STEWARTS MELVILLE ROYAL HIGH CRICKET CLUB

DIARY OF THE SEASON - 2011

 

October

The Club Dinner on 7th October was a very successful evening for the Club, both socially and financially. A total of 93 were in attendance, which is believed to be a record. Great to see so many club members and guests of all ages. It always was a good evening, it has now got far better due to the efforts of Colin Brown & Davie Gibson, amongst others. The dinner featured an excellent Q&A session with our guests Jim Calder, Finlay Calder and Dougie Morgan-all Stew/Mel legends-being questioned by the ever alert Malky MacCall. The Dinner and Golf Tournament earlier in the day raised just over £3,200 for the Club. We simply could not do without the success of this event. Your Committee is very keen to see everyone back next year, plus those who could not make it next year to give us a maiden century in attendance.

 

Part of the entertainment at the Dinner was the presentation of awards. These were won by the following stalwarts:

 

1st XI Batting: Alex Shaw

1st XI Bowling: Matt Coyle

 

2nd XI Batting: Rich Hannam

2nd XI Bowling: Charles Butcher

 

3rd XI Batting: Robin MacQueen

3rd XI Bowling: Willie Malcolm

 

4th XI Batting: Charlie Shearer

4th XI Bowling: Rohan Kapoor

 

Colts Trophy: Ali Khan

 

Pentland Throw-Ball (Clubman of the Year): Davie Gibson

 

 

Representative Cricket

Delighted to advise that Oscar Ball and Jack Pennell have both been invited to attend trials for Under 15 Eastern Regional Development Centre - this is the level above North Edinburgh Area cricket and highest level below the age group national team. This is well deserved reward, not just to Oscar & Jack, but for the excellent organisation of our Colts cricket..

 

 

September

Review of the Season

 

Taking all teams in the Club, from 1st XI right down to the Under 11 XI, a total of 96 fixtures were played, as against 84 last year. In addition, the Under 10 XI played in a number of cricket festivals. That is perhaps the biggest achievement of the season, given the appalling weather this year in comparison to the golden summer of 2010. So how come? Well, the reason is a large increase in games for the 4th, Trojans, Under 15 and Under 11 sides, which in turn reflects our bigger player pool. All great signs, we're growing like Topsy, whoever he is.

 

1st XI

P 18 W 10 L8  (last year P 22 W 9 L 12 Ab 1)

We had to play in a League that should have been harder for us, but we ended up with a better record for the season. Marvellous stuff. Indeed we perhaps peaked rather early, with arguably our best win being in our first game, away at Ferguslie. The team had a strong Australasian content, with George Worker being unlucky with the number of games called off while he was over here, but Brayden Tracey & Alex Shaw providing a great base to the batting. The bowling had a range of notable performers, with Raved Javed providing great assistance to old stagers Matt Coyle & Robin Crouch.  We ended up in the top half dozen in the second most senior league in the land, a statistic of which the team can be proud.

 

2nd XI

P 14  W 7  L 5  Ab 2  (last year P 18  W 12  L 3  Tied 1  Ab  2)

The 2nds won promotion last season, so it was always going to be a bit tougher. However, the disappointing start to the season set them back a bit. Things soon got better, but unfortunately this was at the same time the weather got worse, so the win tally was not ass high as it should have been. A convincing victory at kirk Brae, the eventual League Champions, was probably the highlight of the season. Indeed, kirk Brae could not understand how we managed to lose any games, such was there respect for Davie's dynamos. We were a bit bemused ourselves, but that bad start always left promotion to be a fairly distant prospect. We came 3rd, but will be looking to go at least one better next season.

 

3rd XI

P 16  W 6  L 8  Ab 2 (last season  P 19  W 9  L10)

The 3rds suffered from the same early season frailty as the 2nds. we were consistently getting a full team out, but the victories would not come. Then reinforcements, in the shape of Kevin Cassidy, Oscar Ball et al arrived. They were all different shapes, but they made the 3rds into a team to be reckoned with, particularly as captain Robin Macqueen suffered a career ending injury against Drummond Trinity 2nds, only to do a Lazarus impersonation a few weeks later.   To demolitions of the Holy Cross 3rds batting must be regarded as the highlights of the season, particularly after heavy defeats from the same opponents in recent local derbies.    

 

4th XI

P 8  W 1  L 7  (last season P 1  L 1)

Despite their playing record, the 4ths was one of the great success stories of the season. Led by the ever enthusiastic David Higgins, they struggled to get Saturday games. When they did, it was often against a team from a higher League. To compensate, they played a number of Sunday & midweek games under the guise of the Trojans XI, finding more suitable opponents and a great deal more success. Their return to League cricket is being greatly looked forward to, not only by the team, but also their opponents. And as for the highlight, well it must be that one win, against Dalgety Bay.

 

Trojans XI

P 9  W 8  Tied 1  (last season P 2  W 1  L 1)

The Trojans have played few games in recent seasons, so it was great the reasons given above gave them an unexpectedly large fixture list this summer. Indeed, but for the rain it would have been even larger. Every game was a highlight for them, the enthusiasm of just playing making up for the defects in playing ability.

 

 

The Colts XIs played with distinction, the Under 15s having the best record. However, as you would expect, the main point of the exercise was to develop the cricketing ability of our young players, rather than to seek League glory.

 

 

August

Monday 22nd to Sunday 28th August

Last weekend was undoubtedly a big disappointment. The last weekend of our cricket season and the opportunity for all of our teams to go out with a bang. We had five games lined up (the 1sts XI were due to play League games both Saturday & Sunday), but unfortunately only one took play. Heavy overnight rain on both Friday & Saturday night ruled out the others. Last week I spoke about Morecambe & Wise singing Bring Me Sunshine.  All the singing they could have mustered, even in their heyday, wouldn't have made one jot of difference. A sadly not unexpected end to a wet summer.

 

The 1st XI were due to travel to Weirs on Saturday. When the team met, there was some uncertainty about whether the game could be played. We were keen to travel, and indeed set off, before word came back that it would be a wasted journey. No such doubt about the 1st XI's final League game, due to be played at East Kilbride on Sunday. It was called off by 6pm on Saturday. The 1st XI finished 6th out of 15 in their National League, the second highest Division in the land. No mean feat, but there is a feeling we could have done even better if more games had been played.

 

The 2nd XI game, away to Dunfermline 2nd XI,  was called of at midday on Saturday. This left the 2nds finishing as 3rd in Division 4 of the East of Scotland Leagues. A good effort, particularly after their poor start to the season.

 

The 4th XI, under their Sunday guise as the Trojans XI, found their game was off just as they were travelling to play Edinburgh south at Inch Park. Again a watery end to the season, but they could console themselves with a victory in the last game they actually played, with a fine win over their pals from Inchcolm last Tuesday. Higgins won the toss and elected to bat: Kapoor was top batsman with 32; and he bowled splendidly, as ever, to take three wickets. Ninety nine looked quite defendable; and the bowlers made sure that Inchcolm were always behind the run-rate in the gathering gloom. Young James Gillespie, Airdrie FC  follower, and just about to enter third year at the school, took 2 for 9 on his debut. In post-match discussions in the Stockbridge Tap, Inchcolm captain Jonny Findlay indicated that himself and another of his players were keen to join us in the 4th XI next year, giving a good week for recruitment after a couple of new players had turned up at Monday night's net session. This gave the Trojans an unbeaten season (P9: W8: Tied1), the first time they have ever achieved this in a season where they have played more than one game. It was also the most games they have played in a season since 1995, an incredible achievement on both counts in this wet summer.

 

The one game which actually took place was by the 3rd XI. Kirk Brae 2nds advised on Saturday morning that their pitch was playable and the 3rds arrived to find a pitch that was undoutably soft but also undoubtedly playable. Kirk Brae elected to bat after winning the toss, which was further good news 'cos we wanted to bowl. Wickets were difficult to come by the first few overs, but the introduction of Jack Pennell into the attack turned matters around. He took three quick wickets, with the last being the pick of the bunch. Craig Goold also bowled well, but the game was yet again turned on it's head by a fine sixth wicket partnership from Kirk Brae players Walker & Umar Tahir. They both ended up scoring 43, Walker being out close to the end of the innings, as Kirk Brae 2nds were able to set the challenging total of 141-6 from their 40 overs.

 

In reply, the 3rds got off to a solid start. Young David Sharkey provided the defence more usually associated with his much older captain, Robin Macqueen, while Umar Malik was his usual assertive self in scoring 71 from 82 balls. Sasi Sukumar added to the cosmopolitan feel of the batting with an assured 28 from 39 balls, before some cultured batting from Jack Pennell & Andrew Tetley. The four schoolboys in the team (Rohan Kapur was the other) all contributed well and were a credit to the team, which in turn is surely a credit to the coaching they have been receiving. The 3rd XI eventually cruised home with 4 wickets to spare in 37.1 overs. A great finish to their season, meaning they finished 5th in Division 8 of the East of Scotland Leagues, a position not really reflecting all of the effort put in this year by the 3rd XI.

 

And that was it for the season...................but not quite. The 1st XI professional (George Worker) and the 3rd XI scorer (your faithful Vice President) were called up by the Scotland team to travel to the Rose Bowl, Southampton, to play Hampshire on Bank Holiday Monday. Scotland subsided to defeat by over 100 runs, but your SMRH representatives did the club proud. George top scored for Scotland with a workmanlike 46, while Neil of course scored all the runs in the game. That's two corny jokers in the one sentence and a good way to sign off for this week.

 

 

Monday 15th to Sunday 21st August

Members of a certain age will well remember Morecambe & Wise. National institutions as comics, they always closed their shows by singing Bring Me Sunshine. It finished everything with a smile & made us look forward to the next edition. Well..................that makes it a suitable theme for this week. After all that rain, the sun did shine, we all enjoyed ourselves and we are looking forward to this weekend, the climax of the season. Read all about it below, from the player who got in a team of the week by doing very little, the Captain who blocked it for an hour until the bar opened and the Head of English who got carried away in describing being an add-on to the Edinburgh Festival.

 

When the 1st XI travelled to Paisley to play Ferguslie first game of the season it was a lovely day. Saturday wasn't quite as good, but it was a good attempt. I recorded that first game was a battle between the Preston-Jones family and the Bissetts-father & son Preston-Jones featured for Ferguslie (with dad top scoring), while younger son scored and on the SMRH son we had the usual sight of two Bissett offspring playing while dad combined duties of Team Manager and dog walker. This time around, all three Preston-Jones were in the Ferguslie team, with our Bissett representation remaining unaltered. The man-of-the-match came from the Bissett clan, with Chris taking 6 wickets for 28 as he ripped through the Ferguslie batting. They subsided to 165 all out in 48.3 overs. The game took place on Sunday at Inverleith, due to the Scottish Cup Final being on the Saturday.This wasn't that bad a total in a weekend of very slow outfield. However, George Worker, Ross Logan & Brayden Tracey made short work of this, enabling us to win by 9 wickets with 14.4 overs to spare. Chris Bissett must love playing against Ferguslie-he performed well with bat & ball in the first League game-but he may not be as affectionate towards the Herald newspaper. They named Greg Bissett in their team of the week-not bad for a player who took one wicket & DNB. A case of mistaken identity of course, but it could well stretch brotherly love a bit.

 

The 2nd XI also had a very comfortable victory, in their case against a weakened Dunfermline Carnegie on the main square at Inverleith. After putting on 42 for the first wicket, Carnegie lost wickets at regular intervals whilst struggling to keep the score moving. Charlie Butcher (3-13) and Ed Pickmere (2-15) off their full 10 over allocation put a grip firmly on the innings with all six of our attack bowling well and taking at least one wicket. Despite losing Nick Hay early on, we looked comfortable throughout, winning by 8 wickets with more than 23 overs to spare. The third wicket partnership was critical, Ally Armstrong (49no) and Luke Maloney (24no) seeing us home.

 

The 3rd XI were playing Holy Cross 3rd XI on the Inverleith Arti. Just as our policemen always seem to get younger, so does the Holy Cross 3rd XI. On Saturday some of them even looked youthful. There captain remained as Ken Lawrie and his first decision of the day was later brought into question. Our arti plus quick outfield & short boundary normally gives a high scoring game. Ken therefore did not even have a look at the arti before deciding to bat after winning the toss. Our 3rd XI bowlers knew they were on to a good thing & then proceeded to bowl Holy Cross out for 38 in 21.2 overs. Pick of the bowlers were Craig Goold (8-4-6-3) & Kevin Cassidy (2.2-0-3-3), but Willie Malcolm & James Crispin also bowled to good effect. Kevin starts next season on a hypothetical hat-trick ball, as he finished the holy Cross innings with two wickets in successive balls & is not available next week. Our superiority was underlined by the fact that mark Allen, who had been the bowling success last time we played holy cross, did not even get a bowl.This carnage gave 3rd XI captain Robin Macqueen a very real problem. The clubhouse, with its attendant delights, was not due to be open for some time. Strong action was required. The easy bit was delaying tea until after the game. The harder bit was to give a Boycottesque display of batting to delay a finish as long as possible. Robin showed great application in this, scoring 5 runs in 54 balls, before being dismissed just before the modest winning total was reached. At the other end, Umar Malik was not on message. He clearly had other things to do with the rest of his day, blasting a quick fire 14. The runs were accumulated in 17.1 overs, thankfully just over the bar opened. Celebrations were therefore able to commence.

 

The 4th XI's match at the artificial wicket Inverleith Park was cancelled by Edinburgh Leisure two days before the match due to a 'waterlogged pitch'. Luckily, Scott Russell of Tranent was able to secure one of the glorious Meadows pitches, and a fine day of Cricket played in gorgeous sunshine ensued. A rendition of the 'school hymn', 'Summer Suns are Glowing' would have been quite appropriate here. One would struggle to find a more picturesque setting than the Meadows on a warm Saturday: the captain was reminded of John Clare's Sonnet, with its opening line 'I love to see the Summer beaming forth' as he led the team out on this rare day of sultry beauty in Edinburgh. agonising 9-run loss was the end result, but the 4th XI performed well against a Tranent side basking in the glory of their recent promotion to Division 8.Higgins won the toss and elected to put Tranent in to bat. Our bowling attack kept things very tight indeed, with MR Kane the pick of the bowlers with 3 for 17 off 8 overs. Calum Macleod, making his SMRH debut, also bowled superbly, taking 2 wickets for only 13 runs in a splendid spell. In the end, Tranent, helped by Russell's 65 not out, made 131 for 9 from 40 overs: a fine display of bowling and fielding from the 4th XI, and a very 'gettable' target indeed.Steady batting was required in our run chase, and David Sharkey provided the platform required with an excellent and determined knock of 31 against some rapid bowling, particularly from Tranent captain Anderson. Charlie Shearer chipped in with 19, and MR Kane thumped a fairly rapid 20 as we edged ever closer to the target. Frustratingly, however, Kane was bowled from the first ball of the 39th over with only 9 runs required at 123, leaving the 4s disappointed, but reasonably pleased with a fine battling performance.The 4th XI has now faced both of the top two sides in Division 9 this year: Dalgety Bay, current leaders, were defeated earlier in the season at Inverleith; and we were most unfortunate not to defeat Tranent, the other promoted team, at the beautiful Cricketing arena that is The Meadows.

 

Monday 8th to Sunday 14th August

These newsletters have recipients around the world. For the information of those in sunnier climes, it can be reported recent weather in Scotland recently has been atrocious. That is one level down from Alan Veitch's comment last week that the weather had been disappointing. Little cricket has recently been played in our green and wet land. For SMRH, this has meant matches called off for the Under 13s on Monday, Trojans on Tuesday, Under 15s on Wednesday and 1sts & 3rds on Saturday. Five different sides losing their games in one week must be some type of record.

 

As one would expect, the 1st XI game was given more consideration before cancellation. Indeed, opponents Falkland exercised their right to travel to Inverleith in order to inspect the bog that was our 1st XI square and outfield before everyone made a sad exit.

 

Fortunately the weather perked up a bit later on Saturday and was relatively summery on Sunday, or at least as good as it will get this wet summer. The 2nd XI were therefore able to play to the Tryst to play Stenhousemuir 2nd XI in a League game, while the 4th XI, masquerading in their Sunday guise as the Trojans XI, took to the Inverleith Arti to take on Edinburgh Academicals 3rd XI, another of these teams to be reconstituted in a wave of enthusiasm despite the weather.

 

The most critical part of the game at the Tryst came right at the start, namely the toss.  Unfortunately, Davie's organisational skills did not extend to winning it. Put into bat on a wicket wet at one end and soft at the other with a slow outfield was always going to be difficult. The 2nd XI batsmen dug in well, but batting was very difficult early on as they struggled to 27-3 in 13 overs. Colin Brown (38) and Brian Townsend (25) steadied the innings. With David Gibson and Irshad Aziz hitting 39 in the last 6 overs, they were able to reach what was hoped would be a competitive 156-8 off 50 overs. Unfortunately we could not get early wickets and, as the wicket dried out on a sunny afternoon, shot-making got easier and the outfield quickened. Tight bowling from Jonty Poward. Nick Barron and Luke Maloney helped get us back in the game. Unfortunately, one or two missed catches failed to allow us to exert more pressure which would likely have seen us win. Stenhousemuir eventually got over the line by 6 wickets with 6 balls to spare. Twenty more runs, taking our catches, or winning the toss would surely have won this match.

 

Back at the Inverleith Arti the 4th XI/Trojans shone like the rare Scottish sunshine with a fine win over Edinburgh Accies' 3rds. Higgins lost the toss, and Accies elected to bat on the thankfully dry artificial wicket. It soon seemed to the captain a good toss to lose, as the Accies' batsmen got themselves in all sorts of trouble with running between the wickets akin to RL Stevenson's short story 'The Suicide Club' (you can guess that this part of the article was written by the Head of English/4th XI Captain): three calamitous run-outs, combined with some splendid bowling, from Kapoor and Kane in particular, had Accies toiling at 20-odd for 7. However, the Raeburn Place lower-order batsmen were tough cookies indeed; and Williams, one of Edinburgh University's finest, put on some lengthy partnerships, the longest being with Banergee, to ensure a respectable total of 105 all-out was reached.

 

The combined 4th XI/Trojans XI knew that steady batting in this 40-over match would be the best route to victory; and thankfully we had the sturdy batting of ARC MacQueen and Nick Hay to provide the platform for our eventual success. But the top batting performance came from Charlie Shearer, who scored a most-impressive 27, batting at number 3; and the recently-resurrected cricket career of MR Kane continued as he thumped nine quick runs at the end as the team secured victory with five overs remaining.

 

A most entertaining and pleasant match; and the captain, once again, was very pleased indeed with the efforts of his charges, as the extraordinary unbeaten run of the SMRH Trojans continued its relentless path.

 

 

Monday 1st to Sunday 7th August

Another disappointing week of weather, and hence a bit short on cricket reports.

 

The Chief Scorer has been out and about this week, starting at Myreside on Monday for the Under 13 match.  A good effort from the lads against stronger opponents.  Watsonians scoring at an even pace but never over dominating, got to 105 for 3 in their 20 overs.  Our reply ended up 8 runs short with 2 encouraging batting performances from Hamish Levein 17 and Cameron MacDonald 38 not out.  Cameron taking good advantage of the final two deliveries of the match rather than retire (the rules at this level) for the last batsman to come in.   The larger than usual outfield on the main pitch at Myreside gave plenty opportunity for ball chasing, and one of my observations on the night was that both teams missed a number of runs during the ball fetching process.

 

The 1st X1 were idle this week, as the Edinbugh Club had been forced to withdraw from the National League as they no longer had a home ground, and indeed many of their last season's 1st X1 can now be seen  around the other National League grounds.  This opportunity gave me a chance to score the 2nd X1 match at Inverleith.  The 2nd X1 has quietly worked their way to 3rd in the table and were up against the 4th place side.  After discussions pre-match both Captains agreed on a 40 over game due to the weather forecast turning wet later in the afternoon.  Edinburgh University Staff batted first scored 45 runs in the 1st 20 overs and 99 in the 2nd 20, ending up 144 for 9.  Recent Aussie recruit Luke Maloney bowled 6 overs for 8 runs, but it took 2nd change bowler Rich Hannam to take the 1st wicket.  After the quiet first half, then drinks, the match came to life.  6th bowler Chas Butcher was on, and it would be fair to say not bowling at his best.  In his 4th over Chas got the opening bat tied down then 5th ball bowled him, and the ball was back on his tight string.  At the end of his 8 overs Chas had taken 5 for 29, and Rich Hannam finished with 2 for 29.  Tea was taken and the rain got heavier.  Captain Gibson got the league rules out to establish the latest resumption time, and around 5.30 pm after one last look at the pitch, the ground and the overhead conditions, the end was called.  The 2s needed this game to resume to have any chance of a top two finish this season.

 

So far I've not mentioned any music, but for the 3rd X1 players at Roseburn they had a full blown sound system, thanks to a variety of music on offer - Proclaimers, Runrig, the Pipes and Drums...at the a joining Scotland v Ireland rugby match.  It's fair to say this was the biggest crowd the 3rd X1 had played before this season, albeit it was a fast moving one as spectators took in a few balls whilst gaining access to Murrayfield.  Our own Brayden Tracey was nearby too, as chief wine bottle opener in the drinks tent.  Rain alas spoilt the cricket ultimately.  Those at ground level reported more noise in the appeals than from spectators at what appeared to be a dour rugby contest - may be rugby should stick to the traditions of winter!  League leaders Murrayfield DAFS were bowled out for 122 with 2 wickers each for Alex Dry, Duncan Logan and Rohan Kapoor.  After 8 overs in rely we were 44 without and cruising..in the downpour.  Reality kicked-in and play had to be abandoned.  It's the 2nd time this season the 3rd X1 have had top table opponents in real trouble before the heavens opened.

 

I'm told often by my golfing buddy and former player Donald Wood, that Dunbar is a micro-climate and it's so often dry there when raining in Edinburgh.  This didn't appear to be the case on Saturday.  Captain Higgins reports on the latest outing of the 4th X1...

 

The 4th XI travelled through to Dunbar on a dreich day, where it rained incestantly from the moment the first of our fleet of cars reached this picturesque East Lothian town. Dunbar won the toss and elected to bat first, giving our bowlers a chance to show their prowess in tricky conditions. Initially, tight bowling restricted Dunbar to 35 for 3,but first Bryant and then Vance established fine partnerships to post a formidable total of 218 for 4. Schoolmaster Mike Kane, playing his first FPs match in six years, was pick of the bowlers, with two wickets in his fourth over; Higgins and Taylor took the other wickets to fall as the rain grew steadily worse. Nonetheless, the 4th XI, and our opponents, are made of strong stuff, and after tea we had no hesitation in continuing.

 

After a less-than-glorious batting performance in our previous match, the 4th XI looked steady in the early stages, with Reilly hitting a marvellous 45, including two sixes, supported by Campbell and, at number 4, James Taylor with 26.   Lawrance later reported that he has lost the will to live on Saturday, in spite of those runs!  Batting became extremely difficult, with shots normally guaranteed to sail majestically to the boundary sticking in the mud and water. Indeed, when James Taylor was bowled, a huge splash of water was seen from the boundary as the ball pitched on the soggy surface. Undettered, the team continued to bat steadily, finishing on 105 for 6 and, most importantly, comfortably negotiating the full 35 overs, which is very encouraging. Overall, the captain was pleased with his side's efforts on a fun-packed, sodden day. All of this was captured by the photographer from the East Lothian Courier who was supposed to be covering a local football match which had been postponed.  So those of you out there buy the Courier this week!  Also I should add to the report the remarkable commitment of the Campbell family - Euan Campbell and younger brother Jamie both played yesterday;  father Iain regular spectator stepped in to play at the last minute when we had only ten men due to late promotion of one of our players; and mum Jayne took to the scorebook.  All in all I suspect a rain soaked family at the end.  I also think Mike Kane would have been glad to get home too, given the final part of his journey home was by bike from Inverleith, thereby chalking up 2 soakings in his return to competitive cricket.

 

The poor weather also washed out any play on Thursday night for both the Under 13s and Trojans matches at Inverleith.

 

Our missing regular scribe has just contacted me from Londonderry to say Scotland has qualified for the Under 19 World Cup and are on course to win the tournament.  He is heading home shortly ready for the 3s book next week, and back to his day job!

 

 

July

Monday 25th to Sunday 31st July

I thought I had one chance to scribe the weekly news, but with Neil announcing a late escape, 2 weeks no less, to perform the scoring duties in the ICC Under 19 World Cup qualifier in Ireland, here I am again for the next 2 weeks.

 

Just looking through the cricket agenda for Neil, 2 weeks at cricket grounds in and around Dublin - sounds like a winner.  A quick review of Scotland's opponents you will see familiar names of Canada and Ireland.....but lesser known cricket countries of Papa & New Guinea, Nepal and Vanuata - which is not a country which popped up on my school atlas.  Musical theme I think for Neil this week is that Dubliners number - Seven Drunken Nights!

 

Turning up at Inverleith this week gave you a feeling of being in a time warp.  Umpires Martin Flynn and Eric Jeffrey combined ages 161 (!) and Freuchie scorer, the well kent 'Scribe', who was quick to point out the last time we had scored together was 1971 (!).  Further detailed emerged shortly afterwards that I had been at Duffus Park in 1968 (for Cupar v Melville FP), in 1969 and 1971 for corresponding games at Ferryfield, but had missed the 1970 game at Duffus Park - reason unknown.  Ross Wilkinson who appeared as one of our loyal supporters later in the afternoon was credited with an appearance in the Cupar scorebook as scorer in the same fixture as far back as 1962(!!).  And yes coupled with later conversation with Robin Macqueen who as a promising youngster / student had played in the 1971 fixture.  This set the scene for an afternoon of nostalgic tour of East cricket from that era.  Yes Eric Jeffrey was there too as regular umpire and the only fact forgotten was whilst I was in the scorebox, a young Lawrance Reilly was outside operating the scoreboard.

 

And so to the match - and it did indeed resemble a game from a different era.  After 25 overs Freuchie were 57 for 2, and when Robbie Birrell was finally out for 54 he had batted for 165 minutes.  However this was the corner stone of the Freuchie innings as they closed on 159 for 7 - not that easy a target at Inverleith.  Robin Crouch took 3 wickets and 1 wicket each for Coyle, Tracey, Poward and Worker.  The chat at tea time suggested 3 good partnerships would get us there - well at 9 for 3 that was 3 potential partnerships gone.  Dale Cowan (the Calf, son of the Coo), took 3 wickets in 4 balls and from then we were chasing the game.  George Worker was out for 37 at 89 for 6, and when Mark Burgess followed soon for 32 we were 99 for 7.  Young Tom Beattie was left with the bowlers, but the fight for an unlikely victory was still on.  Tom was last out however for 33 with us 12 runs short of victory - we didn't quite make 3 good partnerships.

 

The 2nd X1 did us proud, although full details of the game remain a bit patchy, as the normal efficient skip Davie Gibson who usually produces the facts almost instantly, had made his first pilgrimage of the season to Tynecastle on Sunday.  Coupled with a loss and then the sacking of the manager, it's all been too much for the skip.  What I do know is Kirk Brae's 100% record for the season was bust big style, as the 2nds caused the upset of the day beating the league leaders.  Rich Hannam's 'rich' form continued with a century and 3 wickets, and was well supported by Ally Armstrong with 60 odd.

 

When a very youthful Dunfermline 3's arrived at Inverleith comprising what appeared to be 1 adult and 10 children the vastly more experienced SMRH3 could sniff blood. Skipper Macqueen won the toss and had no hesitation in batting first on the arti on a beautiful day for cricket. Leading from the front the skipper had extreme difficulty in getting the ball off the square in the 1st 10 overs and with the loss of fellow opener Shearer, who fell to his nemesis of the straight delivery after hitting the previous ball for 4, there was much work to be done to reach a minimum acceptable target of 175. Sasi Sukumar came and went at 3 unfortunately run out but Steve Kerr and the skipper fashioned a recovery and by drinks at 20 overs the score had reached a more respectable 80/2.  Kerr went playing on for a bright 32 and young Jack Pennell came in at 5 and the skipper soon departed run out for 54.  Kevin Cassidy continued the good work and fashioned another 32 in a good stand with Jack who scored 25 including one glorious off drive for 4.  A final total of 180 in 40 overs had the home side pretty confident at tea that this was a stretching total, but how misplaced this confidence was to prove.

 

Dunfermline set off from the start at 3 an over and early wickets did not materialise despite a lively opening spell from Malcolm & Ali Khan. Dunfermline skipper Scott Lucas fashioned an excellent well paced innings finding the gaps and running well finishing with 80 before being well stumped by Sasi Sukumar off Euan Campbell when the winning post was in sight.  Other batsmen supported well and despite a flurry of late wickets Dunfermline needed 11 runs off the last 2 overs. They achieved this off the 2nd last ball of the match to achieve a very well deserved victory by 3 wickets.   The one question late in day was did skipper Macqueen introduce himself too late to the attack, as he picked 3 wickets towards the end of the day.

Our bowling has been a lot worse in many games this season but one or two instances of sloppy fielding cost us dear and another 10 more runs would not have gone amiss so definitely another game that slipped away.

 

The Trojans made one of their Sunday appearances at Laggan Park, Comrie.  Here skipper Ross Logan won the toss and elected to bat on what did not look the most convincing of wickets. Due to late calls off the skipper had to dig deep into his cricketing acquaintances but struck a rich seam with his Fettesian connections in coming up with 3 excellent players including the exotically named Harry Boisseau (Fettesian 1) who has played on the wing for the rugby club this season.

 

With very recent recruit Aussie Luke Maloney (clearly Ross Logan picks the good pubs to drink in) and Guy Murdoch (Fettesian 2) opening the Trojans batting negotiated some tight early overs on an uncertain pitch to start scoring freely and put on over 80 for the 1st wicket before Guy was caught on 49 attempting to post his 50 with a 6. Enter Braydon Tracey at no 3 to join his Aussie compatriot and he was swiftly into his stride with several maximums. A quick 50 and retiral for Tracey whilst losing Luke for 20 odd meant the Trojans were romping along at over 5 an over. Skipper Logan joined the fray and kept up the momentum with another 50 against a tiring and demoralised attack. After many unsuccessful visits to Laggan Park for this reporter it was heartening to see a Trojans side well on top and resisting any temptation to take the foot off the gas.

 

A flurry of late wickets whilst trying to push the score along led to the fall of several wickets and led to veteran Lawrance Reilly coming to the crease at No 10 to join Hay with 3 overs to go. By now Comrie had brought back their opening bowlers but Reilly produced the shot of the day to despatch the quickest of the 2 for a huge 6 up the hill to the pavilion with the now patented Reilly fetch shot to mid wicket; a classic cricketing moment.

 

A score of over 220 was a big one and after 10 overs Comrie has made little inroads and lost 3 wickets due to the nagging accuracy of Luke Maloney who shared the newish ball with Duncan Keith (Fettesian 3) aka the Hogwerts Express. Luke finished with 4 for 11 and despite a late flurry from the Comrie skipper and the evergreen wickie Arthur Perry, Comrie fell well short on 125/8 in the 40 overs. All in all a very rare, but comprehensive victory.  

 

To complete the cricket roundup for the week, the Colts under 13 side lost to Heriots, the Colts under 15 lost to Grange by only 6 runs, and this is a clear indication of how much improved this side has become this year.  Rain cancelled the Thursday night game with are old friends Teuchters.

 

 

Monday 18th to Sunday 24th July

This week's musical theme is "Cry me a River". Julie London did a good version when I was a lad, while it is a particular favourite of Susan Boyle. It was also performed in the Royal Oak, one of my favourite Edinburgh watering holes at circa 16.45 last night, as I contemplated the strange events of Saturday. Cry me a River would have been an appropriate response from any SMRH supporter to the batting efforts of the 1st, 3rd & 4th XIs. Between them they scored 187 runs for the loss of 29 wickets, or 6.45 runs/wicket if you want to get really depressed. It might cheer you up to learn that their opponents scored 189 runs for the loss of 25 wickets, or 7.56 runs/wicket if you prefer. In amongst all of this, no tears were needed for the 2nd XI, as they glided to victory in what was the only relatively normal game played by our four teams on Saturday.

 

Here endeth this week's musical references, with a maths lesson thrown in for free. Read on, if you have a strong constitution, to find out all about it:

 

1st XI Chief Scorer Alan Veitch tells us all about his View from the Kelburne Scorebox - a great one too,  from scorebox level 2 you are given a panoramic view of what must be one of the largest playing areas in Scotland.  The effort of getting to level 2 was a little precarious as one had to scramble up a ladder in almost darkness through a small hatch - a bit like going up a loft ladder wondering if something was going to hit you on head.

 

The 1st XI started brightly of a soft wicket and outfield.  The 1st wicket fell at 29 in the 7th over, and George Worker's brief stay ended with the score at 40 for 2 in the 10th over. Before you had time to top up the sun screen we were 44 for 7 in the 13th over.  The gathering home support, forming one of the largest crowds I've seen for a while, sensed victory soon.  Chris Bissett and Matt Coyle decided some application and occupation of the crease might just help.  Aided also by the late arriving Stephen Parker, the last 3 wickets put on 33 to get us up to 77.

 

A quick turn around and tea withheld until the end of the game, wickets continued to fall.  12 for 2, the 33 for 3, then 33 for 5 and game on.  Then it was 50 for 7, and very soon afterwards George Worker took the final catch off Robin Crouch and Kelburne were all out for 57.  Sandy Strang, who always has something to say on the field, may wish to pen a few words in his weekly Scotsman column on why we won and not his team?  Maybe he should have worn his lucky football boots?

 

At 3.00pm we were clearly staring down a very long barrel, with black limousine ready to take us on the slow road home.  2 hours later - it's open top bus back to Inverleith, and this match has to be up there with great wins of our time.  George Worker took 3 for 33 from his 10 overs, Rava Javed, whose just purchased trousers had brought him no luck with the bat, took 2 for 8, Robin Crouch 2 for 4, and Matt Coyle 2 for 9 from his 8 overs. Joint man-of-the-match awards go to Andrew Davidson whose positive 22 and 2 catches, the first  to dismiss the Kelburne pro Harper for nought superb, and to Matt Coyle who batted for 46 balls in 56 minutes in those vital last 33 runs, 2 wickets and a run out.

 

Much was said about the pitch at the end.  Definitely a good toss for Keburne to win and bowl on first.  Those of you who are golfers will know the signs asking for players to replace pitch marks on the green - cricket bowlers perhaps should have been asked to do the same on Saturday.   But all credit to our bowlers and fielding for getting us there - a great result lads. Being Saturday of the Lords Test, it was also a big day for the Primary Club, and for batsman not already members - at least 2 from Saturday, here's a good website - http://www.primaryclub.org

 

As recorded above, the 2nd XI match perhaps lacked the excitement of the other games, but that did not concern our team as they recorded an emphatic victory. Penicuik 2nds batted first and, after a promising first few overs, rather stuttered to 139-9. Rich Hannam, with 3-31 and Alex Dry, with 2-14, were the main bowlers, but all bowlers contributed well. The required runs were knocked off in 37.1 overs for the loss of 37.1 overs. It was the aged ones who took the batting honours, Vic Coltherd back to form with 52 & a Man of the Match clinching performance of 55* from Rich Hannam. It is great that the 2nd XI are maintaining their recent momentum.

 

The 3rd XI have also had a great deal of recent momentum, but unfortunately it all ground to a halt on Saturday. It had been difficult to get players out for all of the teams, with many unavailabilities, but the 3rds probably suffered worst, ending up with only 10 men, their first failure of the season in this respect.  In spite of these difficulties, the 3rd XI started  well at St Andrews, a new location for our heroes, with Largo 3rds being bowled out for 82 in 37.3 overs. Chief destroyer of the Largo batting was the ageless John Archer, taking 3-10 on the return to scenes of his student exploits in the Victorian era, while Craig Goold provided good support with 2-14. Then it all went wrong, badly wrong. The 3rd XI were bowled out for 62 in 29.1 overs. In another failure of the Colts policy, Lawrance Reilly top scored with 18. It will be better this coming Saturday-believe me.

 

If that was very disappointing, the major bit of Cry me a River was reserved for the 4th XI. They also had difficulties in fielding a full side and this was only achieved due to the usual sterling efforts of captain David Higgins. Usually he sources schoolboy players, but on this occasion he also sourced the somewhat older Sam Malcolm. This was just as well, as Sam, along with fellow free bus-pass holder Robin MacQueen, were the only mermbers of the 4th XI to really pass muster. The 1st XI had four players leaving the wicket after securing a duck. Anything the 1st XI can do, the 4th XI can do better. They secured eight ducks, rumour has it more than exist in Inverleith Pond, after electing to bat in glorious weather conditions in what is usually a batsman's paradise on the Arti. They descended to 11-8, before a solid partnership, in every sense of the word, by Robin MacQueen & Sam Malcolm restored at least an element of sanity to the score.

 

Morton 3rd XI looked certain for an emphatic victory, but they weren't so sure when they reached 30-5, with Robin MacQueen & James Taylor bowling well. One of the wickets to fall was due to a juggling catch from Sam Malcolm that entertained the crowd, if not the batsman concerned. Unfortunately no further wickets fell as Morton 3rds reached 50-5 in 18.3 overs. In order to fill up more time, a 10 over game was then organised, with a one over limit/bowler. The 4th XI managed to lose this as well, their 42-5 being overtaken by Morton 3rds in 8.4 overs for the loss of three wickets. Mr Higgins needed some counselling after the game, but it is reported he is well on the way to recovery.

 

To finish on a positive note, as a warm-up to the weekend described above, the Trojans continued their unbeaten run with a win on Thursday night against Fancy Freens. The composition of the teams was rather complex, only really understood by Robin MacQueen, but a social game was enjoyed both on the field and in the bar later.    

 

 

Monday 11th to Sunday 17th July

There is disappointingly little to write about in this week's witterings. It all started to wrong on Wednesday when Hamilton contacted us to advise they would be unable to get a team together for the arranged Saturday fixture against the 4th XI on the arti. Then the rains returned on Friday night, causing Barnton to be ruled unplayable for the 1st XI match against Royal High Corstorphine. Finally, Sunday's 2nd XI match against Carlton 3rds fell victim to the further rain on Saturday night & Sunday morning. Another depressing catalogue in a depressing summer, particularly as the weather eventually improved to give a marvellously warm, fine Sunday afternoon.

 

The only good news was that the 3rd XI rose above the mass cancellations in East League cricket, played on the arti and even secured a win. Even they had initial disappointment, as their match was originally scheduled to give them a rare match on the main square. However, the damp conditions led to a switch back to there normal home on the arti and worries of further rain, as forecast by the Met Office, led to the match being reduced to a 30 over/side contest. This in itself had required an element of negotiation. Opponents Kirkbrae 2nd XI wanted a full 40 over/side game, we wanted the minimum allowed of 20 overs/side-a compromise was agreed.

 

After being asked to bat, Umar Malik was his usual imperious self in leading the batting charge. He contributed the lions charge of the opening partnership with Sasi Sukumar, who was resplendent in new kit charmed off the visiting Sri Lankan team. Sasi had spent a fair proportion of the week as their unofficial Liaison Officer and had ensured he got his reward in kit from them. Unfortunately, he had been unable to persuade any of them to add a game for SMRH 3rd XI to their CV.

 

The 150 had by then come up in only 24 overs and a total of 200 looked very achievable. It was not, mainly due to the efforts of one Asdaq Raja. Asdaq is a Stewart's Melville pupil, about to enter the 6th year, but plays for Kirkbrae 2nd XI along with his father. He had been keeping wicket, but eventually came on as No 9 bowler and took a hat-trick in his first over.  Thomson, Shearer & Napier were his victims, after which expectations had to be lowered as the 3rd XI finished with 186-8. A very good score and more than had been obtained in the 40 over/side game against Kirkbrae earlier in the season, but it might have been more but for Asdaq.

 

Kirkbrae made a spirited reply, with Asdaq's father, Mak, leading the way, both with the bat and verbals with our team. Mak & Wasim Mehdi both top scored with 34, but the 3rd XI bowlers stuck to their task & wickets gradually fell. Oscar Ball was the most economical, while Thomson was the least economical, but with the consolation of being the only bowler to take more than one wicket. Kirkbrae eventually amassed 146-8, so victory was achieved by 40 runs.

 

As a parting note, it appears only four East League matches survived the weather on Saturday. In addition to the 3rd XI game on our arti, two of the others were in Inverleith Park. Clearly Inverleith is the place to come if you want to play cricket.

 

Finally, a slightly unexpected announcement was made on Friday. Our professional George Worker was called into the Scotland side for two CB40 matches, replacing the unavailable Luke Butterworth. He becomes the 28th player from our amalgamated club to represent Scotland and the fourth professional, the others being Tom Hainsworth, Alastair Storie & Jon Kent.

 

Hainsworth was a quick opening bowler, known as The Terror. George is a lot slower, but we hope he can induce the same fear. Well done. George is the first Scotland player we have had since, er, our last professional Jon Kent.

It certainly shows we know how to pick our hired hands.   

 

George Worker's inclusion in the Scotland team has helped them achieve their first victory of the season in the CB40 competition. While he won't wish to remember his first, brief innings for Scotland, it is great to have a SMRH player assisting Scotland to victory. They are on the way up, just like our 3rd XI were on Saturday, so it has not, after all, been a wasted weekend.

 

Monday 4th to Sunday 10th July

The theme this week comes from Julie Rogers. Most of you will not remember her greatest hit "The Wedding", but it is particularly pertinent, following the 1st XI Captain's wedding last Friday in Haddington.

 

After Greg embarked on married life on Friday, the 1st XI (not surprisingly minus Greg) embarked on a trip to Glasgow on Saturday. It is to be hoped that Greg's attempts at marriage are far more successful than the 1st XI's efforts against Poloc. While Messrs Parker, Worker & Burgess posted reasonable scores, the rest didn't, five ducks being posted. Indeed, the last four wickets fell with no addition the score. In amongst this carnage, we had Coyle bowling to Coyle, with both teams fielding members of the little known Coyle clan. A total of 154 was unlikely to trouble the opposition and so it proved. A rather one sided opening half-century partnership from Poloc saw their Overseas Amateur race to 50, while his partner contributed precisely 0, clearly wishing to emulate the 1st XI batsmen. Only three wickets fell as Poloc raced to victory.

 

The 1st XI did, however, gain some plaudits from the game. The Herald headline ran "No points, but SMRH take sporting honours". It all came about when fill-in captain Mark Burgess went in to bat to face a hat-trick ball. It turned out to be a half tracker, so received the full Burgess treatment. Unfortunately, the forehead of a close fielder got in the way. Not surprisingly, he had to leave the field for some time. During his absence, Mark ensured we provided a substitute fielder. In days gone by, this would always have happened. Unfortunately it has now become a bit of a rarity in competitive cricket, hence the headline.  

 

The 2nds & 3rds were both playing at home last Saturday. Weather conditions in Scotland were a reversal of the norm, with the Glasgow area enjoying a fine day, while Edinburgh ended up with rain of biblical proportions on both Friday and Saturday. The rains did, however, relent to allow a start to be made in both games. Both were evenly poised when the rains returned, but hopes were high of two victories. Alas, no further play was possible.

 

The success story of the week was the Trojans XI. Last Thursday, led by Ross Logan, they had a comfortable victory against a Morton Midweek XI. Brayden Tracey provided the fireworks later in the evening, but a variety of bowlers had proved to be effective when Morton batted first. David Higgins bagged two wickets and was unlucky not to get a third, while Charlie Shearer claimed the first wicket of his career. The Trojans romped home with a fair amount to spare.

 

On Sunday, it was back to David Higgins as captain in a game against Inchcolm, who are not from that small island, but from a New Town pub. Confident once again in the abilities of his charges, David had no hesitation in electing to bat when he won the toss. His former pupil, Nick Hay, provided the platform for the innings with a masterful 48 which included some glorious shots and text-book forward defensives: poetry in motion akin to the reading of Keats on a summer's day. A middle-order collapse had the Trojans in some bother at 61 for 5, with a series of batsmen returning from whence they came without troubling the scorers. Undeterred, the Trojans battled on and Kapoor joined Hay to 'steady the ship', taking the score above the 100 mark. A ninth-wicket partnership of 37 between young Ali Khan and Higgins took the score on to a respectable 142 when the last wicket fell in the 28th over.

 

A devastating spell from Rohan Kapoor at the start of the Inchcolm innings got the defence of our total off to a flying start: S4 pupil Rohan eventually finished with 3 for 6, a terrific effort. He was ably supported by pocket dynamite Andrew Tetley, who took three wickets of his own for 21 runs, and Willie Malcolm, who conceded only 7 runs from his three overs. The final wicket was taken by Tetley in the 25th over to complete a fine victory for the FPs. This was an ideal fixture for a Sunday match: captain Jonny Findlay and his Inchcolm players were a splendid bunch, and we hope to arrange another fixture soon.

 

Monday 27th June to Sunday 3rd July

The theme this week has to be that little ditty from Tina Turner, "Simply the Best". I think I probably used it last season, and she may not be the best choice of girl to take home to meet your mum, but the sentiments of the song does summarise a glorious week for SMRH. Cricket is about an awful lot more than winning games, but it sure brings a smile to your face when you get a few.

 

The first success to report is a major one. It is always great to beat our old rivals Heriot's and the Under 15 team did this is some style on Wednesday, in what is their best performance of the season so far. Said performances have been improving as the weeks go by, so congratulations to the Team and all of their coaches.

 

Then Saturday dawned as a glorious sunny day-the weather was already making Ms Turner burst into song. While the 2nds ventured out to the wilds of Musselburgh, the 1sts, 2nds & 4ths were all playing just about beside each other in Ferry Road. This unusual opportunity for any SMRH inclined spectators was due to the fact that the 3rds were playing an away game at Arboretum Road.

 

In the 1st XI game, East Kilbride won toss, elected to bat and after 2 overs were 2/2.  Only their overseas amateur Bocock made any significant contribution scoring 60 out of a final total of 104.  No one else in double figures.  His plan being to try & hit every ball to boundary,and  just about succeeded (10x4s, 1x6s).  His fellow team mates adopted similar tactics and but were must less successful, generally getting out to a selection of poor shots against some tight bowling from SMRH.  Matt Coyle took 4 for 31 and 2 wickets each for Javed & Shah.  Good fielding and catching too, including Braydon Tracey running out internationalist Ross Lyons with a direct hit.  Whilst the 1st X1 batting has proved a little mixed this season the bowling generally holds up well.  The reply from our batting was nothing other than positive with a 2nd wicket partnership of 102* - Braydon Tracey 62* and Alex Shaw 28*, seeing us home in the 21st over to complete a comprehensive victory against the SNL new boys who had been going very well in their first season in this league. In a batting sense, the game had been all about the exploits of the two Overseas Amateurs, but Braydon got great support from his colleagues:-Mr Bocock did not.

 

One positive item from East Kilbride was their technology in the scorebox.  The away scorer scribing via laptop, one click per ball, and all linked up to Facebook so all East Kilbride fans can follow the match ball by ball on-line LIVE!  And for home matches their technology is linked into their upgraded electronic scorebook - one touch on the mouse the scorebook, scoreboard and internet all updated in seconds....home scorer very jealous!

 

For the 2nd XI game, having won the toss and decided to bat we quickly slumped to 11-3 before steadying the innings and recovering to reach 234-9 at the end of our 50 overs. The recovery was built around two good partnerships, 75 for the 4th wicket between Ross Logan and Jonty Poward (27) and 87 for the 6th wicket between Ross Logan and Davie Gibson (35). Ross went on to score an excellent 97, playing in his first match of the season following 3 months travelling around the US. Alex Dry then proceeded to smash an unbeaten 37 in the last 5 overs to give us a very healthy total.

 

Musselburgh's early "shot a ball" response (this seemed to have been the oppo tactic of the day) kept them in the hunt, but with pace off the ball a tight spell from Jonty Poward and Charlie Butcher (2-13 off his 10 overs) pushed them behind the rate and as the requirement increased wickets started to fall as Alex Dry with 4 wickets and Irshad Aziz (3-30) finished off the innings to give us a comfortable 77 run victory with 7 overs to go. Some very good fielding throughout certainly helped, including 2 excellent catches at long-on by Vic Coltherd.

 

For the 3rd XI game, Manager Robin MacQueen, fresh from Wimbledon, records a victory against probable the oldest team in the East league, Holy Cross 3rds, who in recent years have gubbed us with great regularity:

 

Reilly lost the toss and was distraught to be asked to bowl first on a good wicket in perfect conditions at Arboretum and having to chase a large total looked inevitable.  However his bowlers did him proud with accurate bowling and Holy X were soon in trouble when opening bowler Ali Khan made an early breakthrough thanks to a brilliant catch at gully by fellow youngster Mark Allan. Khan took 1/7 in 4 accurate overs and was replaced by the miserly Cassidy.

 

At the other end after 5 overs from Malcolm Mark Allen took over and he produced a devastating 4 over spell which completely knocked the stuffing out of Holy X. Mark bowled straight and full and returned figures of 5 wickets for 6 runs, 4 of whom were bowled and 1 LBW. Mark seemingly does not bowl for his school team so they must be very well endowed with bowlers! Jack Pennell and Kevin Cassidy finished off Holy X who were all out for 72 in 20 overs. Only 3 wides were bowled and this was by far the best bowling performance of the season so far.

 

Opener Nick Hay did not linger long but Umar Malik & James Park batted well and nearly took the team home before 2 more wickets fell in reaching the winning total. James in particular showed his class with an unbeaten 42 although even that fine effort must take second place behind Man of the Match, Mark Allan. 

Everything was done and dusted by 4.20, which was a bit of a pity on such a beautiful day for cricket, but a second consecutive win sees the 3's charging up the league table.

 

Holy Cross were suitably disappointed at events from their point of view. Read all about it in the link below to their website:

http://holycrosscricket.blogspot.com/

 

For the 4th XI report, Captain David Higgins was full of confidence for his charges and had no hesitation on electing to bat after winning the toss. At 37 for 5 it looked a seriously flawed decision, with the scorer advising that a second innings would be required to complete the agreed 30 overs. In the end 'tho, they cruised to 184 for 8, by far the highest 4th XI total of the season. Indeed, it was the highest 4th XI total since 19th May 2007. To reach these lofty heights they were initially indebted to Peter Cowman (emulating Jonty Poward in the 2nds with a well worked 27), before Ben McGlinshey hit a majestic 70. It was a career best, prompting a formal presentation of five £1 coins from his captain (clearly salaries at the School are limited in these difficult economic times).

 

The start of the Dalgety Bay innings was even worse than our 4th XI effort. This was entirely due to Mostafah Miah, who simply blew away their early order batting with a fine display of aggressive bowling. He took 4 wickets for 7 runs in 4 overs, before a benevolent Higgins removed him from the attack to get the game back on a more benevolent footing. A variety of other bowlers were given a chance, with Jamie Crerar (2-12) being the most successful. After Mostafah's opening burst, the 4ths always looked the more likely to win, but Dalgety Bay kept in the hunt with some intelligent batting from South African Newson (until young Morrison secured a slightly kind LBW decision which produced a bit of a strop) and big hitting by Forbes. Indeed, Dalgety Bay could have secured an unlikely win, had not Ben McGlinshey confirmed his man of the Match status by taking a superb catch to dismiss Forbes for 39. Dalgety Bay were all out soon after for 118 in 25.2 overs, prompting great scenes of jubilation. A first win of the season and a first ever victory as Captain by David Higgins. As an interesting other fascinating fact, Lawrance Reilly has captained two winning teams in the last 10 days, also his first ever Captaincy victories, but his playing career has had a lengthy start over Mr Higgins.    

 

Simply the Best-the first time all four teams have won on the same day since 2005. OK, pedants could point out that four victories were achieved the previous Saturday, but that was achieved due to two 1st XI victories in 20/20 games and included a 4th XI defeat. Saturday's efforts were much better. Indeed, the only disappointment was that the games at Ferry Road were over so quickly in what was a glorious day for cricket. The 4ths were playing a brief 30 over match, but found the 1sts & 3rds were finished far before the culmination of their great success.

 

June

Monday 20th to Sunday 26th

With your regularly newshound on holiday this week, I've been volunteered as stand-in presenter of 'Have I Got News from Inverleith - the Cricket Way for You (No 66)".

 

Neil, has regularly made reference to a Charles Dickens novel, so it only be correct for me to consider the same.  One novel catches my eye 'The Cricket on the Hearth' - just sounds like idyllic country house cricket or village green cricket from a bygone era.  Better consider how our weekend results can fit the title.  Oh dear on further examination, I think I'm jumping to wrong conclusions here!  Okay then, something a bit more up my street - a row of yellow books on the bookshelf, and in particular the Wisden 2011 edition.  Thumbing through the pages, some items caught my attention....

 

Our President Bert Barclay has been hitting the headlines recently with perhaps some disappointing outcomes, but spare a thought for the President of Maple Leaf CC in Canada, when on hearing the news that Canada had formally declined to host the 2012 Under 19 World Cup.  The background to the story being Canada had been awarded the tournament in 2007, but following a number of allegations regarding the misappropriation of funds, they subsequently withdrew from hosting the event.  The said President then went on hunger strike for week before sense prevailed.

 

Our Vice-President Neil Leitch has gone to Shetland, and as we are just past the Summer Solstice, an interesting item comes from the Liverpool area where 2 local clubs played a 20/20 match starting at 4.43am (sunrise on the longest day) and finishing on time for players to go to work.  The Long Shadows beat the Early Risers in the Solstice Cup.  Now there's an idea Mr V-P and Mr Higgins!

 

One final item comes under the heading of 'Unusual Occurrences' - always likely to catch the statistician's eye this one. The subject is 'International Cricketer takes hat-trick in 2 balls'.  And so to the details of a match played at Port Elizabeth between Wayamba and Central Districts, and I quote "With consecutive deliveries a left-arm medium pacer Isuru Udana had Brad Patton caught behind, Matthew Sinclair stumped off a wide, and bowled George Worker (!) to complete a hat-trick from two legal balls (believed to be unique in senior cricket).

 

Music CDs also have their weekly theme, and given office chat this week has mentioned the appearances of amongst others Bon Jovi, Kings of Leon and BB King (for older readers) in Edinburgh, not forgetting the many who took a day's holiday to stand in the rain watching Take That in Glasgow, so may be a song from their latest album entitled 'The Flood' is appropriate for our current season's weather?

 

Plenty of cricket to review this week.

 

Starting on Monday the Under 13s lost to West Lothian, Wednesday the Under 15s lost to Carlton, Thursday the Trojans X1 played the School 3rd X1.  The School 3rd X1 is regularly disguised as the core of SMRHCC 4th X1, but on Thursday evening Captain Higgins returned to his day job of Master-in-charge of the 3rd X1, and popped up on the Trojans side.    The 'senior' side having enough experience, guile and match management to win by 9 runs.

 

Friday the Under 11s won their match with West Lothian, and so to Saturday - 5 matches to report on.  Sorry Neil you've missed that opportunity.

 

Saturday was designated a 20/20 festival by Cricket Scotland - only they know why.  Generally Clubs were split into groups of 3 or 4 around the country to play 1 or 2 games depending on (a) who turned up, (b) how you good you where etc.  Some Clubs lead by a representation of the big Championship sides decided this wasn't for them and withdrew during the week.  Some others followed.  Cricket Scotland got in a mess, sent out mixed messages, tried to re-arrange badly at the last minute, the result being for us, the 1st X1 were at Penicuik to play a round robin event with Penicuik and Edinburgh Acads.  Stenhousemuir who were due there had been sent off to Dunfermline at late notice.  The 1st game between Penicuik & Edinburgh Acads started very late. We arrived for a circa 2.00pm start, but actually start until 3.45pm.  The format was re-branded 16/16.

 

There were 2 winners at Penicuik, the 1st X1 with 2 wins and Penicuik glaziers who will be busy repairing broken windows around the cricket ground.  Sadly this compact cricket ground, like Championship Golf Courses is suffering with modern equipment.  Health & Safety would be in their element here, and hard hats were obligatory for those who live around the boundary and roadside of Kirkhill.  No fewer than 24 sixes were hit in two SMRH games.  Sympathy must go to the Penicuik Club who having showed willingness to stage the event, now count the cost of the repair bills.  Not forgetting lost cricket balls too - the 6 supplied by Cricket Scotland not lasting much into the 2nd game.

 

In the first match Penicuik set a target of 147, thanks to 69* in 27 balls from their Pro Ryan Nurse.  SMRH responded positively (George Worker 53, Brayden Tracey 26, Iain Mackie 21), but looked like losers when the last over began, needing 18 to win.  But Captain Burgess had different ideas and hit two sixes, including one of the last ball of the last over to win the match.

 

In the 2nd game Edinburgh Acads set a target of 117/4, but SMRH were quick to set about the chase, winning by 6 wickets in the 13th over, with 22 balls left.  George Worker scored 44 and Alex Shaw 36.

 

Down Inverleith way, the 2nd X1 beat Musselburgh by 8 wickets.  After a reasonable start Musselburgh collapsed from 43-1 to 97-8 mainly due to a fine spell of bowling from Irshaad Aziz (on debut for the Club) who took 4-21 in his 10 overs. The last 2 wickets hung around for a further 20 overs to allow Musselburgh to reach 151. On a slow Inverleith wicket with some variable bounce a good start was important to chase what was still a very gettable score. This we got with Vic Coltherd (31) and Rich Hannam (53) putting on 94 for the first wicket. A solid partnership between Pete Mitchell and Ally Armstrong saw us home comfortably with more than 8 overs to go, although after a late start and two rain delays we still did not finish until after 8.30pm !  By some quirk of fixtures the 2nd X1 play Musselburgh again next week, this time at the Honest Toun.

 

Also down Inverleith way the 3rd X1 beat Leith Franklin Beige for the second time this season.

Worthy of mention from the 3's game:-

·         Great to get 11 men out and thanks to Davie Gibson for getting Andrew Tetley at the 13th hour. He took a good catch and fielded very well although sadly did not get a bat as his Dad took him home when it looked like we would win. As it happened, and as he was in at 6, he would have got a bat but c'est la vie. Certainly not out of his depth.

·         Nick Hay made an excellent return and shared a match winning opening partnership with Umar of 81 chasing 142 to win. Had he held a catchable catch we would have got Leith out for under 100 but he more made up with the bat.

·         His pal James Silk was a quality acquisition for 1 week only sadly. Excellent legger who took 3 for and class bat who got 30 odd batting at 3.

·         Mark Allan fitted in well, good fielder, bowled 3 overs, batted at 4 and scored a good looking 9 before being stumped. He looks like a very useful bat and again quite at home at this level.

·         Kevin Cassidy bowled a miserly spell of 8 overs 1/12

·         Oscar Ball bowled a good 8 overs 1/20 odd. Keeps the ball up generally.  His Mum also took him away before the finish so thankfully no late order collapse!

·         Sasi got a catch & stumping and only conceded 1 bye although it has to be mentioned that the stumping was off a no ball. Not seen that before!

·         Our Skipper also perhaps needs a little work on his no ball calls.

·         Possibly the strongest side the 3s have had all season and who put aside the misery of last week, so long may it continue.

 

The 4th X1 headed to Alloa to play Clackmannan 2nd X1 at the picturesque "The Arns". 

This match, although lost, was a thoroughly worthwhile fixture, given the challenges presented in fielding 11 players after multiple call-offs from the teams above. A very late call off due to illness meant that the Captain had to seek out and persuade Cameron Agnew, S6, to play: he was on prefect duty at the school sports day. On paper, it looked like we could do well in the field, but perhaps struggle when batting; this was to prove an accurate prediction.

 

The team, containing 7 school pupils and four adults, bowled and fielded well at the beautiful surroundings of The Arns, against much stronger opposition who normally play in division 6 of the East league, currently 4 levels above the 4th XI. Mehboob, the Clackmannan opener, whacked a rapid 77, and was eventually out to a marvellous catch from Cameron Agnew. The 4th XI bowlers restricted the home team to 172 for 6 off 30 overs, which, in the circumstances, represented a decent effort all round. Pick of the bowlers was Jack Mysyk, with 2 for 19; young Jamie Campbell (S1) bowled 3 overs at the end of the innings for only 11 runs. The Captain and LJ Reilly also rather enjoyed their 4 overs each in a miserly bowling partnership (!).  When was the last time the Secretary bowled 4 overs in a match?  The Club Statistician needs to dig deep to find the answer.

 

As expected, our batting was unable to withstand a very strong Clackmannan attack, but both Cameron Agnew and SMRH man-of-the-match Jack Mysyk batted well. Unfortunately, prior to their partnership, all three openers succumbed early in the innings, and a batting collapse towards the end saw us bowled out for 53.

 

Perhaps a disappointment not to have batted well, but this was a great day out for the fledgling 4th XI: our hosts were very welcoming at their superb clubhouse, and the boys really enjoyed their Cricket which, at the moment, is by far the most important factor if we are to establish a 4th XI at the club capable of entering the leagues

 

And finally to Sunday - 3 cricket events to report.  Another first Neil!

 

The Under 15s won their 2nd match of the season away to West Lothian, continuing on some improved recent performances we recorded a good 24 run victory.

 

It was our turn to host an under 10 Kwik Cricket Festival - Sunday morning saw 10 clubs, from across the East of Scotland descend on Inverleith to take part in our Under 10 Kwik Cricket Festival. Each team played 4 games of 8 a side across 5 different wickets set out on the top part of Inverleith. West Lothian emerged as winners, on runs scored, from Edinburgh Accies with both teams winning all 4 matches. Our own team performed well, including a highly creditable draw with Carlton. A very successful event with a very large turnout of players and parents. Particular mention to Pete Wilkinson for arranging and setting up the whole event.

 

The final event of the day was the School V FP 1st X1 match.   The School were short of some of their regulars - 2 were playing for Scotland Under 15, so well done to them.  3 opted (!) to play for Grange Under 15s instead of playing for the School 1st X1, which can only be described as err disappointing.  Is this correct?  To balance matters it was agreed that both Alex Shaw and Blayden Tracey would swap sides to play for the School side.  Both supplied a major contribution of runs, and in fact enough for School team to win.  Here are some details -

SMRH won toss and batted.   Both sides had 10 men only.  SMRH scored 163 for 8 (40 overs), Greg Bissett retired on 56 of 62 balls, and had a partnership of 90 for the 6th wicket with TJ Beattie who scored 42.  StewMel College scored 167 for 7 (38.3 overs), Brayden Tracey 54no from 37 balls and Alex Shaw 30.  The last wicket between B Tracey and M Ahmed put on 36 to win which was kind of important as M Bunker the last man had inexplicitly left early. May be he had been watching the 3rd X1 from Saturday?

 

Saturday 18th June and Sunday 19th

Two themes this week. The first is Dean Martin's greatest hit "Little Ole Wine Drinker Me".  It wasn't just me who was drinking wine on Saturday night. Colin Brown & Davy Gibson's considerable efforts bore fruit as over 90 descended on Inverleith to enjoy a Wine & Cheese evening well up to the standard of previous years. That this attendance was achieved is all the more remarkable after the disappointments earlier in the day, with the 1sts & 2nds home games falling to the foul weather (or was that falling foul to the weather).

 

The 3rds game was also at home. This meant it had to be scheduled for Sunday and the slightly better weather meant it could at least be played. Unfortunately our 3rds didn't do much playing. Maybe it was all that wine the previous night, or maybe it was the fact they were playing Murrayfield DAFS 4ths, a team that had already beaten them comprehensively on the arti this season. Whatever the reason, after winning the toss and electing to bat, they slumped to 24-7, before James Crispin  enabled us to achieve 63 all out. Toffee scored 22, his second successive innings for the 3rds this season and top scorer on both occasion. To say Team Manager Robin Macqueen was disappointed would be an understatement. It was never going to be a competitive total and Murrayfield DAFS cruised past it in losing only two wickets. This gives us our second theme, and a regurgitation of a Charles Dickens theme used earlier this season-"It was the Best of Times, it was the Worst of  Times". Saturday night was definitely the best of times, Sunday afternoon was definitely the worst of times.

 

Thursday 9th June and Saturday 11th June

This weeks theme is "The Day That the Rains Came Down". Nothing to do with Charles Dickens, but a catchy ditty, originally written in French. Helen Shapiro did a very pleasant version of the song. Here endeth the pop music history part of this week's bulletin, but it certainly is a good description of what happened on Saturday. Weather forecasts for the day varied, but the actual result equated to the very worst forecast. Light rain started at 10am, then got worse and worse. You may wonder why I am labouring this sad fact, but you must remember these witterings are read in various odd locations, including an oil rig, so not everyone would have faced the depressing weather experienced in Edinburgh on Saturday.

 

It was amazing any cricket took place, but some did. School cricket at Inverleith before the rains came, and the main square was well soaked before they gave up the School 2nd XI game. Our own 1st XI fairly quickly assessed matters, called off their game with West Lothian and went for a game of ten-pin bowling. The SMRH 2nd & 3rd XIs were both due to play in the Kingdom of Fife, the 2nds against Dunfermline Carnegie 1sts, while the 3rds were due to play Dunfermline 3rds. Both teams did travel, but no play was possible. A quick decision was made at the 2nds game, while the 3rds had to hang around longer with Dunfermline 3rds being a bit unwilling to accept the inevitable.

 

That leaves the 4th XI, who were due to play Edinburgh South 3rds in a friendly match on the Inverleith Arti. There was no way they wished to accept the inevitable. Indeed both teams decided they would like to play in the pouring rain, ignoring any questioning of their sanity. A 25 over game was agreed and even took place. It had all the trappings of a higher level encounter-Robin Macqueen acted as umpire, your Vice-President as scorer (last time he scored at Lord's, he didn't have to hold an umbrella while scoring throughout the game, so he wasn't at his most positive) and a team picture was taken.

 

After the lead up, the actual result seems incidental. But here it is anyway;

Edinburgh South 3rd X1 122/7 (P Murphy 29*, R Welsh 18, Rohan Kapoor 2/21)

SMRH 4th XI 69 all out (JD Mysyk 19, R Welsh 3/7, C Rayne 2/1, T Gill 2/11)

Result - Edinburgh South won by 53 runs

 

In truth, this is another of these games we should have won. After a difficult first few overs controlling the wet ball, our bowlers stuck to their task well. The target was certainly very achievable. However, our youthful batsmen, reared on schoolboy 20/20 cricket, were all in too much of a hurry, and our innings failed to last 15 of the planned 25 overs. The bar was open by now, so much sociability was then had discussing events. It appears to have been one of only two Senior games completed on Saturday-the other being Peebles County 2nds v Carlton 4ths.

 

There being little actual cricket to report at the weekend, your organisers embarked on a fascinating facts session. The 1st XI had lost a Masterton Trophy match on Thursday night at Raeburn Place. As a premonition of the weekend weather, the first two attempts to play the game had been rained off. When it did take place, the 1st XI often looked well out of it, but with 2 overs to go they needed 23 to win. Success looked possible, but they ended up 20 short.  Disappointing, but the game did give us the following fascinating facts:-

 

·         Alan Veitch (Chief Scorer of our splendid team of Club scorers) was scoring his first Masterton tie for at least 40 years, having retired from his 1st scoring life in 1971.  Alas, he can't recall the last game he did.  

·         The scorebox at Grange has to be largest on the circuit, although like most scoreboxes the seating leaves room for improvement, which is either too high or too low and not very comfortable

·         The match featured a set of brothers on both sides - DNR Philip and WJR Philip for Grange and GJ & CD Bissett for SMRH

·         There was a brother on each side - AMG Brock (Grange) and JM Brock (SMRH)

·         There were 2 ex-Stew Mel pupils in the Grange team - AMG Brock and JW Hearn

·         JM Brock was caught by his brother AMG Brock

·         6 Grange players had 3 initials

·         AMR Brock was run out taking a run of his 1st ball

·         SRH Mullins was run out having faced only 1 ball

·         V Shah and GJ Bissett were both dismissed 1st ball

·         DNR Philip for Grange bowled 4 wides in his 1st over, one them also went for 4, then took wickets with the 1st and 2nd deliveries of his 2nd over

·         L Siaka for Grange bowled 3 overs for 28, then took a hat-trick with the 1st, 2nd and 3rd deliveries of his 4th over, and another wicket with his 6th delivery, and closed with 4 for 28

·         SMRH lost their last 5 wickets for 2 runs in 7 deliveries

·         SMRH played with the pink ball for the 1st time (we think?)

 

Not to be outdone, Davy Gibson recalls he scored his first competitive 1st XI game last Sunday since probably 1980 (also being his retirement from first scoring life). Your Vice-President can proudly state he was once Davy's scoring coach, preparing him for a scoring exam that he passed.

 

Saturday 4th June and Saturday 5th June

We're continuing with the Charles Dickens theme. This week it is "Great Expectations". The week didn't start off with great expectations, but just a hope that the Senior sides could improve, as a group, on the performances of the previous Saturday. It did, however, become great expectations when the 1st XI bowled out Stenhousemuir for 115 at The trust, while the 2nd XI limited Stenny's 2nd XI to 182 on the run haven that is the Inverleith Arti.

 

So, Great Expectations it was at the tea intervals on both grounds for the SMRH representatives. Then it all went pear shared, in a very fruity, rotten tomato,  way. Despite three 1st XI batsmen getting into the 20s, none went on to a get a big score and the other eight only contributed 18 between them. It was a disappointing collapse which the bowling did not really deserve, ending up 102 all out with many overs to spare. A 13 run defeat was hard to take, but the 2nd XI batting was even harder to take. While the 2nd XI bowling had been workmanlike, accurate descriptions on the batting cannot be given in a communication for a mixed audience. Catching practice was given at regular intervals to gleeful Stenhousemuir 2nd XI fielders, long hops surprisingly turning into wicket taking balls on more than one occasion.  The 2nd XI beat the 1sts total, but only just. It is not an occasion any SMRH member present will remember without a large sigh. The team are ensuring it does not recur.

 

This all meant that the great expectation for Sunday, or at least strong wish, was that some pride could be found. It was, with the 1st XI performing far better in the Scottish Cup, against holders Uddingston. Indeed, if it were not for the lack of three front-line bowlers from Saturday, an upset win could well have been achieved. Batting first, only five batsmen were required by the 1sts, and they accumulated 211, some 48% more than the last two 1st XI innings put together.  Marvellous...........we are now doing statistical analysis as well as literary interpretation and old jokes.

 

Alex Shaw (74) and Stephen Parker (58*) led the way in a batting performance which gladdened the heart after the failings of the previous two games. The patchwork bowling attack also rose to the challenge, until they were ultimately thwarted by current Scotland player Callum Macleod, who steered Uddingston through to victory with a majestic 76*.

 

It wasn't so majestic on the arti, where the 3rd XI were playing old friends, in the shape of Largo 3rds, in a league game, but just as enjoyable a game. Just like our 1sts, Largo 3rds crept over the 200 mark, only they did it in 40 overs. It might have been more, but for a good spell by Oscar Ball (good ball by Ball yet again-that's the old joke) and some good bowling at the death by old stager Andrew Keith, making a guest return from the big smoke.  A hard score to beat, but Team Manager Robin MacQueen advises it became a pulsating match, with the 3rds almost pulling off a sensational win thanks to an inspired Crispin (a career best 50+ he told Robin) and some lusty blows from Foulds and Malcolm. The 3rds were really out of things at about 130 odd for 6 but in the end should really have won it having clawed our way back into the match and only needed 5 off the last 2 overs before Crispin fell caught behind. Great disappointment at the end, but a most encouraging performance and 9 bonus points.

 

So......................four defeats over the weekend, all played in freezing conditions. But the memories from Sunday are much pleasanter than an embarrassing Saturday.

 

These epistles tend to concentrate on the happenings of the Senior teams. However, no-one should forget about the efforts of the Colts teams, supported by a willing band of adult helpers, led by Pete Wilkinson. Games are currently taking place most days of the week. While, just like the Senior teams at the weekend, wins have been hard to come by, some notable performances have been recorded. In the Under 11 team, it is 8-a -side and the boys bat in pairs for 4 overs. Our opening bats, Alistair Wyles and Toby Hughes, have not yet been dismissed in our opening three games of the season against Carlton, Watsonians and Grange. Well done lads.

 

 

May

Saturday 29th May

Readers with reasonable memories will recall a Meatloaf theme to some of my witterings last season. This did not get a uniformly positive reaction, so I've decided to go upmarket. Today's theme therefore comes from Mr Charles Dickens, in one of his efforts entitled "Tale of Two Cities". The theme is "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times" and seems to summarise events on Saturday.

 

 

Let's start with the "best of times" bit, 'cos I don't yet feel emotionally strong enough to face up to the other bit. A major success on Saturday was fielding four full teams, the first time we have achieved this goal in 2011. Those readers with the good memories from the paragraph above may recall (if they are still in a recalling mood), that we achieved four sides on the one day only once in 2010, and that was late August. We should comfortably beat that figure this season-the 4th XI already have a game set up for 11th June (v Edinburgh South 3rds on the arti) and your Vice-President is making strenuous efforts to match up the 4th XI with other teams of similar enthusiasm and ability.

 

The actual 4th XI game was perhaps a bit seondary to their existence (although that is getting dangerously close to philosophy), but was nevertheless reported to be a very enjoyable occasion, both on the ESCA website and by their ever-enthusiastic captain, and literary adviser to this column, David Higgins.Indeed, it was David's efforts which made the existence of the 4th XI possible-thank you Sir. The match was a 40 over game, but this over limit proved to be a generous allowance. Some fine bowling by Mustafa Miah (three for10), Jamie Crerar (two for 8) and Ben McGlinchey (three for 18) ensured Morton 3rds were dismissed for 95 in 33.1 overs. This was very gettable, but the 4th XI batsmen were in far too much of a rush. Maybe they thought they were playing a Colts game, or maybe they wanted home for the European Cup Final. Whatever the reason, a flurry of action ended up with the 4th XI being all out for 83 in just 16.2 overs. Moustafa scored 21 & Peter Cowan scored 18*. The rest of the batting order were in too much of a hurry.

 

The real best of times came from the 2nd XI, on a very blustery day at Peffermill. The wind blowing directly down the wicket made for a difficult game. Edinburgh University Staff batted first and after progressing steadily with a first wicket partnership of 76 we began to make inroads, taking wickets at steady intervals throughout and keeping the scoring rate under control with a very short downwind boundary at one end. Jonty Poward (4-28) and Willie Malcolm (3-25) on 2s debut were main wicket-takers, but they were well supported by all the bowlers.

 

Our reply started badly with both openers out with 15 on the board. A stand of 87 between Jonty Poward and Pete Mitchell steadied the innings, with Jonty going on to "smash" 91 (in addition to his 4 wickets) before rushing off to sing in the Edin Uni Choir's evening Rachmaninov concert. Ally Armstrong (in one of his all too rare games) produced a classy knock to see the team home, together with a quick-fire contribution from Umar Malik which saw the victory secured with some 10 overs to go.

 

 

That's the end, unfortunately,of the best of times. While not quite the worst of times, the 3rd XI contrived to lose a game they really should have won. Winning the toss and electing to bat against Kirk Brae 2nds, they got away to a good, solid start from the young and old openers, David Sharkey and new captain Lawrance Reilly. David went on score 31 from 63 balls, but the innings became rather becalmed between 20 & 30 overs. It then very much came to life, helped by David Napier (36 in 36 balls), to enable a total of 178-7 in the 40 overs.

 

This was a competitive total, but by no means match winning, with fairly short boundaries and a quick outfield. I feared the worst and got it. Actually, I knew it wasn't going to be my day when, upon arrival at Inverleith, my 3rd XI driver parked in the Principal's car parking space. We soon resolved that little problem, but the 3rd XI never really resolved their bowling problems. Too many loose deliveries enabled Kirk Brae to cruise home with just under nine overs to spare. However, they lost six wickets on the way. A couple of more wickets at the right time and the game could have been ours. To finish on a happier 3rd XI note, young Jack Pennell had a good debut game, contributing well with bat and ball.

 

Having now wiped away my tears, I have no option but to turn to the 1st XI. Their visits to Nunhom, Dumfries are a bit like Hibs entering the Scottish Cup. They look forward to it ever year, but it always goes pear shaped with the aforementioned tears resulting. Captain & President were both much quoted in the lead up to the game, with the Herald newspaper even going so far as to judge it the game of the day in their Saturday previews. It wasn't and a review of today's papers may well bring on a recurrence of the watrerworks. A total of 41 was disappointing, to put it kindly, and Dumfries romped home by nine wickets. The 1st XI were a bit shorthanded, but they do not wish that to be used as an excuse. We can say I hope with some certainty it will be better in both games this coming weekend.

 

Saturday 21st May

Results on Saturday yet again changed from the week before. This meant the 1st XI got back on track, but only after a roller-coaster of a game, while the 2nds & 3rds both failed in their quest to beat teams at the top of their respective Leagues. The one thing we can definitely say is that all games were close and would encourage crowds to come back to cricket-if only we could find more spectators.

 

The 1st XI achieved a fair amount of media publicity even before their went into Saturday's game. Included in their side were George Worker, having arrived early from New Zealand, and Bryn Lockie, returning to play cricket with us after a secondment of nearly 20 years at Carlton. It is not often a team can strengthen their side with two First-Class cricketers at one swoop!

 

To the game. Penicuik won the toss and elected to bat. Then soon wished they hadn't. They slipped to 6-3 (all three wickets to Javed), then 36-5 and 80-8.  A belated recovery was mounted by Penicuik to take then to 120 all out. It nearly proved to be critical. After a reasonable start, with Worker scoring 32, the 1st XI had a horrendous middle order collapse. Penicuik became unlikely favourites for a win, until they were thwarted by the ninth wicket partnership from Mark Burgess and Vish Shah. It was Burgess who provided the hitting in making 25*, including a six out of the ground, while Shah made an equally valuable contribution as a blocker. Vish Shah as a defensive batsman-our 1st XI has acquired variety.

 

The 2nd XI's opponents, Kirkbrae, have several good, long serving, batsmen. After being asked to bat, our 2nds therefore knew they had to make a good total. Good was defined by your Vice-President in the dressing room to be at least 222. A promising start revised the definition of good to be at least 250. Both targets were achieved, with notable contribution by Andrew Davidson (60 in 65 balls), Johnny Brock (55 in 83 balls), and a jaunty knock by Jonty Poward. It could have been even more if one of the batsmen had pressed on for a century, as the ball fairly raced away over the outfield to reasonably short boundaries.

 

This, then, wasn't inevitably a match winning score, although it had of course matched the challenge. In the event, it didn't prove enough. Despite good spells by Pickmere (10-2-36-3) and Butcher (10-3-27-2), Kirkbrae always looked just about on course. Davy Gibson's main problem was the support bowling, and he had to frequently rotate the bowling duties of his other bowlers. Poward provided entertainment as the only bowler to run back to his mark. Excitement remained 'tho, as wickets occasionally fell, and the winning runs were only scored with two wickets and seven balls to spare.

 

As noted above, the 3rd XI were also facing League leaders, in their case in the shape of unbeaten Drummond Trinity 2nd XI. They did well to restrict Drummond Trinity to 156 all out in 38.5 overs. the bowling honours were taken by two debutantes of vastly different ages; Ross Morrison (the young one) took 4 wickets 21 runs, while Kevin Cassidy (the more experienced one), took 2 for 14. This was certainly gettable total. Unfortunately we didn't get it. This was despite the early order efforts by Sasi Sukumar (21) the later order contribution by Robin Macqueen (41*).

 

Robin had dropped himself down the order to strengthen the later order batting. It worked, but unfortunately he ran out of partners. He also unfortunately ruined his health. It is some time since Robin could be regarded as fleet of foot, with a knee injury being particularly troublesome. It flared up after the game & Robin had to cancel a holiday in Lisbon he was due to embark upon the next morning. Losing the game (which the 3rds did by 29 runs) was one thing, losing a holiday quite another. It all means that Robin will be unable to play over the next few weeks at least, although we are all hoping he will be around to lend his support & wisdom to the conglomerate that is our 3rd XI. He can at least be happy with the highest batting average currently in the Club.

 

Disappointment then in only one win out of three. Let's console ourselves with the fact it was the top team who won. We equally should be satisfied that our Senior teams have now played a grand total of 15 games. Many clubs, particularly in the west of Scotland, have played far less. The cricketing lord is shining on the righteous.

 

Thursday 12th, Saturday 14th & Sunday 15th May

Results on Saturday were the direct opposite of the previous weekend. This was great news for the 2nds, but was a bit gloomy for the 1sts & 3rds. To read all about it, read on..............including the fascinating story of the Trojans XI who provided the most interesting narrative of the weekend.

 

Lets get the bad bit out of the way first. The 1st XI went into Saturday's game with the proud record of four wins out of four. The latest of these was the destruction of Stenhousemuir last Thursday in the First Round of the Masterton Trophy. On that occasion they scored their first 100 runs in the first 10 overs of the innings and romped home by 60 runs. Halcyon days, it seemed, for the 1st XI.

 

Then Saturday arrived, along with a far better organised Edinburgh Accies team than is the tradition, to Inverleith. Greg Bissett won the toss and elected to bat. That was the last good news of the days. With the exception of Alex Shaw, who made a workmanlike 42, batsmen came and went with depressing rapidity and the 1st XI were bowled out for 105 in 38.5 overs, thereby wasting 11 overs. The Accies pro, Rixon, had taken 4 wickets & he obviously was in a hurry to get home as he then scored 62* as Accies raced past our total in 15 overs. We current have several Stew/Mel teachers playing for the Club. Saturday's 1st XI performance would have to be rated as "Lacking application" on the report card. However, the good news is that everyone is committed to ensure this is a minor blip & to resume normal performance immediately.

 

As noted above, our performance of the week must go to the 2nd XI. After two disappointing defeats they showed their true colours in travelling to Kirkhill and crushing Penicuik 2nds. It didn't start well, but after losing 2 early wickets, Jonty Poward and Pete Mitchell stabilised the SMRH 2nd XI innings with an excellent partnership of 85 before Jonty was out for 59. Colin Brown, with 58, added a further 134 with Pete before retiring hurt (age must take its toll with us all), allowing John Foley (the Botham or Flintoff of Inverleith, depending on your age) to hit a very quick 26 to boost our total to a healthy 282-4. The batting honours, though, must go to Pete Mitchell who batted through 44 overs for an excellent 98 not out. Unfortunately Pete could just not get enough of the strike in the later overs to reach what would have been a very well deserved hundred.

 

Penicuik, fielding only 10 players after a couple of early morning call-offs, were never going to be able to get close and, after a solid start, wickets fell regularly. Ed Pickmere again bowled an excellent opening spell, taking the important wickets to finish with 3-33. Ed was well supported by a very frugal Craig Goold with 7 overs for 5 runs. Indeed all our bowlers did well, with Charlie Butcher back amongst League wickets with a tremendous caught and bowled.

 

All in all it was a great weekend for our pocket dynamo, D Gibson. His Under 15 XI recorded their first win of the season on Sunday morning, with a convincing win over Royal High Corstorphine.

 

The 3rds game was entertaining, but not vintage. After winning the toss and electing to bat, they scored 177 for 8. For the second time this season on the Inverleith Arti their innings was built around the contribution of ageless captain, Robin MacQueen. In the first game of the season he batted 40 overs for 98*, this time he was there for 28 overs, providing the cornerstone innings of 45. He got some great support from David Napier (32), Ewan Campbell (25) and Lawrance Reilly (19). It was a reasonable team total, but in the event not quite enough.

 

Holy Cross 3rd XI is a refuge for very aging cricketers. However, their old boys have no little ability and they pretty well looked on course to win throughout their innings, winning with 3 overs and 4 wickets to spare. Highlight of the 3rd XI bowling performance was a peach of a delivery by Oscar Ball to bowl the Holy Cross captain. Good ball by Ball is a great bit of alliteration.

 

The Sunday game caused much debate even before it started. We had set it up as a 4th XI fixture, but upon finding out the opposition (Edinburgh South) were fielding a mixed ability side, we elected to play Brayden Tracey from the 1sts, both as a personal adviser to new captain David Higgins and in the hope he might even things up a bit. So we called it a Trojans XI.  Second issue was regarding the number of players. Down in the depths of the 4th (or Trojans) XI, eleven players is an aspirational, but often unobtainable, aim. However, showing what a keen club we currently are, twelve players readily volunteered to play for the Trojans. Edinburgh South had no problem with the concept of facing a 12 man team, so everyone trooped off to the picturesque surroundings of Inch Park.

 

Captain DG Higgins lost the toss (in fact he forgot to 'call' and had to do it twice), Edinburgh South electing to bat. Bowling and fielding were both tight, especially from Brayden Tracey, who bowled 10 overs for 33 runs, taking two wickets. Oscar Ball continued his splendid start to senior cricket by taking 2 for 41 off 7 overs. His spell included a marvellous catch from his captain, who caught his counterpart, James France, at slip; the ball somehow lodging firmly in the armpit of the slip fielder as he fell gracefully backwards. Debutante Mustafa bowled well, conceding a miserly 15 runs from 7 overs.

 

The target of 157 seemed eminently 'gettable', and steady batting from Umar Malik (21), Patrick Heaton-Armstrong (20) and a gutsy 14 from Economics Master, Robbie Alexander, set up a thrilling finale. The captains had agreed to retire anyone who reached 50, so Brayden Tracey  had already done so when the captain was stumped in the penultimate over, leaving 14 to win:  Brayden was quickly back at the crease to continue his innings. The scores were soon levelled, and one run was required from the last over. Edinburgh South's McLean, however, bowled young Euan Campbell, playing his third game of the weekend, to leave the match tied at 156 each. What a thriller!!

 

This was a terrific match, played in the most gloriously sporting and friendly manner. So much so that the South Captain, James France, asked us to return for another fixture on Sunday, 28th of August. Your writer has been given the task of arranging more Trojans/4th XI Cricket.

 

Saturday 7th May & Sunday 8th May

The weather was rather mixed this weekend. So were our results. But just as the weather was better at our games than a lot of other venues, so were the results-three wins out of four for the Senior teams. It should also be noted we are near the middle of a nine day spell when at least one SMRH team (whether Senior orJunior) will take to the field every day. A fascinating fact from our historian, Alan Veitch, and a record.

 

Pride of place for achievement must again this week be given to the 1st XI. On Saturday they faced up to Renfrew at Inverleith in the league, the opposition strengthened this season by having last year's Royal High Corstorphine's professional as their coach in addition to their regular professional. It looked like a hard game, but everything changed when Robin Crouch was brought on as first change bowler with Renfrew batting first. He ripped through their early order, reducing them to 58 for 6. His spell finished with 5 for 11 off his 10 overs, and that included two boundaries. There is a lot of life in the old Perthshire dog yet.

 

Renfrew eventually struggled to 139 all out. Then the rains came, with consequent worries about whether a win could be achieved. It was, partly due to that wonderful combine of Duckworth Lewis-if you've got a spare hour, buy me a pint and I'll tell you all about how it works. Only 43 more overs were deemed to be playable and the D/L target was calculated as 132 by the President's astute laptop. Despite the early loss of last week's top scorer, Alex Shaw, a splendid partnership by Greg Bissett & Steven Parker led us well on to victory. Both were eventually out, but Brayden Tracey & Andrew Davidson effortlessly hit off the runs with nine overs to spare.

 

Sunday's game was even more straightforward. A rather weakened Boroughmuir side arrived at Inverleith for a First Round Scottish Cup tie. Their batting struggled throughout and they were bowled out for 55, the wickets being shared amongst the bowlers.  The 1st XI quickly knocked off the runs, with Johnny Brock featuring in his first innings of the season. A 100% record after two league games is marvellous, but sets a standard the 1st XI must live up to. Their next game is a First Round Masterton Trophy tie at home against Stenhousemuir. It is to be played this Thursday-come on down & support this emerging team.

 

Last week the 2nds batting just about got pass marks, but their bowling was ineffective. This week it was the other way around. Batting first on the Inverleith arti, they were looking to post a challenging total against Carlton 3rds. It never happened. Despite reaching 75-1 and 98-2, the 2nds batsmen struggled for the second week in a row against bowling with no real pace on it. They subsided to 121 all out with only Vic Coltherd getting pass marks with an innings of 30. To their credit, the bowlers did their best to retrieve the situation. Ed Pickmere was the pick of the opening bowlers and was well supported by debutant Sarmad Ahmed. The 2nds got three early wickets before the Carlton middle order dug in. The introduction of Rory Hofmeyr (another debutant-a friend of Craig Goold) changed things immediately. A South African who had not played cricket for 7 years, Rory bowled very tightly with decent pace and movement to claim 4-15 as Carlton struggled over the line at 122-7. Another 30-40 runs and may have been a very different game, although the contribution of 34 extras (mostly wides) certainly did not help our cause. A second rather disappointing performance from the 2nds. Much more required at Penicuik next week, but it will get better..........believe me Davy.

 

As often said this last season, but it needs said again. The 3rds game was a bit different. It all started when the 3rd XI arrived at Leith Links to find two teams warming up on the outfield  where they should have been playing. Being perceptive, they realised they should have been one of the teams warming up. On enquiry, it transpired Leith FAB 1sts had rejected the thought of playing on their 1st XI square and had elected to play on the 2nd XI square. Upon inspecting the wicket provided on the 1st XI square, captain Robin MacQueen understood their quandary. He was therefore delighted to win the toss and bowl on the 1st XI square when the game eventually got under way. To be fair, the wicket played not too badly, apart from the very occasional shooter.

 

It looked like Leith FAB 3rds were set for a high total, particularly with a very assured second wicket partnership. However, when the breakthrough was made, the rest of the Leith FAB innings rather ambled along to realise only 159. Best bowling was by yet another debutant, Oscar Ball, albeit he is a Stew/Mel schoolboy who is a regular in the Under 15 XI. Oscar proved there is more to him than a splendid name in completing a spell of 8-3-13-2. We look forward to his next appearance. The next best bowler was John Archer, giving a 47 year difference in ages between them.

 

The 3rd XI reply started in persistent, and at times rather heavy, rain. Both teams showed considerable will in keeping going throughout, with Leith FAB perhaps getting the worst of it in having to bowl with a wet ball. The 3rds eventually cruised home with an hour to spare, the innings being dominated by Julian Scott & David Foulds.

 

Julian achieved a career best when be returned to senior cricket, ironically at Leith Links last season. He hasn't played much since, but it is not perhaps surprising he was back in the runs on his return to the Links, He ended up with 54 from 85 balls, but his innings was rather overshadowed by School Geography teacher David Foulds, who blasted 64 not out from 32 balls. David also ensured team-mates were approaching the task in the correct manner, advising the exuberant Oscar Ball to "Not try anything funny" when pupil joined teacher at the crease near the end. The day finished with your Vice-President having an animated discussion with a member of the Leith FAB team on how to record in the scorebook a delivery yielding two wides. No-one else really cared , but it clearly meant a lot to both of them.

 

 

APRIL

Saturday 30th April

Going into Saturday, hoping for two wins out of three.  Confident of wins for the 2nds & 3rds, but travelled to Paisley with the 1sts with a bit of trepidation, Well, I got all three results wrong. The 1st XI achieved one of their best away wins ever, while the 2nds & 3rds were both well beaten.

 

The focus of this report must therefore be on the 1st XI. It was a great game of cricket at a sun-soaked ground with a great, quick outfield, before a good crowd of spectators. It looked like a good day for batting, so captain Greg Bissett was disappointed to lose the toss. It also looked a bit like the game was the Preston-Jones family against the Bissett family. We had our usual two Bissetts playing, with Dad as team Manager, while Ferguslie had a father & son Preston-Jones playing, while a further son acted as team scorer, drawing the short straw of listening to your Vice-President all afternoon.

 

It was father Preston-Jones who took the batting honours in the Ferguslie winnings with a deserved 50 before his batteries ran out, supported chiefly by their professional. Their partnership of 124 seemed to point to a huge total, but they rather lost their way when Chris Bissett came on to bowl and secured the pro's wicket in his first over. He took a further wicket in a splendid spell of 9-1-32-2, well supported by debutant Raja Javed in his second spell. Matt Coyle provided the comic value, spectacular falls resulting from his first two attempts to bowl.

 

Last season we were dismissed for 69 when playing at the same ground. There were therefore some justified nerves when the 1sts went out to bat. The concerns were needless. Despite the early loss of Captain Bissett, no fewer than five batsmen scored more than 20, an unusual feat for SMRH 1st XI. Pick of the bunch was another debutant, Alex Shaw, with an elegant 70 from 96 balls. Brayden Tracey and Steven Parker provided the chief support, but they were not alone.

 

While we looked as if we were gliding to victory, the entertainment value was increased by the regular loss of wickets. It ended up with 10 runs being required of the last two wickets as a nervy Matt Coyle strode out to meet Chris Bissett. The bowler immediately launched a delivery down the leg side for five wides to earn the wrath of his captain and reassure no 11 Robin Crouch, ever so slightly. It was man-of-the-match Chris Bissett who kept his nerve, scoring the winning runs with a straight drive for four with eight balls to spare.  

 

The 2nds confidently made their way to Stirling, with a particularly strong looking bowling attack. It did not go well. On a very slow batting surface, Stirling County's battery of very slow bowlers proved to be far better suited to success than our more heralded bowling line-up. Only an unbeaten 9th wicket partnership of 73 in the last 11 overs of the innings by Alex Dry & Charles Butcher enabled the 2nds to reach the respectability of 213-8. Captain Davy Gibson will certainly remember his dismissal, caught by the Scottish Women's cricket captain to a ball bowled by a 16 year old female member of the opposition side. However, it is felt rather cruel that this fact has been broadcast to the world on the East of Scotland Cricket Association website by one of his team. Think the 3rds might be about to get a new recruit.

 

Patrick Heaton-Armstrong was the only 2nd XI bowler to cause any problems to the Stirling County batsmen as they cruised home by 8 wickets with six overs to spare.

 

It wasn't any better for the 3rds on the Inverleith Arti. A more experienced Murrayfield DAFS 4ths team than expected put the 3rds bowlers to the sword, assisted by an unwillingness to catch anything. Murrayfield DAFs accumulated 284-7 on a day when all of their four teams won. The bowling figures cannot be stated as they might result in much grief & wailing.

 

In reply, captain Robin Macqueen elected to try to occupy the crease for the whole innings. The old man achieved this with consummate ease, finishing on 98 not out-he had not realised how near he was to a century. It was Robin's third highest score ever for the club, his two centuries having been scored for the 4th XI. Sasi Sukamar provided the chief support with 43, but an unlikely win was never threatened as the 3rds rather ambled to 217-5.

 

The Under 15s have also opened their competitive season, but unfortunately this was also a loss, losing at Myreside. So, three losses out of four games. but that victory was very special. It will be remembered for a long time by all those lucky enough to be present.

 

As the fascinating fact of the week, can advise that the teams batting first in both of the 1sts and 2nds games scored exactly 213 and both lost. Good job Greg Bissett lost the toss in the 1sts game.

 

Saturday 23rd April

The wettest day for several weeks arrived on Saturday, so no cricket was possible. Sincere thanks to all who turned up at Inverleith. It was to be a big day for the Club, but alas no.

 

The lack of cricket reports enables me give you a bit of a history lesson. SMRH are perhaps record breakers, in that the club is an amalgam of the following cricket clubs: Stewart's College FP, Melville College FP, John Watson's College FP, Stewart's Melville College FP and Royal High School FP. This month we are able to celebrate a rather unheralded anniversary.

 

Exactly 150 years ago, in April 1861, three cricketers met in a sentry box in Holyrood Park. You might think this would be a bit of a squeeze, but the sentry box looked more like what we would call a summer house. Indeed, a far bigger attendance had been hoped for, as a number of cricketers had been circulated. The limited attendance pressed on with the aim of the meeting, which was to form a Cricket Club. They kept it formal, proposing & seconding with due seriousness, to elect themselves Captain, Secretary & Treasurer. They then set a subscription rate (they had their priorities right) and resolved to start practice the next month. And so was born the Royal High School FP Cricket Club, the oldest part of our amalgam. The minute of that first meeting still exists - Neil Leitch being the proud current owner. Not many clubs are 150 years old, even less have a minute of their first ever meeting. SMRH, a club of great heritage.

 

Onwards & upwards for the next 150 years.

 

 

Thursday 21st  April

So far, so good. We're not long into the season, but already the following has been achieved:

·         Comprehensive series on indoor nets for both Colts & Seniors.

·         Record ever attendance at Monday's first outdoor Nets session-no less than 50 Colts & 20 Seniors.

·         Earliest victory for the Trojans since 1990, if you discount the New Year games against Penicuik (I know, I found the stories of those games difficult to believe as well).

·         Probably the first century for the year 2011 in Scottish Cricket-scored by Steven Parker.

·         A record 6th wicket partnership in the same game.

 

Saturday 16th April

It has all started. At just after Noon on Saturday, Mark Burgess & Brayden Tracey strode out to the Inverleith arti wicket to open the batting for Steven Parker's Trojans XI against the School 1st XI.  A leg bye kicked by Burgess and an effortless leg-side glide to the boundary by Tracey promised great things. However, like many promises in life, mostly from women, the promise was quickly dashed. Looking anything like Trojans, the SMRH team subsided to 46-4  To be fair, the School team bowled very well, with captain Mo Ahmed and Matt Blades taking each taking 2 wickets. With perseverance, just like the occasional encounter with the fairer sex, it all worked out well in the end, with the Trojans reaching 227-8 off their 40 overs.  

 

The recovery was largely due to an excellent innings by captain Steven Parker who scored exactly 100 (2 sixes and 12 fours). Steven was well supported, initially by Murray Matheson and then by Nick Hay who scored a quick-fire 50 (3 sixes and 6 fours).  The partnership of 104 (in 12 overs) between Steven and Nick is a new Trojans 6th wicket record, beating the long-held previous 6th wicket record of 62 by Robin MacQueen and Niven Kelly v Crieff at Braidhaugh on 26th August 1979.

 

In reply the School also lost early wickets as Ramsay Muir and Alex Dry took 3 wickets to leave the School on 21-3. Some solid batting through the rest of the innings saw the innings finish on 198-6 in the 40 overs, with very good contributions from Mo Ahmed, Michael Miller and Scott Docherty. Brayden Tracey's leg breaks also claimed 2 wickets later in the innings.

 

All in all, it was a very worthwhile exercise for both the Club and School teams to start the season.

 

 

MARCH

 

Appointment of 1st XI Captain.  As many of you are aware, last year's incumbent Greg Bissett, is committing the cardinal sin of getting married during the cricket season. There will therefore be Saturdays this season when he will not be allowed to play because of wedding arrangements. The problems this presents have been fully discussed with the Committee and I am now delighted to confirm that Greg will continue as 1st XI Captain, with special arrangements being made to cover his necessary absences.

The Bissett family will continue to play a leading role in the 1st XI, with Chris assisting on the field when selected & Alf continuing his role of the Alex Ferguson of Inverleith.

 

Appointment of Overseas Amateur.  Delighted to announce the appointment of Brayden Tracey as our Overseas Amateur for 2011. Brayden will also fill the position of Cricket Gap Student at Stewart's Melville College. At 19 years of age, Brayden has been playing senior cricket for 7 years, Captaining of the Junior Representative side for the past 2 years.

He has been selected for both the Bendigo and Melbourne Association Cricket Carnivals (representing the Shepparton Cricket       Association) and was selected in the Victorian All Stars U19's team V Victorian Academy. He has played in 2 winning A grade seniors finals, 1 one day, and 2 20/20 finals and 4 winning junior grand finals, has represented the School at the Australian Marist Schools cricket carnival in 2009 and 2010 and was named in the  Marist's Schools All Australian Team. He has 7 centuries currently to his name. 3 in senior grade (second division), 1 at the Marist Carnival, 1 in the State Under 19's, and two in the Juniors.

 

The first friendly game will be a match between a Trojans XI and the School 1st XI on Saturday 16th April. The next Saturday, the 1st XI will be playing against Heriot's FP, while the 2nds & 3rds will be playing a practice match at Inverleith. The season will soon be on us!

 

 

FEBRUARY

 

Cricket Media Super 6s Week 6 Results - 11th February

Stenhousemuir 132/3 (10 overs) (14 pts), K Crichton 33, N Lister 28

SMRH 103/5 (9.4 overs) (2 pts),  S Whyte 2/21

 

SMRH 131/5 (9.5 overs) (14 pts),  P Howard 31, S Parker 30, A Davidson 36, K Khalil 2/22

Freuchie 116/5 (9.5 overs) (5 pts),  S Galloway 46 M Jackson 28

 

Freuchie 181/3 (10 overs) (14 pts),  S Galloiway 44, S Birrell 34, K Khalil 26, A Sutherland 25

Stenhousemuir 54/5 (5.5 overs) (1 pt),  K Khalil 2/20

 

 

Stenhousemuir qualify for the semi-finals from this group

 

 

JANUARY

 

Cricket Media Super 6s Week 3 Results - 21st January

SMRH 42/5; (3.2 overs)  (0pts) - 4 run outs

Stenhousemuir 43/1 (4.1 overs)  (12pts) P Hamilton 15

 

SMRH 114/5 (10 overs)  (13pts) - G Bisset 26, J Brock 26, I Paterson 2/30

Freuchie 76/5 (9.4 overs)  (3pts) - A Sutherland 30

 

Freuchie 109/5 (9.2 overs)  (2pts) - K Crichton 20, R Jones 2/24

Stenhousemuir 110/2 (10 overs)  (13pts) - R Jones 27, N Lister 25

 

 

We are pleased to announce the identity of our Club Professional for 2011.  George Worker, who has played First-Class cricket for Central Districts in New Zealand for the last four seasons, will be joining us in early June. George is a left-hand bat and slow left arm bowler with an impressive pedigree for a 21 year old.  An ex-captain of the New Zealand Under 19 side, he has this season been starring for the Central Districts side in 20/20 & 50 over cricket.  Indeed, his latest innings was a century for them last week (109 in 129 balls) against Northern Districts.  With a one-day batting average of over 35, he looks to be a great signing for the Club.  His bowling has also been used on a pretty regular basis in First-Class cricket. 

Check out all of George's details on the following website: www.cricketarchive.co.uk

 

The first indoor nets session of the year took place on Sunday 16 January.  They will continue every Sunday through until 27th March from 2-4pm at Stewarts / Melville School with the whole gym being available.  It was a very good first session.  It would be great to see as many players as possible from all teams in the Club over the coming weeks, come on down and join the fun.  Please do bring along new players who may be interested in joining us.