Carlton won the toss and sent Penicuik into bat.  An early run out from poor calling meant they were 7 for 1.  The Penicuik opener then constructed a good innings, building on a slow start (18 from first 32 balls) then went on to score 50 from 49.  A point we will return to. Other good contributions with strong hitting in the last 5 overs added 49 (similar to the last 5 overs against Grange the week before).

Our bowling and fielding were poor most of the night with 27 extras (16 wides) and multiple over throws gifting runs to the opposition. Bowling on many occasions lacked a good line and length and fielding lacked energy and intelligence much of the time.  

Batting started with Gregor and Ewan H.  Unfortunately Ewan was run out early after not reacting to a call from Gregor. Murdo struggled for timing but Gregor was playing sensibly and made 24 before playing across the line and being bowled for 24 (a wasted opportunity not to push on to 50).  Douglas batted well and was scoring at a rapid rate helping push the run rate up to where we were in control before playing across the line and being bowled (a wasted opportunity not to push on to 50).  A mix up and slip meant Harry was run out early on. Cameron batted well and struck the ball intelligently with intent before before playing across the line and being bowled (a wasted opportunity not to push on to 50).  

Unfortunately, there were 3 senior players who all made good starts but no one could convert to make 50 unlike the opener for Penicuik. Also, in the field Penicuik were engaged and encouraging of all players - even the 2 U11s that played and bowled.  There are plenty of learnings from this game which will be taken back to the training ground next week to work on. We all need to run hard in the field and between the wickets when batting , be much more match aware and focus for 20 overs (it is only just over an hour).

Carlton bowled first and got off to a very encouraging start with positive bowling and new enthusiasm in the field from all players.  A very good opening spell from Murray and Fabian restricted Loretto to just 18 runs for 2 off the first 8 overs.  Harry and Rua also bowled well through the middle overs with generally good fielding. Harry picking up 1 wicket and Rua 3 with some nice catches. A couple of excellent stops from Murray at deep mid wicket stopped 4s and restricted the scoring.  This left Loretto at 44 for 6 from 15 overs.  

Billy bowled a little short and too much down the leg side with 17 from 2 overs.  This is something you will need to work on in the coming week.  Charlie bowled well for his first U15 match picking up the prized wicket of Jarvis who scored 28.  Strong hitting at the end resulted in 38 from the last 5 and a score of 82.  As a team we bowled and fielded a lot better but we need to look at lifting our game for the last 5 overs and keeping it as tight as possible.

Chasing 82 seemed like a reasonable chance, however, the wicket was fairly slow and tricky to bat on.  Time to bat and build an innings from our senior players.  Gregor and Douglas took that approach early but unfortunately Douglas was bowled from a good ball from Jarvis in the 3rd over.  

Murdo came to the crease against his school team and batted well with some good running between the wickets with Gregor before playing across the line and being caught at mid wicket. One point would be to look a little more for the gaps to push the single a little more or be decisive and hit it hard through the gap.

Gregor and Harry had a good partnership with Gregor building a good innings before playing across the line and being bowled for 25 (another wasted opportunity not to push on to 50). Harry and Fabian took up the battle with Harry striking some nice shots including almost taking out the square leg umpire with a pull shot before he was run out looking for 26 (a wasted opportunity not to push on to 50).

Unfortunately despite a huge effort from Fabian, Murray, Akilan and Rua we only managed to score 26 in the last 5 overs and ended up short by 4 runs.

Plenty of positives from the game but our performance in the last 5 overs bowling/fielding and batting needs to improve and this is what we will work on next week.  Keep remembering to HELP each other - Hard running and use your head whether in the field or batting, Encourage, Line/Length and Positive for all the game.

Very solid start with the bat between Gregor and Harry provided a strong foundation with an opening partnership of 82 before Gregor was retired on 51.  A good run rate throughout was promising with much better match awareness from all batters. Harry made 50 and Douglas a quick 27 and Euan 12 at the end.

Bowling was a little wild (a few too many wides and byes early on) and fielding was a little sluggish (relative to the week before at Loretto).  At about over 12 when Grange were starting to get the upper hand Carlton started to focus with ball and fielding with a good high catch from Harry to dismiss Max from Grange who was looking dangerous. Eventually the run rate was too much for Grange and a good win prevailed (the first of the season). Well done and lets take some the positives from the game into our Cup match.

Another solid start with the bat after an early unfortunate run out for Gregor.  Pete and Harry stabilised the innings scoring well and playing low risk cricket establishing a second wicket partnership of 83 before Harry was stumped on 33 and soon after Peter retired on 51.  

Douglas and Euan scored nicely keeping the run rate strong with Euan 18, Douglas 25 not out and Murray 10 not out.  A solid 158 was once again a well paced innings. The only small thing was there was room to do some slightly stronger running between the wickets which may have yielded another 10-15 runs.

We kept it tight early on with the ball, however, there was some loose bowling with a few too many wides (overall there were 18 wides which is far too many for U15s) - this is something we will need to work on this week to improve for future matches.  In the end Harry and Rua kept it tight through the middle overs and there was too much for Falkland to do once some of their younger players were in. A good win and an enjoyable game with a Falkland team who had not lost this season to that point.

Good bowling early on with Rua especially bowling a good line and length for his 4 overs only costing 15 runs.  The openers were cautious and never looked overly convincing but they did hold the crease and it was 79 before they lost a wicket in the 16th over when Harry caught a simple catch off Gregor's bowling.  Fielding was generally pretty good on the night with good running and ground fielding.  All bowlers were solid but not rewarded with the best figures to Gregor with 12 for 1 from 4 overs just beating his brother. Watsonians hit out a little at the end scoring 114 in the end. This was a good display to restrict them to only 114.

A solid run chase was needed with just under 6 an over.  Pete and Harry batted sensibly with run rate moving along nicely at 6-7 an over at a similar pace to the last few matches.  This is definitely the way we need to play with a constant 6-7 an over building up a solid total with good risk free batting.  The score was 53 when Pete was caught and bowled for 22 in the 8th over. Gregor was unlucky with a ball that kept fairly low to be LBW. Harry and Douglas had a small partnership to take us to within 15 of the target before Harry was caught for 29 and Douglas was caught with just 4 runs to win for 23.  We then limped home with Euan (unluckily playing his school mates) getting bowled for 5 and Duncan and Cameron eventually making the runs required with almost 3 overs to spare.  It was unfortunate we did not just finish strongly as we dominated for most of the game.  

It was unfortunate that Billy and Ivan did not get to bowl or bat this week, however, we will look to correct that next time you play a league game.  Also, thanks to Rua for stepping in at the last minute.

Good morning at Goldenacre with lots of anticipation.  Clydesdale won the vital toss and batted first establishing a solid foundation.

Carlton boys bowled well especially Cameron's last 10 balls that yielded 2 wickets for just 3 runs. We  fielded well throughout with few chances.  

Our batting started positively with Gregor and Harry playing some great shots and running well between the wicketsgetting to 56 in the 9th over in similar time to the Clydesdale openers before Harry slipped down the wicket and was run out. Unfortunately Pete was run out without facing a ball and Euan and Cameron went cheaply.  Gregor made a good 38 before he was eventually caught behind and we were all of a sudden we were 72 for 5.  Duncan and Fabian batted well and continued to push the score along and made 18 and 11.

Unfortunately we were not quite strong enough on the day to chase down the Clydesdale total.

After the disappointment of the morning it was important to regroup and defeat a weakened Grange team (similar to the team we had defeated on Wednesday evening in the U15 league).  A few early wickets saw Harry and Cameron depart cheaply. Gregor and Pete then had a good partnership with Gregor making 25 and Pete 29.  Good contributions from Euan 13 and  Duncan 20 meant we got to a solid total of 126 to bowl at.

The coach's request was for off stump bowling, to have lots of dot balls and make them have to hit shots or take the risks. Pete started off well with one of the openers out LBW in the first over.  Grange then got established and our bowling was a little wild early on with Grange getting to 25 for 1 from 4 overs.  However, Pete and Fabian both came back strongly with 2 wickets each.  Cameron, Murray and Ivan all bowled well severely restricting the scoring and frustrating the Grange batsmen into making mistakes and losing their wickets all too easily with Grange being bowled out in the 18th over for 68.  There was 72 dot balls in those 17.3 overs which was good to see and shows the importance of good accurate bowling which we should take forward into our final 2 league games together with eliminating the wide count (wides top scored for Grange which was not good for them or us!).  

A satisfying day, given that Abroath were defeated heavily by Clydesdale so it felt like we were the second best team at finals day.  No cup or trophies but everyone should feel proud of their achievements and development as a team over the season - it feels a long way from the first 3 or 4 games of the season.

A good win for the U15s, with 10 bowlers used in the second innings.

This means we win the ESCA league as we were equal with SMRH going into the last match assuming all results were in.

The season started poorly with 4 losses however we only lost one more game in the semi final of the Scottish Cup to Clydesdale who went on to win comfortably.  The team developed hugely over the season in all areas learning the way to create a competitive total, bowl to restrict runs and field like a team wanting to win (with more than 10 direct hits in this game).

 The U15s were a great team who worked together well and had great fun over the season.