Carlton arrived at Peebles with an inexperienced side to face the home opposition in a 30 over friendly match. The Carlton team consisted of Oli Stones (9) and dad, Paul, who skippered, Lewis King (9) and dad, Alan, who gamely donned the keeping gloves for the first time, Robbie Murray (9) and uncle David, who had not played for a long time, Sam Northridge (10) and his dad, Dave, and Ewan, Ed and Caitlin Hutchinson, who provided much needed experience and expertise. Peebles had a mixture of youth and experience, including a number of juniors on hardball debut. The captains agreed for Peebles to bat first to give the visitors a look at the wicket. 

Carlton opened the bowling with Oli Stones and Robbie Murray taking the opening 4 overs.  Oli’s 2 overs were miserly only conceding 2 runs and Robbie cleaned bowled the opening batsmen to leave Peebles 15 for 1 at the end of the spell. Next up we’re Caitlin Hutchinson and Lewis King who continued the quality bowling. An excellent piece of fielding from Sam Northridge saw the second wicket fall via a runout to finish the next 4 overs on 20/2. Euan H and Sam then took the next 4. Sam toughed it out after seeing his bowling taking some punishment, but Hutch got out the danger man trapping him LBW, much to the batsmen’s disgust at the home umpire!!  This left Peebles 55/3 at drinks after 15 overs. The opening bowlers of Oli and Robbie came back on and again bowled well keeping them to 63/3 from the next 4. Lewis and Caitlin came back again and both took wickets. Lewis taking an excellent catch off his own bowling and Caitlin watching as her dad took a catch at mid on with Peebles 93/5.  Peebles then retired their batsmen Fitzgerald, who had threatened to run away with it. A series of youngsters came to the crease with the Carlton youngsters bowling well again. Oli finished his 5 overs with a maiden. Robbie got another wicket, clean bowling their number 9 and Lewis took his second, with Robbie taking a great catch at gully. Lewis then got another victim with Sam taking another good catch. Peebles ended their innings on 113/8.

After a good tea put on by the hosts, Carlton headed out to bat with Euan and David Gass opening. Things didn’t get off to a great start with David losing his middle stump in the first over. Paul Stones headed out to the crease next. Some quick running and decent batting saw the pair move the score onto 47, when Euan was trapped LBW just before drinks. Again the batsmen was less than impressed with the umpires (his Dad’s) decision. This brought Oli to the crease to bat alongside his Dad with Oli negotiating his first 2 balls before cutting one to square. The father and son combo saw Carlton take drinks an over late on 53/2. Some excellent batting from Oli, including a lovely 4 to fine leg, helped rotate the strike and the Stones’s moved the score to 70/2 when Paul retired on 26 bringing Robbie to the crease. The pair moved the score onto 77 when Oli retired to bring Lewis to the crease. The score moved onto 80/3 as Robbie saw himself run out trying to take a sharp single off the wicket keeper’s fumble. This saw another Father & son combo at the crease as Alan King joined Lewis. Alan swiftly moved the score along with some lovely 4s and Lewis steered a well hit 4 to fine leg off his last ball, retiring on 6 with Carlton on 94/3. Sam joined Alan in the middle and they moved the score into 105/3, when Alan retired in 17 bringing Caitlin to the middle. The youngsters batted well with some young Peebles bowlers struggling with their line. After a mixup with the scoreboard and the batters in the middle thinking they had another over, the scores were levelled when Sam stroked a single to mid-on. Carlton finished 113/3 and an honourable draw was agreed. 

All the youngsters did their clubs proud on their adult cricket debuts and the match was played in great spirit. Many thanks to Peebles for their hospitality. The return fixture is eagerly awaited.