SIoppy Cross punished by Van JaarsveId

Activcity Trophy Semi -at Meggetland

Marchmont 124ao
Van Jaarsveld 49
Loeffen 30

Bonfield 4/19/3
Bainbridge 2/24/0
Marsh 2/19/0
Trewartha 4/21/3
Russell 4/27/2
Ellis 4/9/2

Holy Cross 117-7
Ellis 43
Mahzer 37
Loeffen 3-13

Match report:
11 pIayers ready to pIay at toss time wouId heIp
Catches win Matches
Don't bowl short dross to a strong man with a 4lb bat!
Don't smack it straight to their best fieIder

But at Ieast it aIIowed  to enjoy the very entertaining finaI between
 Marchmont and MusseIburgh- Marchmont winning by 1 run
well done to them. report here

League Weekend 18

Saturday's fixtures -

• 1sts vs Musselburgh at Loretto.
• 2nds vs Musselburgh 2nds at Arbo.
• 3rds vs SMRH 3rds at Leith Links.

It's Awards Night at Arbo after the games. If the weather's as bad as the forecast and all the games are off, then we'll meet at 7.30pm for an 8.00pm start.

Sunday. Please note that both the time and the venue for the semi-final have changed.

• Activcity Trophy finals day - semi-final vs Marchmont at Meggetland, 1pm. Winners vs Edinburgh or Musselburgh at Craiglockhart at 4.30pm.

2nd's v Penicuik (away)

Me next Saturday (Dougie keeping wicket)

When the 1's played at Marchmont a week past Saturday, I inside-edged the fastest ball of the season (at any level) onto my shin. It smarted somewhat (understatement) and has been playing up through various sizes and colours ever since, even necessitating a lovely wee trip to A&E (160 mins processing time, sort it out Broonster) to enquire as to the completeness or otherwise of the shinbone (technical term) last Monday evening (after 2 nights of drinking had failed to mend the injury).

Therefore I had to sit it out last weekend.

Even a strangulated text from the hero of the selection process claiming we were struggling for numbers (tell me something new) couldn't break my resolve. I was fairly confused about the enquiry "will you be fit enough for the 2's then?". Is anyone?? What is 2's fitness exactly??? Does 'Unfit for cricket' = '2nd team regular'????

In the meantime, the 3's game was abandoned a day early and so the availability issues must have eased.

Serendipitously the 2's were visiting my home village of Pennycook, somewhere underneath Edinburgh on the border of The Borders. Splendid I thought. A few cheap sherbets in a lovely setting whilst our battle hardened veterans smoted the countryside whippersnappers. The teas are usually well worth plundering too. All good. Might be worth getting injured more often...

As you drive up Kirkhill Road, you get a glimpse of the ground through the gate, before you pass the wall, view the field and then the scoreboard. As I passed the gate I caught site of a baggy green in the field. Must have won the toss looking to blast the home team to smithereens. Clever!!!

Past the wall and a quick neb at the scoreboard - WTF - PCC 40 odd for 1 chasing 61. Good grief, gadzooks and once more, WTF. I was out the car and hopping round to the scorehut faster than you could say Oscar Pistorius. Hector, a permanent fixture in the Penicuik scorehut, long ago christened 'Hectors Hoose', showed me the damage. Some of the top order had reached double figures, then the home side cheekily introduced a spinner called Pace who took 5-for and ripped through the Cross tail. Superted and all!!!

"Missing a few regulars?" Hector politely enquired. "Eh nut" I responded counting at least 7 bona fide 2nd team regulars in play.

My eyes didn't deceive me either, there were only 10 men. If the 3's were off, and the 2's had 10 men, and McGill wasn't one of them, it could only mean one thing. Yes, Colin McGill was surely deid. Reeling from this news I was distracted as the Cross made a breakthrough and a team mate of mine from my previous life at Kirkhill, Cliff Hutt, was sent back to the huttch (so sorry) by Lord Admin. Could our spinner now match the earlier feats of Mr Pace?

No, no he absolutely could not!!!

In no time Penicuik had passed the total. The only actual part of the play I can recall is the final ball when the scores were tied, bowled by Lord Admin. It arrived at the batsman about spam height and was hatcheted in the direction of midwicket. The batsmen didn't even need to run. Later, as I rammed a mini sausage roll into my gob, I enquired after Lord Admin "what was going on with that last ball ya fanny?". To which his Lordship responded "I thought if I'm ever going to bowl my wrong'un, that was the time". So next seasons Division 5 batsmen, you have been warned.

All over by 4pm.

After almost witnessing such a terrible performance, with some amount of trepidation I asked "are you guys safe". Being a serious situation, the actual meaning bypassed the downhearted troops, "oh yes" said Smujinder, "we've won all our home games and lost all our away games". Fortress Arbo indeed.

And which fate had befallen poor Coco??? It was more gruesome than I could ever have imagined. He'd been drafted into the 1's!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Fair Weather Crossers

 There were 3 fixtures played by HX teams at the weekend....
it is now Tuesday but there is no sign of any scores or reports....

do we only blog when we are are winning...?

Awards Night

Just a reminder that Awards Night will be held at Arbo on Saturday after the day's games. As Sunday is the Activcity finals day, the Croscars will of course be a very sober affair ......

Anyone who is on the e-mail list should find a list of awards in their in-box. If you haven't got one, e-mail me at secretary@holycrosscricket.co.uk. Wednesday evening is the deadline for voting.

TMS

Aggers and Shaun Pollock have been having a bit of difficulty identifying the position of a fielder in the 3rd Test at Lords v Safrica.

Aggers wasn't happy, accusing Graeme Smith of thinking too much if the commentators don't even know the name of the position.

Pollock described it as "in between gully and third man loitering position".

HX regulars better skilled in inventive fielding nomenclature could maybe take a stint in the TMS combox and help out these so-called professional haverers!!!

Thirds Game Washed Away

Sorry, guys. Not particularly surprising news, but Edinburgh Leisure have said Campbell Park is unplayable for tommorow.

League Weekend 17

Saturday's fixtures -

• 1sts vs Murrayfield-DAFS at Arbo.
• 2nds vs Penicuik 2nds, away.
• 3rds vs Tranent, home at Campbell Park.

Sunday -

• Presidents Plate final vs Tranent at Lewisvale, Musselburgh, 1pm start.

Cross Scramble into Activcity Semi

Activcity Quarter Final, Arboretum, 14th August

Murrayfield DAFS 119-7 (Sam Fergusson c30)
Holy Cross 119-6 (Owais Mazher c60, Charlie Ellis c30; Bharat Nussum 3 wkts)

Good game. HX scrambled a bye to the keeper off the last ball to tie the scores and win by losing one less wicket.

Cross squeaked through to the Activcity finals day (Sunday August 26th at Myreside/Craiglockhart) in an excellent game versus MDafs - adding to a long list of epic HX vs MDafs contests since THAT game in 2004.

A generally solid bowling performance with Andy K (plenty movement!) and Shannon's spells the pick and cje's the lowlight. Unusually we displayed some good fielding; especially from an unprecedentedly mobile cover field (Nawaz, Tom and Andrew R). We kept MDafs to 119: rather more than seemed likely at the 10 over mark - some good hitting from Fergusson helping their cause.

With a recently cut outfield and a decent pitch, 119 ought to have been more easily reached. But a slightly slow start put us behind the rate before some fine striking from Owais and steady play from cje seemed to have put HX in control.

But when cje and Owais were dismissed, the gloom descended further, the MDafs bowling tightened-up (Akerkar and Bharat) and we found ourselves struggling to pick up runs with any consistency (too many dot balls).

Some vital late boundaries from Jon and Shannon and energetic running from Tambo put things back in our favour before a late flurry of wickets made MDafs the favourites. With 2 balls remaining we needed 2 for the win and 1 for a tie but a swing and a miss meant that we had to rely on a scrambled bye to the keeper (would it have been a run if the keeper had hit? McGill said it would have required the 3rd umpire...).

Anyway, it all seems to suggest that Gary's long-distance running training has finally paid off..

This was exactly the scenario when we LOST the final last year. Indeed it will be Marchmont we play in the Semi-final (at Myreside).

Shifty the Craic Dealer???

Ma een near popped oot ma heid.

Shifty on the BBC

"Shifty, a young crack cocaine dealer in London, sees his life quickly spiral out of control when his best friend (Bates?) returns home"

"Packs a powerful punch"???

Shifty on IMDB

Next on Saturday, BBC2, 2330.

Thirds lose to TeamGB...

'Fact of the Day: @TeamGB have won more Gold Medals than the @HXCricket 3rds scored runs today!'

pvb reports on the Thirds trip to Hawick :

Ok, the 3rds lost by a mere 195 runs but I have to say I am a very happy chappie! Firstly to see the wonderful Fraser Buchanan back playing and scoring 33 should bring a smile to everyone's face. Secondly for Andy Graham to actually manage to get a team to go to Hawick was magnificent; it would have been so disappointing for Hawick to have had another blank weekend. They were excellent hosts, providing a sumptuous tea. Sincere thanks to Mark Brown and Michael Baker for going to the trouble of travelling, both of whom fielded very well; also thanks to Ken for travelling and supporting - his car was needed.

There were many positives; Keith was back to his best - very economical (20 off 8); Mike was a fine stand-in keeper with two sharp stumpings and hardly a bye to be seen. Amir bowled a really good length and deserved his 2 wkts; he even brought a friend with him who made our numbers up to ten. Richard took a wonderful catch on long-on which really stung. Coco and Paul each took 3 wickets and Richard two, and after Hawick were only 2 down at tea, it was good going to get another 7 after tea and full bowling points.

A combination of good bowling and unusual running between the wickets meant we scored only 25 with Coco scoring the only boundary in his 10*. It was mercifully quick, leaving us time to stay for 2 hours and sample their delicious burgers.

Monday Night Cricket

Oops - forgot Monday night's game vs Teuchters in the round-up of the week ahead. If you'd like to play in the last friendly of the season, then let Coco or JB know. It's at Arbo.

Two wins !! Threes just fall short

Scores Digest:

1sts
At Cavalry Park


Marchmont 193-8 (M. Loeffen 64, P Macsimczyk 26)
S. Bonfield 10/1/34/1
S. McOscar 9/1/48/3
Killey 7/0/26/0
Trewartha 9/0/24/1
Ellis 9/1/25/1
Russell 6/0/29/2

Holy Cross 194-6 (49.5 overs)
C.Ellis 93*, S. McOscar 29, K. Fraser 23
Macsimczyk 2/27

Super game of cricket played in great spirits. 

Twos won!!
 vs Livingston 2nds at Arbo

Made 185/6, 58 from Ziggy, 33 from Fraser Buchanan in his first game for years. Bowled them out for 90, Usama 3/36, Lohan 3/26.

scorecard here

Threes lost...er just

further details to follow

League Weekend 16 and the Week Ahead

Saturday's games -

• 1sts vs Marchmont, away.
• 2nds vs Livingston 2nds at Arbo.
• 3rds vs Hawick & Wilton, away.

In addition, Tuesday night sees the Activcity Trophy quarter-final vs Murrayfield-DAFS at Arbo.

Sunday Success

Presidents Plate semi-final, Sunday 5th August.

Largo 3rds/4ths 49 all out
Holy Cross 2nds/3rds 50 for 1.

After a trying Saturday, Sunday brought a little joy as the 2nds/3rds won through to the final of the Presidents Plate.

This being the Cross, Sunday wasn't without its trying moments as we just about assembled 10 cricketers, enough cars and the appropriate insurance to get them across the Forth.

Early exchanges were fairly even, with Andy K bowling a rapid spell down the hill and Smudger removing the dangerous-looking opener after a couple of good boundaries. But then Coco, bowling at least 3 mph faster than usual thanks to the hill, swung the match decisively in our favour with a devastating spell of 5 for 4. JB followed with a couple of cheap wickets, Nawaz executed a fine run out, we took all our catches and the innings was over just in time for the serious rain to begin.

After a long delay, eased by some very nice scones, we resumed under lowering skies. BAF was out for the first time in this cup run, but then JB and Andy Q, riding their luck a little, particularly against the impressive young Singh, took us home, just in time for some more heavy rain.

Final vs Tranent at Lewisvale, Musselburgh on Sunday 19th August (reserve, Sunday 26th August).

It's That Time On Friday Afternoon Again...

...but in the absence of enough cricket to prattle on about, here is some stuff from the multifarious sporting event taking part in the capital city of one of the countries in the UK (I don't think I'm allowed to say Olympics, doh!!!)

You will not be disappointed. Even if you've seen these already, I doubt you'll get tired of them.

Diving Faces

And just in case these aren't enough, how can you tire of wonderment for this pillock and his shenanigans????

Swinging Tool

League Weekend 15 and the Week Ahead

The weekend's scheduled action -

• Saturday, 1sts vs Dunfermline at Arbo.
• Saturday, 2nds vs Preston Village, away - possibly on the artificial if wet.
• Saturday, 3rds vs Dalgety Bay, home at Campbell Park.
• Sunday, 2nds vs Largo 3rds, Presidents Plate semi-final at Largo, 1.30 start.

Midweek -

• Thursday (9th), evening friendly vs Tranent at Arbo.