Vik-tory - but no Invasion.

A selection meeting that apparently ended in the early hours of Wednesday morning in Tiger Lily

Vik

may have provided further fodder for the Twitter phenomenon #babesincrosskit but it had also produced a slightly strange-looking 2nd X (sic) which featured four 1sts squad members.

Two of those, Kev (5-0-18-1) and Vik, opened the bowling after BAF, subbing for a late-running Smudge, had won the toss and put Carnegie in on a damp Arbo wicket. They bowled well but without luck and the College's experienced opening pair of Daughtrey and Honeyford moved the score on to 43 in the 15th before, shortly after Norrie's appearance as a sub fielder,* Dom McMonagle (9-0-28-1) removed Honeyford lbw.

Two more wickets fell quickly including the prize scalp of Harris run-out by Dan Welsh, and when Ross Treacy (9-1-25-2) took the second wicket of a fine debut spell, Carnegie were 60 for 4. Saleem hit one superb 6 in his 26 and he and Walker rebuilt for a while, taking the score past 90, but then the introduction of Welsh (3-1-5-2) and the return of Vik (8-5-13-4) produced a startling collapse with the last six wickets falling for four runs to leave Carnegie 96 all out from 34 overs.

A recent BBC News Magazine article on a 1937 tour to Germany reported that the English tourists had not warmed to the German captain "who had a penchant for punching fielders who dropped catches off his bowling". Smudge didn't bowl himself but our catching (5 in all, with no clear chances missed) was good enough to suggest that if he had there'd have been no need for violence and Tom Jordan kept wicket superbly.

After another fine Arbo spread, most of us were expecting a slow grind as, while the boundaries were shorter than we'd have liked and the pitch barely misbehaved, going had been slow for Carnegie. Tom clearly had other ideas, however, racing to 10 off four balls, including a six. Unfortunately a single of the 5th ball of the innings brought BAF to the crease and in trying to pull a ball into Arboreturm Road he somehow contrived to offer a sharp catch to first slip. This rather set the pattern for the first half of the innings as the score raced on, but the top four all fell to slightly odd, self-induced dismissals, leaving us 38 for 4 after 8 overs.

This, however, merely set the stage for a fine partnership of 57 between Dan (23no) and man-of-the-match Vik (29) which carried us to the verge of a 5 wicket victory in the 24th over. Dan, showing a highly developed sense of where his off and leg stumps were, played and missed a bit, but Vik, curbing his natural attacking instincts until a spinner came on, looked in good form from the start.

A very satisfying win against a team that beat us twice (the second game featuring an extraordinary pitch invasion by Dunfermline youths) and pipped us for second place in Div 5 last year. Thanks to Carnegie for a game played in good spirits and for staying for a couple of pints afterwards, before leaving us to try to assemble the scoring gazebo for the first time ahead of the 1sts' home game on Saturday.

How many Crossers does it take to put up a tent?

Getting there.

* Your reporter has to confess to having been a bit "jaded" on Saturday - it was only when Norrie came on the field and he couldn't work out who'd left that he realised we'd been playing with 10 men for over 10 overs.