of bowling accurate left arm through and around he decided to bowl a short half tracker which was scooped up by Craig Everett who was in short. To not disappoint fans and gain an early finish Spike bowled an examplary double wicket maiden to finish the game and finish with figures of (2-3-3-1).

A resounding victory for the 3s who bowled out MDAFS 2s for 40 with extras being their top score on 11. A 124 run win by the 3s sends a serious message to the opposing teams in that league. A fantastic team effort and an excellent bowling performance with Spike and Mo both picking up 3 wickets each and not to forget Paul smashing a fantastic 83* rounding up a resounding with for Carlton.

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Another day began at the Home of Cricket (The Meadows of course) but unfortunately for the 3rd XI braving the chilly weather there were a number of other teams playing the same day leading to second choice of wicket. It was of course another meadows road, the likes of which would make Moon at Grange Loan cry. There was the usual shelf at each end on the damp and soft wicket with patches of lush grass accompanied by the odd patch of mud. There was also, as expected, the trademark meadows mounds dotted randomly across the track.

Skipper Paul headed out to the toss and…. Eh… well in all truth your correspondent (and also the scorers) has forgotten the result of the toss. So let’s just say Paul won shall we. Either way The 3s bowled first against Selkirk and opened up with Saif (1-6) and Sibley (1-11). Both bowled well only going for 17 between them in 10 overs. Sibley struck first in the 6th over with the batsmen nicely opening the face and guiding a well placed bouncer into the hands of Katie at gully. Saif then took the second wicket with a wide full toss that a wild slash from the batsmen carried again to gully for Katie to take a wonderful low catch to her right, which was travelling at such pace it cut her hand. After a quick clean up of Katie’s wound courtesy of medical student Ruth, Katie (3-11) and Mikey (3-10) came on 1st change. Katie’s first over was a wicket maiden with her bowling number 3. Mikey’s first was also a wicket maiden and his tactical half tracker forced the batsmen to gently place the ball into the hands of none other than Katie again at gully. Katie’s fourth over brought another two wickets… in a row. Firstly a nice slow catch for Paul at first slip and then next ball a catch for Ollie at point. The third ball saw the batsman chip the ball to cover, but sadly was dropped by a fielder who shall remain anonymous for their safety. Mikey took another two wickets, both LBW in his fifth and sixth over. Pete took the last two wickets in the second and third ball of his three-ball spell (sadly he could not take his hat-trick the next day) with the first being bowled and the second coming off a skied ball caught by Mikey at square leg. Well done to the bowlers and fielders, particularly Katie, for a good performance restricting Selkirk to 45.

A fairly good Carlton tea was made amazing by the presence of Pete’s mums’ scones. Thanks Mrs. Gill, they were thoroughly enjoyed as always.

Carlton had a quick turn around and Paul and Ollie opened. Paul unfortunately never got going and was bowled by a good Yorker for none. Arsal came in at three and Ollie soon fell for 4 being caught behind. Ruth was four but Arsal (11) and Ruth (2) both fell quickly as Arsal was caught at mid wicket and Ruth was bowled. Hari and Katie were next in but Hari (0) fell victim to the Meadows wicket with a ball that didn’t bounce that caught off stump and Katie was gone caught at cover for 3. Mikey fell next for one, gone LBW. Spike and Pete slowly rebuilt with Spike showing Arsal how you really play off your pads. They made 21 between them and Pete fell caught behind with one run to go. Saif happily came in next and placed his first ball well through the slip cordon to get the winning run. Well bowled by the Selkirk opener Patterson (5-8).  After a very shaky start Carlton won the game with Spike finishing on high score on 13*.

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A sun-kissed Peffermill was the venue for the mighty 3rd XI’s home fixture versus Broomhall. This week's team welcomed back the the legendary Alex Fedenczuk, Amit Bij and Nick Thompson. Brad, Zaki and Gav, who all dropped down from the 2s, joined the only remaining survivors from the Meadows; Arsal, Mikey, Spike and Sibley.

Stand in skipper for the day Spike picked up his £2 coin off the wicket and scraped the dirt off to reveal the Queens head. He’d won the toss and elected to bowl first on a pitch that looked very much like a mud bath.

Sibley opened up with Mikey. Both youngsters troubled the batsmen early doors and runs were few and far between. Mikey got the batsmen to sky the ball in Rittoo’s direction at short cover. It was one of those nervy awkward ones where you have a little bit too long to think about it, made worse by Arsa'ls “Yes Gav that’s an easy one” shout before he caught it. Sibley had no luck and was replaced by Randy the Camel (Brad) in his first 3rd team appearance of the season.

A period of steady patient batting vs patient bowling followed with Brad and Mikey bowling decent areas, giving the batsmen no freebies on what was a very difficult pitch to bat first on. Amit took over from Mikey and immediately broke the partnership – bowling B Marella for 17. Brad and Amit combined to get rid of the number 4, - a juicy full toss which was hit to Amit at mid wicket who took the catch on the second attempt, some say he fumbled it because he wasn’t paying attention others say he couldn’t see the ball out of the batsman’s purple cricket trousers. Brad followed this up with another key wicket with a caught and bowled (a fantasy league points spinner to say the least)!

Brad didn’t stop there. He clean bowled the next batsman and was on a hat trick. After all his hard work he committed one of cricket's cardinal sins – not making the batsmen play on the hat trick ball. Shocking effort from him to say the least.

Rittoo came on for Amit and bowled a total of 29/30 balls at the same batsmen. After persistent dot balls, he finally got the batsman to chip one back to him. Unfortunately Gav got a little bit too excited and dropped the catch. This angered him greatly causing him to steam in and bowl even faster wheels. I think he may even have reached about 45 mph at one point.

Spike replaced Brad and did what Spike does best – take wickets. Some clever field positioning and sound catching saw Spike take 3 quick wickets for just 3 runs in the space of 5 overs. Arsal got his slip catch he’d been waiting for all game. Amit took another catch (this time on his first attempt) and Mikey reacted quickly to catch a bullet coming towards him at head height.

Nick took over from Rittoo and bowled the number 8 with a tactical half tracker that didn’t get up before Sibley came on and polished off the tail with the perfect yorker leaving Broomhall 75 all out.

Gavs Tea Review

This was the tea that kept on giving. Although there were actually very few homemade snacks the quantities of food were high. Every two minutes a new Sainsburys bag would crop up with even more goodies and there were probably enough mini rolls there to feed an army (an unconfirmed source states they were half price at Tesco).

Scran of the day: Avocado & chicken sandwiches. Credit to whoever jumped on the avocado bandwagon and made them. 8/10.

 

With just 75 on the board the plan was to knock them off ASAP to get back in time to watch the first team. Fed and Arsal opened up and immediately took the game to Broomhall, striking the ball confidently and really pushing the fielders hard. Fed played a brilliant straight drive for 4 and looked in great nick before being bowled for 11.

Ru Main joined Arsal and both batsmen continued to play in an aggressive manner. Of course no game would be complete without an Arsal LBW so Zaki joined Ru Main to form the laziest batting pair in Carlton’s 153 year long history.

With just 20 left needed to win Ru desperately tried to give his wicket away (being dropped at least 3 times in the process) and Zaki swung from his hip. Zaki was bowled trying to smash a 6 with the scores tied. Nick reluctantly prodded a few balls away before Ru put himself and the rest of the Broomhall team out of their misery. He finished on 24* steering Carlton to a 7 wicket win and I swear I’ve never seen someone more depressed after winning a game, hitting the winning runs and finishing with a not out.

Special mentions for the excellent bowling performances of both Brad and Spike and Arsal with the bat. 3 wins on the bounce for the 3s, let's make it 4.

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RAINED OFF

MATCH ABANDONED

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Earlier in the season Carlton took a mild beating away to Haddington in the first game of 2016. Cartlon, eager to make amends and with home advantage, wanted desperately to pull through a win to level the healthy rivalry between these two teams over the last couple of years. It should be said that both teams may have been a bit rusty due to the Scottish summer setting in (read consistent rain) and were short on both practice and game time. This brought about the rare occurrence of both teams actually warming up with a decent net session before the game, unlike the usual 5’s a side the younger generation prefer. It should also be pointed out that the 3’s fielded a record number of capped players, with the average age tilting more to the 40’s than the usual 20’s. This experience proved to be pivotal later on in the match.

Having won the toss Haddington elected to bat. Talbot and Blades opened the batting, while Steven and Duncan spearheaded the Carlton attack. Talbot had a rush of blood, going for a flat on-side drive, but miss timing the pace off the wicket gave a straight forward catch to Matt at midwicket. Wicket, Steven “Meadows” Andrews strikes with the second ball of the innings! Duncan continued applying pressure from the other side, pitching the ball up, with Blades and Borrowman both defending well. Eventually Blades, forcing the pace miscued a cover drive, where energetic John Beattie plucked a great catch out of the sky. Haddington 31 for 2 and now under pressure.

Amit Bij was first change, mixing it up early with some left arm off spin, followed by Matt on the other end bowling at a lively pace. Both bowlers tried to force the batsman into mistakes, but chances were few and far between. While Borrowman and Dalrymple build a steady partnership it was only after drinks when the next breakthrough came, a high ball taken by Duncan at mid on off the bowling of Amit. Dalrymple out for 33. Haddington now 89 for 3, it was time to bring on the secret weapon, otherwise known as Dave Carter. DC, using his ample cricketing experience, hit the areas from ball one, and was unlucky to not get a wicket on his second ball after an edge flew past the now vacant slips. It wasn’t long before Borrowman went for an airwards square drive, that sent Paul at backwards point on one of his signature one-handed skydives, plucking a big cherry at full stretch. That sent Borrowman back to the pavilion for a well played 54 runs, leaving Haddington in a good position at 110 for 4 with 15 overs remaining.

Nick having taken over from Amit’s end continued with the left hand attack (it could be said not much faster than Amit’s arm ball). By this time S Mann was looking to increase the run rate and capitalise on this solid platform. Both Mann and the new batman, Logan, looked to get under the ball, but a surprise full toss was too much the gift for Logan, and Nick added a 4th caught and bowled of the season to push up much needed fantasy league points. Eventually Mann was bowled in the last over for a solid 33 and a six off the final ball of the over had Haddington defending 153 at lunch.

After the break, Carlton mixed up the opening line up, with one of both brutal attack (Eric) and dogged defence (John). John did a great job of seeing off the Haddington opening bowlers, while Eric capitalised on some loose deliveries. For once the opening batsman listened to the half time pep talk. John looking to rotate the strike and seeing huge gaps in the field set off for a quick run to mid-on, only to realise his mistake half way down the track with a great pick up and shy at the stumps. Good cricket all round. Carlton now on 32 for 1 after 13 overs and needing to pick up the run rate. What does Carlton need? Eric and Paul at the crease. The pair bludgeoned anything short or wide, and Haddington offered up these at regular intervals, with the pair now on a 99 run partnership before Eric fell for 65 runs, unusually mis-timing a front foot pull shot. Eric walking off bat raised for another superb innings. Support batsman tinkered about, but Paul played with a level head to finish with a big four over the bowler's head for a well played 67 not out. Carlton win by 6 wickets with no sign of back or muscle pain from this experienced squad.

Thank you to Haddington for a spirited game, and best of luck for the rest of the season.

RAINED OFF

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