STEWARTS MELVILLE ROYAL HIGH CRICKET CLUB DIARY OF THE SEASON - 1999

APRIL

Saturday 17th, the season starts and Brian Townsend takes a hat-trick in the opening game of the season against Livingston.

Sunday 25th April and the 1st X1 suffer a 10 wicket defeat by Grange in the first round of the NCA Cup.

MAY

Saturday 1st May and another hat-trick, this time in the 3rd X1 in the opening league game of the season, against Heriots, by debutant Richard Hodgson.

Thursday 13th May and SMRH's defence of the Masterton Trophy ends quickly in round 1, losing by 6 wickets to Edinburgh Accies.

Saturday 15 May sees the 1st X1 & 2nd X1 achieve their first win of the season, whilst the 4th X1 send watching crowds to sleep as they accumulate a massive 39 runs in 44 overs.

Sunday 30th May and SMRH's disappointing cup form continues with defeat by Brechin in the first round of the SCU Trophy.

JUNE

Saturday 5th June and Zahoor Elahi hits his second century of the season as The 1st X1 defeat Kelburne by 7 wickets.

Congratulations to Alan Spiers on his selection as 12th man for Scotland B X1 in the their matches against Durham University at the Racecourse ground, Durham on 9/10/11 of June.

Flaming June comes to an end as the League season approaches the half way stage. 26th June is a black Saturday for the Club with all 4 teams losing! The 1st X1 to Stirling County, the 2nd X1 to Watsonians, the 3rd X1 to Dunfermline where Euan Stuart (a Stewarts Melville schoolboy!) scores a century on his debut for Dunfermline at Inverleith and the 4th X1 chase runs in the sun as Falkland 3rd X1 (??!!??) make a record score.

JULY

The first Saturday July produces the all too familiar wet Saturday. Heavy rain at lunchtime ensures a complete washout and all matches are called off around 1.00pm.

Saturday 10th July and the 4th X1 win their first match of the season with an 8 wicket victory over Trinity.

In the 3rd X1 a club record 10th wicket stand of 43 between 2 unlikely batting stars with regular bowlers James Crispin and Graeame Armstrong doing their stuff.

Saturday 17 July and its 3 wins - the 1st X1 against Poloc where Zahoor Elahi scores his 3rd century of the season, the 3rd X1 secure their first win of the season against Dunnikier and 4th X1 make it 2 in a row with victory against Leith Franklin Accies.

Saturday 31 July and the month ends with a Club record. The 1st X1 score 264/7 batting second to win their match against Falkland in the 99th over. This is the highest ever score achieved by the Club batting second to win a match and no higher score has been recorded in the Club history of either Stewarts Melville or Royal High.

Also on a good note to end the month are the 4th X1 who achieved their 4th win in a row whilst beating St.Modans.

AUGUST

Saturday 7th and a bad start to the month with 3 defeats. The 1st X1 losing a close contest to Stenhousemuir, the 2nd X1 losing by 5 wickets and the 3rd X1 well beaten by the enthusiastic Edinburgh Biege. The 4th X1 match was cancelled due to a wet pitch at Fauldhouse.

Saturday 14th and this time wet weather cancels the 1st X1 at Kelburne, but good wins for the 2nd X1 by 10 runs at West Lothian and the 3rd X1 by 8 wickets at Haddington. Sadly the 4th X1 match had to be cancelled due to lack of players.

Saturday 21st and the headlines go to Robin Macqueen for his superb century for the 4th X1 against Largo at the Meadows. Robin in the first game against Largo, on his 50th birthday, sadly was dismissed for nought, however in the return game he matched the total Largo score of 113.

The 3rd X1 drew their match with Stenhousemuir, whilst the 2nd X1 received a walk-over on the Sunday when Freuchie were unable to raise a team.

It was a bad weekend for the 1st X1. A 9 wicket defeat by Uddingston on the Saturday was followed by a narrow 8 run defeat by GHK on the Sunday. These results send SMRH to the relegation zone in National League 2. With 2 games to go against Stirling County & Edinburgh Accies next weekend, a scenario of Edinburgh Accies winning both games (the second of which is against SMRH!), would result in SMRH needing 12 points from the 2 games to avoid the drop.

Saturday 28th and the 1st X1 are defeated by Stirling County, but gain 7 points and with Edinburgh Accies also being defeated, the fear of any relagation is removed.

In their last matches of the season, defeats also for the 2nd X1, 3rd X1 and 4th X1 (a concession).

Sunday 29th and the final match of the season is abandoned early on against the relegated Edinburgh Accies at Inverleith.