Saturday 29th April and the first game of the 2017 season. Carlton had an away fixture against Glenrothes at Gilvenbank.

Glenrothes won the toss on a considerably good wicket for the start of the season and elected to bat first.

Opening the bowling was overseas star Michael Herdman (2/35) and Calum Everett (3/52). It was a tough start for our bowlers though as a few opportunities were missed early on. Fred Culley (91) and Aidan Justus (46) put together an opening partnership of 167.

However, there was a great effort from the lads after drinks with 9 wickets taken for 82 runs. Gosain – 1/47, Beattie 2/52, Hudson 0/38, Pillai 0/28. Glenrothes 249/9 form their 50 overs.

Carlton batting innings started off with Beattie(17) and Macpherson(29). Angus edged one to the keeper and in came Herdman (45). The second wicket partnership was looking good until Macpherson was run out. Pillai (15) came in and was looking to settle down when he top edged one and was caught.

Ali Shah (32) was building a partnership with Herdman and kept the scoreboard ticking for some time. Herdman was eventually bowled when he misjudged a ball that stopped dead in his tracks.

Tom Simpson (16) joined Ail Shah at the crease to look at building a steady partnership but he was trapped LBW. Our next 5 batsmen could only add 20 runs onto the scoreboard as Carlton were bowled out for 206 in 45 overs.

A tough defeat for the lads but a good learning curve to get us well prepared for the remainder of the season.

(GH)

Photos

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

Shortly after 3.30 pm, a light roller was called in by new skipper, Evans, who had earlier led the boys out in his first league game with the captain’s hat on.

The scoreboard said 311 to win, which could have been made to look smaller with a good start, but losing Watts to a caught behind in the 2nd over is definitely not a good start. And it wasn’t long before Macpherson followed him back into the pavilion in a similar fashion.

Things started to look under control when McCann, batting at number 4, started timing the ball very well, very early and raced ahead of Herdman. Though we were still behind the asking rate, a partnership was building. At mid-innings break, a good 200 odd runs were still required, but with 8 wickets in hand and 2 set batsmen in the middle the chase seemed to be on.

When McCann fell 3 runs short of his half century the onus was on the middle-order to bat alongside Herdman (below), but things took a turn on the wrong side for Carlton and none of the following batsmen stayed long enough in the middle to make an impact.

An unselfish Herdman tried to push the tempo and cleared the ropes twice before miscuing one to finish on 94, and with that the chase was over. Boyd and Keddle showed glimpses of their form with a few crisp hits to the fence, but a few wouldn’t do and when Gosain holed out to deep square leg we were short by 84 runs.

Earlier, debutant Keddle couldn’t have had a better start when he had Flannigan leg before off his first delivery (below). But with Mommsen and McCallum delivering on the day, and a few missed opportunities, Grange had put more than enough on the board. 

It must be said, the day was scripted in favour of ex-Carlton boys Mommsen and Aslam, with a century and four-for against their names respectively.

(AP)

Photos from David Potter on Cricket Europe

Carlton returned to Campbell Park with with their defeat to Edinburgh at the same venue two years ago fresh in their minds.

McCann and Beattie got things off to a decent start but but when they both departed it was left to Fraser Boyd to keep the innings ticking over. Although he lost partners regularly he passed 50 and with the help of a few late blows from Herdy saw his side to 140 for 8.

Two early breakthroughs from Herdy had the home side in a bit of trouble at 8 for 2. However, a combination of wayward bowling and good batting from Qasim Ashraf kept Edinburgh well in the hunt and at 76 for 3 at the halfway stage a repeat of the last encounter seemed on the cards. However, Carlton knuckled down and left arm spinners Gosain and Beattie picked up two crucial wickets apiece to slow the Edinburgh progress as they eventually finished just 9 runs behind on 131 for 9, with Ashraf finishing undefeated on 51.

Photos

The third fixture of the league season saw the first team take on Falkland, at a chilly Grange Loan. Though winning the match remained the primary goal, enjoying the day’s play was another key focus, collectively agreed by the squad. Early innovation by the club captain marked the first step towards doing so. Bizarrely, the team found themselves engaging in warm up exercises that almost no-one had ever completed before in their lives. Engaging in high knees (and almost hamstring kicks), whilst moving backwards, helped create a light-hearted atmosphere, something that abruptly changed when the youngies vs oldies match was due to start. As always, the match was plagued by blatant errors that appeared to reject the written rules of the sport. Many of these would have been pounced on by an impartial referee and for such a reason, we will move swiftly on…

As expected, the toss was lost and Carlton were put into bat on a wicket that looked fairly even for both bat and ball. Watts and Macpherson opened up and despite there being some sideways movement off the wicket, guided the score to 15 for the loss of no wicket. At this point, the heavens soon opened, resulting in both teams being confined to the changing rooms. During this period, LMS squads were organised for the season, some may say too hastily…

Following the time off, the sun soon came out and the match was back underway. Unfortunately, Macpherson played a loose drive after not too long and was caught and bowled, shortly after a booming drive for 4. Following this early loss, Watts and Herdman guided the team nicely, putting on a 178 run partnership, placing the team in a very strong position. After the dismissal of Herdman, Pillai entered the crease and importantly added another 74 runs to the scoreboard, alongside Watts. The home side continued to tick along and score at a good rate, even after the eventual fall of Watts for a brilliant 162. What resulted was a final total of 309 from the reduced maximum of 44 overs.

As always, teas were lovely and helped to refuel the players for a dynamic 44 overs in the field. The home side then got off to a strong start, with Evans picking up the wicket of Meikle with only 9 on the board. The team continued to buzz through the overs and put pressure on the Falkland batting line up, something that resulted in Herdman picking up an LBW, his first wicket of the day. Shortly after, another breakthrough came when the dangerous Nawalage was dismissed, Herdman again the bowler. This left Falkland in the tricky position of being 25 for 3, whilst also operating behind the required run rate. Paul and Sullivan did well to rebuild things for the away side, piling on 43 runs before Grant Keddle, ‘the Welsh Wizard’, picked up his first in the match. Carlton then remained firmly in the ascendancy, with Falkland managing only 15 more runs before being bowled out during the 25th over.

Overall, the match proved especially positive. It marked the first win of the season and set the benchmark for how the team should operate throughout the rest of the season, particularly in the field. The team looks forward to building on this victory for the remainder of the season, embracing the challenges that lie ahead.

(KM)

Photos

Your correspondent took a leisurely route to this tie at Inverleith. After all, he wouldn’t miss much in the first half hour, would he? Strolling into the ground he took a glance at the scoreboard. 12 for 5. A slight moment of panic was followed by relief with the realisation that the fielding side were sporting the club's sharp looking new blue tops. “Could have been worse” muttered a local. “It was 3 for 5 when I arrived”.

Eye witness reports described the early action as follows:

Ball 1: Evo bowls a loosener back of a length outside off, which the SMRH pro carves straight to Kyle at point

Ball 2: Evo bowls a straight one, which the SMRH overseas am misses and is bowled

Over 3: Another for Evo, with a catch to the keeper

Over 4: Two wickets for Herdy – another catch for Kyle and an lbw. The score is 3 for 5.

A mini recovery ensued but proved to be short lived when Herdy made it 14 for 6 in the 9th over as he demolished the stumps. Two balls later he had a hat-trick – both batsmen lbw to the left armer. 14 for 8.

A couple of thick edges took the score to 22 before Grant Keddle picked up the 9th wicket (below) courtesy of a catch at gully by that man Herdy. With the SMRH number 11 apparently still travelling to the ground it was all over in the 14th over.

The young opening partnership of Kyle Macpherson and Tom Simpson took to the middle seeking 23 to win, and a 14 ball first over quickly took the total within sight. A good second over from young left armer Tait delayed the inevitable before a crashing cover drive from Tom put the home side out of their misery after 2.2 overs. Carlton into the next round where they’ll travel to face holders Clydesdale.

A quick recap of the standout bowling figures:

Ali Evans 4-3-1-3

Michael Herdman 5-2-7-5

Chayank Gosain 0-0-0-0

On a beautiful summer's evening, Tom and Kyle reprised their opening partnership from the cup tie at SMRH. Both batsmen got off to a flier before Kyle edged Ashi Tufail to the keeper on 20. Tom was quick to pick up on anything short and at the halfway stage he and Ali Shah had taken the score to 112 for 1.

There was to be no let up in the scoring rate with the 150 coming up in the 14th over. Sadly, Tom was out an agonising three runs short of has maiden Carlton century as he edged behind. But a great knock and one that promises many more runs in the future. Ali finished unbeaten on 87, with Hugo contributing a quick 12 as Carlton posted a formidable 241 for 2.

Carlton seemed to be in no mood to take things easy as Herdy's first over delivered a quadruple wicket maiden. With Omar taking three wickets at the other end, Musselburgh soon found themselves on 15 for 7.  A couple of wickets to Hugo and a runout from Ali Shah brought things to a quick end.  Full marks to Musselburgh for keeping going on an evening when nothing went right for them and for some top quality tweeting on their batting progress.

Photos

On the back of a victorious performance against Aberdeenshire the previous day, Carlton travelled to face Clydesdale.  Teenagers Tom Simpson and Calum Everett were the only additions to a side looking to progress to the quarter-finals of the Scottish Cup.

Following previous successes the ‘Fraser Watts School of Dance’ made another outing in the warm up to ensure that the boys were raring to go for what was a challenging fixture against one of the top teams in the West.

Evo won the toss, opting to bat, with Watts and Macpherson opening up.  The pair started strongly dealing with bad balls and putting the Clydesdale fielders under pressure with good running.  Clydesdale chopped and changed their attack, however the pair looked comfortable going on to put on 129 for the opening partnership.  When Kyle was bowled for a well made 53, Fraggle and Herdy continued the momentum until Herdy was well caught by De Lange (16). 

McCann and Watts (below) continued to bat positively pushing on the Carlton total through the 40 over mark.  Watts brought up a brilliant 100 in an unstylish fashion almost being run out in taking a single through to the wicket keeper.  Having batted tirelessly for a couple of hours in uncharacteristically warm Glasgow weather Fraggle was caught off the bowling of Krishna for a quality 113 – a classy knock that formed the backbone of the Carlton innings.  When McCann was dismissed for 40 with the score on 255 it was left to contributions from the middle/lower order to get the total up to a highly defendable 278.

After a quality tea, Carlton started strongly with the in-form duo of Evans and Herdman causing the Clydesdale openers problems from the outset.  When Herdy trapped Awais, LBW (6), the two openers continued to squeeze the Clydesdale run scoring.  After a few expensive overs, Chad (below) came on and got straight to work bowling tight lines and lengths, leading to the second breakthrough, Boydy taking a good catch up to the stumps. 

Chad was back in the action when his sharp throw at short fine leg produced a run out that put Clydesdale 3 down.  With the 2 Scottish Caps Berrington and De Lange at the crease we knew this was a key period in the game.  Evo brought himself on and continued to bowl very well, with Chad making the breakthrough when De Lange scooped a catch to Herdy (4).  When Arun made the important breakthrough of Berrington (15) and then took Farid’s wicket, Clydesdale were on the ropes at 88-6.  Despite the spinners bearing the brunt of some late order hitting from the tail with late order contributions from Ashraf (38), Krishna (44) and Drummond (16), the tie was essentially over at the halfway mark of the reply. 

Despite the late order resistance of Clydesdale, which took a bit of shine off the victory, it was nonetheless a great team performance from the lads.  As a side we dominated key periods of the game, from the strong opening batting partnership to some quality bowling at their key batsmen.  Next round is another away tie in Glasgow on Sunday 25th June, where Carlton will visit Shawholm to take on Poloc.

(TS)

Photos

It was another Sunny day at Grange Loan and another questionable, yoga inspired warm up from Fraggle Watts. Evo continued his good form winning the toss and electing to bat on a good wicket.

The innings began well for the in-form pair of 'Roof' Watts and 'Emu' Macpherson. The opening pair saw off the towering quicks up front, only for Macpherson (17) to fall shortly after to the off-spin of Brown.  Two more quick wickets followed as Herdman (5) and McCann (5) couldn't resist the temptation to relax and spectate a good day’s cricket in the warm Scottish sun (hard to believe but true).

Meanwhile Watts provided stability to the innings, passing 50 shortly before the halfway mark.  With the sponsors’ tea in full swing, the smell was enough to coax Watts into a state of euphoria, resulting in a well-played work off the pads, an ambitious attempt at a second run and a pin point throw from the fielder, Out!  A typically stylish and well made 57 by Watts.

Scrambling at four down with barely a hundred runs on the board the team valued a handy knock by Pillai (29) who, with the help of Alisdair Shah, nudged the score past 150.  With Arun out, Boyd (19*) was next to the crease. With a combined height of 5ft 8 it could have been mistaken for a scene from The Lord of The Rings.  With both Hobbits clocking times of sub 10 seconds in the 100m dash they looked equally busy at the crease before Shah's bottom hand took over.  After a cautious start by the left-hander, Shah began to find his feet, sending ball after ball to, and over, the midwicket boundary.  Finishing with a brilliantly made 83 off just 55 deliveries he allowed Carlton to swing the momentum and post a defendable target of 231.

After a sensational Tea (plenty of salad) and a good target on the board the innings began in its usual fashion.  Evans charging in, finding short of a length and the batsman finding comfort retreating in the direction of the square leg umpire.  Tight opening spells from Evans and Herdman (below) brought about early wickets meaning Heriot's had some rebuilding to do at 3 for 22.

Shoebridge followed Herdman up the hill and only continued the rot for the visitors.  Charging in from Arthur's Seat and finding the cut strip for only the third time this season he proved a handful as the ball repeatedly passed the outside edge of the bat.  Ross (16) and Watt (19) looked to stabilise the run chase after a missed chance behind the stumps saw Boyd continue his form and leave well. 

Shoebridge claimed both prized scalps shortly after and it was all but game over for the chasing side.  Spinners Pillai and Gosain picked up where the medium pacers left off, bowling tight and steadily taking wickets, eventually bowling Heriots out for 115.  A win by 116 runs took Carlton's winning streak to 3 games in a row! 

[MH]

Carlton won the toss and decided to bat but any hopes of a solid start were undermined by some comedy running as three of the first four wickets fell to runouts to leave the home side in trouble at 30 for 4.

30 for 4 soon became 60 for 8 with only Parker Neame, on debut, hanging around to end on 19 not out as Carlton were all out for a paltry 80.

SMRH were in no mood to let their chance slip and eased home by 8 wickets with 8 overs to spare.

Photos

With a win ratio of 0 out of 3 as captain and Evo away again, I was back to babysitting the kids. The team had couple of changes with Chad (Calum Everett) and dj (Ruari Macpherson) back in the team. Fraggle was also back, which meant the youngies had a great chance of winning the pre match ruggers. As always, man of the match was Omar on the wing with his Usain Bolt speed and Spider-Man hands. Special mention to Ali Shah as well for his twinkle toes and to dj who seems to spend a lot of time on his knees rather than on his feet.

Anyways, my ratio as captain might be poor but the only ratio that matters is the toss winning one. I am 4 out of 4 now believe it or not.

We were batting first on a tricky wicket. Fraggle and K Mac opened up as usual. Fraggle taking the attack to their strike bowler Andy McKay, pulling and clipping him through midwicket region. Kyle unfortunately missed a straight one.

With vegan boy (Michael Herdman) and Fraggle in and looking good, 220 plus looked easily achievable. However Fraggle has been watching Vegan Boy bat too much recently and decided to walk past one. From 2 for 60...we ended somehow at 5 for 98 as Beattie missed a straight one, Arun snicked off and Ali Shah was giving slip practice.

The worst Simpson looked pretty good until he was adjudged lbw. dj was going into bat ahead of me with an average of 0.6666666666667 which I was quite offended by. And he proved me right, showing why he deserves that average by missing a straight one which he told me swung in miles then nipped away to take his middle stump.

Before I went to bat, I would like to point out Omar has been in my ear asking why I'm batting higher than him and saying it's only because I'm captain. The usual Omar chat.

As always I scored a classy 32 and was run out selfishly by Herdy. At the other end Vegan Boy was thinking about his dinner and what kind of raw grass he's gonna eat tonight. Vegan Boy got angry in the last over as someone told him you need to eat some meat to hit the ball off the square champ. He responded by hitting the last over for 28 and bringing up his 100.

Omar and Vegan Boy opened the bowling and were solid up top. Omar has been hitting 140ks recently. Absolute pleasure to watch. He picked up the first wicket thanks to Arun at slip.

Watsonians had a bit of partnership after that which ended with a run out. Clearly never listening to first rule of cricket: “never run on a misfield”.

Our bowlers bowled tightly and restricted them to 190 odd off their 50. I picked up a couple of key wickets to prove I’m not just a batsman. Fraggle also went off on a Ronaldo like celebration after his fluke run out from deep square.

The win took us to 4th place behind Heriot’s. Good win from a young Carlton side.

(CG)

Desperate to atone for their previous defeat at the hands of SMRH Carlton came out of the block with all guns firing. Michael Herdman (34) and Hugo Southwell (33) played their shots while Rory McCann (24) and Fraser Watts (38) were solid at the other end. After 20 overs Carlton had reason to be pleased with a competitive total of 157 for 6.

With Preston Mommsen unable to bat with a back strain, opener Ryan Flannigan also took the aggressive approach, racing to 37 before the introduction of skipper Evans saw him bowled. A run out had Grange on 82 for 2 after 10 and the game in the balance. However the introduction of golden arm Southwell saw the dangerous Goudie caught by Herdy, and then Hugo took the catch to dismiss Neil McCallum. 98 for 4 and slight advantage to Carlton.

The bowlers continued to exert pressure and wickets fell regularly as the run rate rose. Eventually Ali sealed the win by bowling Vickerman in the last over to see Carlton into the semi finals.

Photos

With a Scotland opening bowler in each side, a cautious approach was taken to a soggy landing area following heavy rain in the lead up to the match. The game eventually got underway as a 38 over a side contest with Glens winning the toss and opting to bat.

Ali Evans made an early breakthrough as Culley was unable to deal with a short ball and the Carlton skipper took an easy return catch. Herdy was also in on the act early on, bowling no. 3 Gosse for just 1. However, Carlton were uncharacteristically sloppy in the field and at one point they managed to turn a tight single into three runs with a couple of wayward overthrows – a passage of play that takes on a huge significance in hindsight.

This sloppiness led indirectly to the third wicket though, as opener Justus – perhaps lulled into a false sense of security by the general looseness in the field - decided to try a suicidal second run and ended well short despite a return high above the keeper’s head.

Skipper Safyaan Sharif was in good touch and he put together a solid partnership with the experienced Shahzad, taking Glenrothes to 122 for 3 until Parker Neame took a good juggling catch at long on to see off Shahzad. Shortly afterwards, Carlton captured the big wicket of Sharif on 54 as Herdy took a brilliant running catch at long off from the bowling of Chayank Gosain. With their main man gone, the Fife side’s innings slid to 159 for 9 at the end of their 39 overs.

The Carlton reply was pegged back early on with both Macpherson and Pillai playing on and when Watts pulled a long hop straight down the throat of deep square leg his side were looking fragile on 29 for 3.

Michael Herdman dug in however, and found support from Parker Neame who put his cut shot to full use (below) on his way to a useful 38 before he was bowled with the score on 98 – another 62 still needed from 12 overs.

While Herdy was there, the home side looked favourites but when Sharif dismissed the Grange Loan Aussie for 42 the game was in the balance with 26 needed off 5 overs. It was down to the cptain and vice-captain to see Carlton home and Cheeky managed to glove a pull shot over the keeper’s head for a priceless four to bring the equation to 15 off 3 overs.

Although Cheeky perished in the 37th over, a trademark front foot pull by Evo sailed up the hill for 6 to leave Carlton looking favourites with just 6 needed off 12 balls and 3 wickets in hand. However, Ali was unable to get on strike and only 2 runs came from the penultimate over.

Shoey called Evo through for a leg bye off the first ball of the final over, swung and missed at the second and was yorked off the third. This brought young Calum Everett to the crease with 3 needed off 3 balls. After missing his first ball, Calum got a thick edge to the next one and the pair raced through for 2 to tie the scores with one ball to spare. The final ball was middled by Calum; unfortunately it bounced straight to the safe hands of Mohale at short midwicket, who threw to the bowler’s end with Calum well short. A tie and 5 points each.

Photos

The build up to the game was somewhat compromised due to a mixture of call offs and unavailability from a number of 1st team regulars. This however, gave three Carlton youngsters - Beattie, Simpson and Marshall, an opportunity to make an impression in the 1st XI. One can only imagine what Alan Hansen would have made of our chances prior to the game. The average age of the side was greatly reduced by the absence of Fraser Watts and there was a palpable sense of relief amongst the squad that they would be spared his brand of Tourette's for the day. Rumours that Watts missed the game due to an anticipated skin fold test can neither be confirmed nor denied.

Carlton won the toss and decided to bat first on a wicket that looked decent enough to bat on, if not slightly on the slow side. The innings got off to a slow start with Goudie and the Grange overseas amateur bowling tight spells which limited the scoring rate. The two openers, Neame and McPherson were soon accounted for, which brought the Australian Herdman to the crease. Looking like a rejected member of Hanson, Herdman started to put pressure back onto the Grange bowlers and dispatched a number of deliveries to the boundary. Spin was introduced to the attack and Pillai was unfortunate to hit a half tracker straight to square leg.

This brought Marshall to the crease who belied his slender and toned physique by muscling a couple of balls to the boundary. His innings was brought to an end when he received a delivery that many knowledgeable spectators were comparing to Shane Warne's 'ball of the century'.

Herdman soon followed which brought the young team of Beattie and Simpson to the crease. Beattie, on a high after receiving numerous compliments for his new haircut, got straight into his work smashing the ball to all parts. Simpson soon joined in on the act and the young couple mixed energetic running with a wide array of impressive strokes. Beattie was eventually out for 60 (below) and Simpson 39, not before producing an innings saving partnership and a potential match winning one.

Carlton set Grange 215 to win and the boys knew they would need to be on top of their game in order to defend their total. The 2nd innings got off to a dream start as miscommunication between the Grange openers enabled a triple play run out at the non-strikers end. Bounding in like a Giraffe who'd just been liberated from Edinburgh zoo, Evans bowled a quick and probing spell which accounted for the dangerous duo of Flannigan and Mommsen.

Herdman opened the bowling from the other end and caused the Grange top order all sorts of problems with movement and relentless accuracy. Ishant Sharma aside - Michael Herdman is the best bowler with a pony-tail I have ever seen. He soon picked up 2 wickets and the home side's reply was in serious danger of combusting.

Shoebridge was the next Carlton quick to be brought into the attack. Some claim a fast bowler's pace comes from the strength and size of their back side. If that were true, Shoebridge would be bowling faster than the speed of Concorde. Shoey towing in a caravan from the sight screen, bowled a quick spell and was unlucky not to pick up a couple of wickets. By this stage the experienced Neil McCallum was going well and it looked like he was the only batsman who could stand in the way of a famous Carlton win.

Cheeky and Arun were introduced at each end and their impressive command of control soon began to increase the pressure on the Grange batsman. Cheeky picked up the vital wicket of McCallum and effectively sealed the match for the Carlton youngsters. This paved the way for Angus 'the dyson' Beattie to mop up the tail and finish the game off.

This sparked jubilant scenes on the pitch and on the side-lines as the crowd went wild. To round off a memorable day, Shoey even bought a round after the game. A strong collective team effort and a great day for the club.

(CM)