Captain’s Corner
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 2nd 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
Captain’s Corner
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 2nd’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 2nd 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
Captain’s Corner
I’m very pleased to say that we got our 2nd 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 1st 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.
Technorati Tags: Dave Cowan, Dunfermline Knights, Razza Butt, Renfrew, Scott Gourlay, Steve Rowley, Stewart Gibson, Weirs
Captain’s Corner
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 1st XI this year, we’ve brought them in for their vast experience. Andy Sutherland comes back in after having a good weekend with 2nd’s last week.
Well done to the 2nd 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
Captain’s Corner
Another bad day for Freuchie Cricket Club on Saturday, another average display in all departments! We probably gave West Lothian an extra 30 runs due to some errors in the field, but at half time we were still confident of chasing down their score of 196. Scott Galloway once again was our main runs scorer, but even he will feel disappointed at not finishing off the job in hand, going for 64. With plenty of batting still to come, we needed somebody to take responsibility to win the game for us, sadly there was no one up to the challenge and we fell agonisingly short by 3 runs.
The scorecard is available for inspection from the Cricket Scotland website.
This week we have the long journey to Dumfries, where we will find another tough test of our resilience. Its been a few years since we played them but history tells us that these games are usually tight affairs.
Due to work commitments, Jock Wallace has dropped down to the 2nds as has Andy Sutherland. Their replacements are Dale Cowan and Graeme Christie, who makes his 1st XI debut this season.
Congratulations to the 2nds who won their game against Livingston on Saturday.
Technorati Tags: cricket, Dumfries, Freuchie, Freuchie Cricket Club, Livingston, West Lothian
Captain’s Corner
The club had a very good week with victories in both the Fife Cup and the league, unfortunately we missed out on progressing into the next round of the Murgitroyd T20 Cup. We played Cupar in the Fife Cup on a very tricky wicket and managed to overcome them without too many problems, keeping their runs to below 100. Freuchie made the target without losing too many wickets. Jock Wallace was the main stay with 42 not out. The next round should be played next week but we don’t yet know the opponent.
Congratulations to Dave Cowan who captained the 1st XI to their first league victory of the season in my absence. Freuchie amassed a first innings total of 277, Scott Galloway made 94, Scott Gourlay 56 and Dave Cowan 32. Freuchie then restricted SMRH to 115 all out, Steve Rowley was the main wicket taker with 4 for 23, Andy Sutherland 2 for 25 and Jamie McIntosh 2 for 14 against his old team.The scorecard for this match is available here.
WELL DONE LADS!!
Unfortunately we lost to Dunfermline in the Murgitroyd T20 on Sunday, hopefully we can do better against them next month in the Scottish Cup.
A special mention to the Under 15’s who won against Perth in a very exciting game during the week. The game finished in the pouring rain but Freuchie bowled and fielded very well to defend 74. The young lads are progressing very well and improving with every game.
Technorati Tags: Andy Sutherland, Cupar, Dave Cowan, Dunfermline, Fife Cup, Freuchie, Jamie McIntosh, Jock Wallace, Murgitroyd T20 Cup, Perth, Scott Galloway, Scott Gourlay, Steve Rowley
Captain’s Corner
Unfortunately it was another bad day for us on Saturday losing to Falkland Cricket Club by 38 runs on Duckworth Lewis! A combination of big hitting from Davie Gray and some slack fielding allowed Falkland to score over 200, their overs being reduced to 45 due to rain. Our innings had barely started when the heavens opened and a lengthy break ensued. A break of an hour in play had us thinking that the game was all over but the rain stopped and the skies cleared to allows us to start play again. After all our calculations were done for Duckworth Lewis we were asked to chase 159 from 27 overs, a rather difficult target for most teams, as the required rate was 5.8 runs per over. At the end this was well out of our reach! Falkland’s pro took 5 wickets along the way and their new signing from St Andrew’s Uni took a world class catch to dismiss our highest scorer Scott Gourlay who accumulated 42 runs.
I’d like to thank Jock Wallace for all his hard work during the day and Geoff Maine from Falkland for all his assistance with processing Duckworth Lewis on the computer. We hope to do better against SMRH this weekend but there is a change to the team due to myself and brother Scott attending our sister Katie’s wedding.
I’d like to congratulate the 2nd XI on their resounding victory against Penicuik Cricket Club on Saturday, especially Jamie McIntosh who took 6 wickets and Gregor Morris making over 40 runs on his debut! Unfortunately on Sunday they were pipped at the post in the President’s Cup game against Watsonian Cricket Club. Special mention must go to Kenny Crichton who took a hat trick as well as Shane Kennedy who scored 84 not out and played a Captain’s innings. Thanks to Blair Laurie, Chris Hunt and Jamie Blair who stepped in at the last minute due to call offs, and made a very good impression.
Resources
Technorati Tags: cricket, Falkland Cricket Club, Freuchie Cricket Club, Penicuik Cricket Club, SMRH, Stewarts Melville Royal High
Captain’s Corner
Unfortunately after all our hard work at training through the week we were beaten by the weather on Saturday.
This week we welcome our local rivals, Falkland, to Freuchie after a 2 year absence. I’m sure it will be a very competitive game, but all rivalries will be put aside after the game so we can enjoy a few beers together. We look forward to a big crowd attendance for this derby match.
I’d like to welcome Gregor Morris to the club, Gregor hails from St Andrews and has just finished a gap year playing cricket in Australia. He will make his debut for the 2nd XI on Saturday at Penicuik.
The club is sure to be busy on Saturday night as there is a Race Night and Freuchie Football Club is having their end of season drink. Anyone wishing to attend the Race Night is very welcome to come along and join in.
Technorati Tags: Falkland, Falkland Cricket Club, Freuchie, Freuchie Cricket Club, Freuchie Football Club, Gregor Morris, Penicuik Cricket Club, St Andrews
Captain’s Corner: Must Do Better!
These are the words that spring to mind when thinking of Saturday’s first league game against Corstorphine. I’m sad to say that they out played us in every department.
Unfortunately I lost the toss and was put into bat, Its just a pity the cricket wasn’t up to that standard! Other than Steve Rowley there wasn’t many pass marks on the batting front, as again players weakly gave up their wicket through bad shot selection, 166 was never going to be enough to defend on a drying wicket.
This brings us onto the bowling, apart from the opening partnership of Dave Cowan and Scott Gourlay, who again both troubled the batsmen on several occasions and kept runs to a trickle, the bowling was far too short and the lines not tight enough which enabled the batsmen to score freely on both sides of the wicket and made setting the field very difficult.
We will certainly be working hard at training this week, weather permitting!
Saturday cannot come quick enough to try and redeem ourselves and get our first (much needed) win of the season. We welcome Scott Birrell back into the squad after work commitments last week, this will surely strengthen the batting and bowling at Prestwick.
Behind the scenes we are working fervently to get Mario Saliwa, our professional, into the UK and playing cricket for us throughout Scotland. We’ll keep you up to date on the pro situation as it developers further.
Again we must thank Dave Christie for all his efforts as the wicket was exceptional for this time of year. There were a few comments about how good our ground looked from both umpires and players.
Resources:
Scorecard for Freuchie vs RH Corstorphine
Technorati Tags: cricket, Corstorphine, Corstorphine Cricket Club, Dave Christie, Dave Cowan, Freuchie, Freuchie Cricket Club, Mario Saliwa, Prestwick, Prestwick Cricket Club, Scott Birrell, Scott Gourlay, Steve Rowley
Captain’s Corner
Our tour to Huntly was a great success!
Didn’t manage to get a full game in which was a shame, but the guys who didn’t play last week all batted, well except for Jock Wallace who missed out! We welcomed Dan Harper to the club last week, he batted well and looked very good. Freuchie scored 188 for 4 of which S Rowley had 50+ not out and a further 3 guys getting into the 30’s including Dan. All in all a very satisfying batting performance.
On the bowling side, we had Huntly 50 for 5 before the rain interrupted play. Special mention must go to Jock Wallace and Ian Patterson on a very good opening partnership, Jock claimed a couple of wickets with Ian chipping in with one.
We’d like to thank Jock Wallace for all his hard work in organising this tour as well as driving us there and back. A special mention to Scribe (our scorer) who travelled up on Saturday and scored his 2000th game, a great achievement you would agree.
Looking ahead to this weekend, the guys have worked hard at training and are in good shape. We just hope the weather doesn’t beat us once again!
Technorati Tags: Dan Harper, Freuchie, Freuchie Cricket Club, Huntly, Ian Patterson, Jock Wallace, Scribe