Final Ball Drama with Old Friends Marchmont

[By E. C. Smith]

Gone was the beautiful sunshine from Saturday to be replaced by a slightly more overcast day at Myreside. However, pitch conditions looked good and all four teams were eager to take advantage of the rare opportunity to play on a national league pitch. The ActivCity ‘finals day’ pitched favorites Marchmont and Holy Cross against lower league opponents in the form of Drummond Trinity and Morton.

Inserted into bat by Morton, Holy Cross recovered well (after the early wicket of Keith Fraser) and pushed to around 60 after 10 overs. Although not capitalizing fully on this position Holy Cross got to a respectable total of around 125, helped by thirty odds from Owais and Charlie and a very elegant 18 not out from Vikram. Highlights of the innings included 2 towering sixes from Owais which was a sign of the pyrotechnics to come later in the day!

The instructions for the second half were to bowl quick and straight in the search for early wickets and ‘Aussie Pat’ duly obliged with a season best of 5-4 off his 4 overs! After Morton’s top order had been ransacked the result was never really in doubt but some good catches and disciplined support bowling meant that Morton were dismissed for around 60. While this was a resounding win for Holy X credit must also go to Morton for the spirit they showed and the variety and skill of (in particular) their bowling attack.

This not only led us into the finals against Marchmont but also to a hearty tea which included prawns which were devoured with remorseless vigour by c.g.j mcgill (I was impressed)! Captain E. C Smith then repeated his ‘tactic’ of losing the toss and we again found ourselves inserted onto a quickish (but lowish) Myreside track. What then happened was a stellar batting effort spearheaded by Owais who moved to fifty not out off around 10 overs, leaving the score at around 75-1. At this point Owais began to struggle with a leg injury but that did not prevent him carving a succession of Marchmont bowlers for 4’s and 6’s to all corners of the ground. It truly was a majestic effort and he found able support in the form of Pickering, C, Ellis and Keith Fraser, with Holy Cross closing their innings on 152-3.

While we knew this was a score that was around fifteen runs over par we were also aware of the threat posed by a Marchmont side which included recent recruits to support the experience of Collier, MacGregor and Sardesai. McGregor and Collier got off to a solid start and hit enough 4’s to make sure they were not too far behind the rate after the first few overs. However, a good catch on the boundary by Keith (from the bowling of Shannon) brought top league run scorer Matt Loeffen to the crease. The danger man was keen to get on with things and could have found himself run out early on before he started to pepper the boundary - Mazher style! The overseas man got to 36 in triple quick time but a good catch by Charlie, off the bowling of Dougie, saw him dismissed around the same time as MacGregor – with the score on around 75-3 off 11 overs.

Although slightly behind the rate, at this point, the experienced Sardesai manipulated the ball well behind square and made sure his team were not too far behind the curve. However, he was out going for one shot too many and his dismissal brought captain Sam Peachey to the crease with 60 needed off the last 6 overs. The captain produced an extraordinarily composed innings and resisted the temptation to go for suicide runs, whilst still pushing the Holy Cross fielding to its limits. He also started to find the boundary with increasing regularity and his potence was such that the Marchmont men required only 9 to win off the last over.

Aussie pat was given the task of dragging the impetus back in our direction and produced some fine deliveries under pressure. However, he was very unlucky to see an inside and outside edge cost 6 runs off two balls and a rushed leg bye left Marchmont one run off victory with one ball remaining. Pat then produced an exceptional delivery which was too good for the batsman (and the stumps) but Marchmont pushed through for the run with Simon’s throw missing the stumps by about an inch.

This was an incredibly exciting game played in the best of spirits and congratulations must go to Marchmont for a thrilling run chase! While there was no official man of the match award this surely would have gone to Owais whose innings of 93* was stamped full of swashbuckling quality.

Thanks also to the organisors of the tournament and to Colin McGill for doing the scoring in both matches. One that we will have to reluctantly put down to experience and take what we can out of in advance of Wednesday. Little doubt that if we produce the same sort of performance on Wednesday we should get the right result to reward us for what has been a very good season!

As with Sunday, all supporters are welcome with the game starting at 17:45 at Newfield…

Brief Evening News report here.