Three Out Of Three
I like to think that my personal outlook is ‘generally optimistic.’ However, when it comes to matches – of any kind – where I have any sort of interest in the outcome, my hopes for success for a given side or player seem often to be the kiss of death.
But this weekend? Wow! On Saturday, Galzo and his men beat SMRH by three wickets. Kenny and his crew beat Corstorphine and Galzo and his lads beat Breadalbane on Sunday. It would be hard to say which of these results gives most satisfaction, but I’ll have a go at that in a minute.
A ‘five for’ for Steve Rowley – 5 for 20, no less, plus 3 for 16 for Scottie Birrell led to SMRH all out for 114. Stevo was also top scorer with 33 not out, Galzo close behind him with 32. It would have been good to have lost fewer than 7 wickets, but there was a lot of criticism of the pitch. Max points for the lads, though, and Stevo has to be man of he match.
Meantime, at home, Corstorphine had compiled 233 for 6 off 50 overs, a pretty daunting target. However, Jock Wallace got 52, Lee Duncan a magnificent 108 not out (his first century) while Robbie Wright weighed in with 26. We finished with 234 for 6 of 40.2 overs. The only downside was that Alan Duncan – Lee’s dad – retired hurt. Speedy recovery, Duffer.
On Sunday a mixed team visited Breadalbane. We would have had more young lads in the side had there not been a U15 match scheduled for the day (which in the end did not take place). Our aim in seeking entry to the Strathmore Union is to get more competitive cricket for our younger players, and on this showing, it’s going to work out really well. Everyone had a good time (well, almost everyone) while the like of Liam Kelly and Chris Hunt got a chance to show what they are made of. “I didn’t realise how good these guys are!” said Galzo. May be too soon to say that this is a plan that will deliver what we are after, but so far, so good.
Tough to pick what has pleased me most, but my pick is the Third XI outcome – not just the result, but the involvement for our promising juniors.
RESOURCE
Cricket Scotland result service for the SMRH v Freuchie match.
Technorati Tags: Cricket Scotland, Freuchie, Freuchie Cricket Club, cricket, SMRH, Corstorphine, Breadalbane
Team Selection
The team selection for the 1st and 2nd XI for this coming weekend are shown below.
| COMPETITON | 1st XI League |
| DATE | Sat 25th July 2009 |
| FIXTURE | SMRH |
| VENUE | Freuchie Cricket Ground |
- R Birrell (Capt)
- S Birrell
- D Cowan (Snr)
- D Cowan (Jnr)
- S Galloway
- S Gibson
- S Gourlay
- M Jackson
- S Rowley
- A Sutherland
- J Wallace
- Res – n/a
Players meet 11:30am at Freuchie Cricket Club for 1pm start.
Any call offs call R Birrell on 07960 568376.
| COMPETITON | 2nd XI League |
| DATE | Sat 25th July 2009 |
| FIXTURE | Stirling County Cricket Club |
| VENUE | Stirling |
- S Kennedy (Capt)
- F Black
- A Duncan
- K Crichton
- B Forrester
- D Harper
- L Kelly
- J McIntosh
- A Paterson
- R Wright
- S Munro
- Res – n/a
Meet at Freuchie Cricket Club at 11:00am for 1pm start at Stirling.
Any call offs call S Kennedy on 07957 585902.
Good luck once again to both teams.
Technorati Tags: cricket, Freuchie, Freuchie Cricket Club, SMRH, Stirling, Stirling County
Captain’s Corner
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 2nd’s so hopefully we can keep them together and they can progress into the 1st’s, if not this season then definitely next year.
Technorati Tags: Angus Paterson, Fergus Black, SMRH
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