Round the Wicket

We seem to have kept the best performance of the season until the last the game! We beat Edinburgh in extra quick time, I won the toss and put them into bat. Through some great bowling and some rash shots we had them all out for 48 only an hour and a half into the innings. Freuchie went out and knocked off the runs with a loss of only one wicket. A very satisfying end to the season.

A good time was had by all at the end of season disco, with the great win during the day spirits were high. It was good to see so many juniors there to collect their trophies. It was also a chance to say goodbye to Dan Harper who was heading back home on the following Tuesday, we wished him all the best and a safe journey home.

Many thanks to everyone who contributed baking, raffle and tombola prizes to our coffee evening. It was very successful and we managed to raise the grand total of £540.00. Thanks again for all your hard work.

Hard luck to the 6 players who were pipped at the post at the Falkland Sixes on Saturday, unfortunately they were beaten in the final by the host team. It was very encouraging however as Freuchie had the youngest side in the competition.

A big thank you to all who contributed throughout the season to help the club run smoothly. It takes a big team effort to keep everything going. Preparations for next season have already started!

Technorati Tags: Edinburgh, Freuchie, Freuchie Cricket Club

Another dismal batting display and some very dodgy umpiring decisions led to yet another crushing defeat for us on Saturday! We will try and recoup some pride this weekend when our opponents are Edinburgh, but at the time of writing this the prospects of play on Saturday are not looking good as the rain is currently battering off the window!

I’m looking forward to Saturday night’s presentation disco to bring to a close what has been another very difficult year and hope to see you all there for a drink, players and social members alike.

Technorati Tags: Edinburgh

Unfortunately no play last week due to rain and no training this week due to rain!

We only have two more games to go now, so we’re hoping for two victories to finish on a high. We have Renfrew this week who we were narrowly defeated by earlier in the season, with all the rain this week it looks to be a game which will be won on the toss once again!

Technorati Tags: Renfrew Cricket Club

We won!! Well done to the lads on Saturday, despite rain and Duckworth Lewis we managed a good win against Dumfries – scorecard here. This goes a long way to helping secure our stay in SNCL Division 2. We look forward to Weirs on Saturday and hopefully another win, well done again.

Only 3 games left of the season so lets just get our heads down and do our very best to finish in the highest possible position.

I’d like to mention Fergus Black who makes his debut for the 1st XI on Saturday, he has looked very good at training so deserves his chance in the team.

Technorati Tags: Dumfries Cricket Club, Duckworth Lewis, SNCL, Weirs Cricket Club

Not much to say about last week as the game was unfortunately rained off. Onto this week and we play SMRH at home which is a huge game for both teams, as we both fight to consolidate our positions in the league. Selection was very difficult as we have players coming back from injury and we’ve gained the services of two outstanding players in Fergus Black and Angus Paterson. Fergus has played for the club for several years but unfortunately his education takes him down south. Angus has joined the club this year and lives locally, but again his education takes him further afield so he can only attend at this time of year. Although Fergus and Angus are 15 they’ve both gained a lot of cricket experience at their respective schools. Its very exciting times at the club as there is a core of juniors playing in the 2^nd’s so hopefully we can keep them together and they can progress into the 1^st’s, if not this season then definitely next year.

Technorati Tags: Angus Paterson, Fergus Black, SMRH

Firstly my apologies for not providing a Captain’s Corner last week, things were very hectic. Very briefly on last week’s games, we were beaten in the league by Corstorphine  and unfortunately were also beaten by Falkland in the last over of the Fife Cup Final. The scorecard from the Corstorphine game is here.

The very good news from Saturday last week was we won against Prestwick in a bottom of the league clash! Scorecard here.  It was very fitting due to it also being our Sponsor’s Day which was a great success. Thanks to everyone who made it possible and helped out on the day.

Everyone contributed to the game and if we can keep playing to this standard I’m sure we can survive in SNCL Division 2.

Onto Saturday this week and we’re at Falkland, we will be hoping to avenge the early season loss against them, in which Duckworth Lewis played a major part in this defeat!

Technorati Tags: Corstorphine, Falkland, Prestwick, SNCL

It was a bad for both XI’s on Saturday, as we were beaten by Edinburgh in corresponding fixtures. We arrived at the ground under very heavy and overcast conditions with the prospect of play looking doubtful. As the afternoon went on the skies cleared and we were able to commence play at 2pm, the game was cut down to 42 overs each. We won the toss and elected to field as the wicket was damp but this turned out to be the wrong choice, as the game went on the wicket deteriorated rapidly!!!

Edinburgh started off in their usual style, the big opener peppering the boundary at every opportunity. We eventually got him out for 60+ off 40+ balls, the rest of their batsmen continued the scoring rate with unorthodox shots and copious amounts of luck! Their innings closed with them amassing 233 from the 42 overs. Once again our slack bowling and fielding let us down, except for Scott Galloway who had 6 wickets to his name.

Our innings started off reasonably well but there was always the hint that the wicket was going to do some silly things. Good length balls were spitting of the wicket and making batting very difficult and dangerous with numerous balls rising to hit our gloves and whizzing past our noses. The guys did pretty well getting to our total of 199, myself with 58 and Dave Cowan with 42 the main run getters. Special mention must go to Dale Cowan who hit one of the best sixes by a Freuchie player in many a season.

With the 2^nd half of the season starting on Saturday we’re hoping our luck and performances will improve, starting with Corstorphine this weekend.

Technorati Tags: Corstorphine, Dale Cowan, Edinburgh, Freuchie, Scott Galloway

Unfortunately we were undone on Saturday by a very controversial Umpiring decision which cost us the game! Scorecard is here.

Renfrew batted first and scored 219 on a very good batting track. Some wayward bowling and fielding again gave them at least 30 runs more than they should have gotten. Myself and Stevie Rowley got off to a great start putting on 70+ for the first wicket, Stevie went on to make over 70 runs himself. However once again our batting failed to dominate the bowlers until Dave Cowan came in to change the game, very nearly taking us all the way to victory. That was until he was given a very dubious LBW with 6 runs left to win the game, well within his capability as there were 8 balls remaining.

This week will be another very hard game as we are in the capital playing Edinburgh who’s batsmen are renowned for going for their shots. Should be an interesting day!

Sunday we were on Scottish Cup duty at Dunfermline Knights, once again we came up short. Dunfermline’s professional, Alistair Gray, was a quality player and took the game away from us with an accomplished innings of 80+ not out. Freuchie won the toss and chose to bat first, we managed to make 196 in the 50 overs, probably 40 runs short of a competitive total, on a very good wicket. On the plus side the young lads, Dale Cowan and Robbie Wright, came into the side and did very well. Both bowling pretty tight spells against quality batsmen. A big learning curve for both of them. Hopefully we can get our revenge on Thursday night in the Fife Cup, which is being played again at Dunfermline.

Well done to the 2^nd’s, who won their league game on Saturday against Leith. The boys are steadily climbing up the league and will be hoping for another win on Saturday against Edinburgh 2^nd XI.

A wee mention to Greg Birrell, Ross McMurdo and Grant Horsburgh who will be representing Fife & Tayside under 12’s on Sunday at Freuchie, please come along and support them if you can.

Technorati Tags: Alistair Gray, Dale Cowan, Dunfermline Cricket Club, Dunfermline Knights, Edinburgh Cricket Club, Greg Birrell, Grant Horsburgh, Leith Cricket Club, Renfrew Cricket Club, Robbie Wright, Ross McMurdo, Stevie Rowley

I’m very pleased to say that we got our 2^nd win of the season on Saturday with a fairly comfortable win over Weirs. Scorecard is here.

The day got off to a good start when Weirs lost the toss so I had the choice to bat or bowl, so bat I did choose. In the end it proved to be the right choice as Freuchie posted a very good total of 249, a total that is well within our grasp if we put our minds to it. The key to this total was a good start by myself and Steve Rowley, putting on 80+ for the first wicket, a great platform for the rest of the guys coming in to play their shots. Big Dave Cowan pressed the accelerator at the right time with a quick fire 30+ to push us up to 249 as well as very useful contributions from the rest of the guys.

Once again we got off to a great start in the bowling with a good opening spell from Scott Gourlay and Dave Cowan. Stewart Gibson on his debut for the 1^st XI this year did very well under the circumstances as we were under the cosh for a while when Razza Butt as he was dispatching the ball to all parts of the ground. We eventually got him out on 80 and effectively that was their run chase over. Once again Steve Rowley was the pick of the bowlers with 5 wickets.

As for this weekend, its another big game for us as Renfrew are below us in the league so we really need to make this game count. On Sunday we are relieved by the pressures of league cricket as we are playing in the Scottish Cup against Dunfermline Knights who are doing very well since being promoted to the first division, it will be a very big test for us.

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Sorry to say we were totally outplayed by Dumfries on Saturday, unfortunately it was the same as most games lost this season, not enough runs on the board and wayward bowling. The scorecard on the Cricket Scotland website says it all! There’s nothing more to say on this subject, we will now look ahead to this Saturday’s game against Weirs, which is a must win as they are currently below us in the league. We had to make a few changes this week again, Stewart Gibson and Alan Duncan make their debut for the 1^st XI this year, we’ve brought them in for their vast experience. Andy Sutherland comes back in after having a good weekend with 2^nd’s last week.

Well done to the 2^nd XI who had another good win again on Saturday against Marchmont. The highlight of the day was Blair Forrester scoring the first century for the club this season. Keep up the good work lads.

They play Grange this week which will be another tough challenge for them, but once again they have a very strong side to travel to Edinburgh.

And finally, well done to the Under 11’s who beat Dunfermline last night. They played very well with all of them contributing to the win. Friday nights coaching is really starting to pay off and we are noticing a great improvement in the kids.

Technorati Tags: cricket. Dumfries Cricket Club, Dunfermline Cricket Club, Freuchie, Freuchie Cricket Club