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...?

Tranent Trounce Thirds

[pvb reports on the 3rds]

HX 3rds v Tranent

Tranent’s talented side deservedly trounced Holy Cross at Campbell Park, but one has to say that it was not a great contest.  Mark Anderson’s wonderful display of hitting gave HX too big a target (265); but it wasn’t just him – Aiden’s powerful strokes over extra cover and Adnan’s lofted drives gave Tranent a fine start. Keith bowled splendidly and took 2-24.

I noticed a tweet which mentioned that Mike dropped Mark on nought – a tad harsh I think since half our side would not even have managed to run the 20 metres to get their hands to it – it was a splendid effort. So was Ted’s brilliant slip catch – Ian Bell should be taking lessons from him. Dave Sharpe’s absence meant that we used 9 bowlers and a first wkt ever for Ted, a first wkt in 10 years for Paul, and a first wkt off a double bouncer for Craig. There was serious danger of the game being abandoned as ball after ball vanished over the hedge, and pvb was pondering what happened if neither side had a ball to play with – match abandoned I guess.

After last week when the team went form 22-0 to 45 all out in 12 overs, some caution was needed, so Paul tried to bore Tranent to death. Mind you it is not simple scoring off Adnan who bowls the majority of his inswinging balls on a good length on leg stick and then swinging down leg, and Mark as we know would test Div 1 batsmen. Our own Mark C woke everyone up when he came in with his extravagant shots and topscored with 31; we were aiming to get 150 which would have been maximum losing points. As with Hawick Tranent has no weak bowlers, and reaching the 150 target looked a pipe dream till Mark called Paul for a quick single to gully – it was a masterstroke and brought  other freeflowing batsmen to the crease. After a short downpour Richard hit a wonderful 6 over long on and 18 quick runs, Keith followed suit with a lofted four off Mark’s ninth over ( yes ninth – but a diplomatic solution was amicably reached), and we scored 135 – 9 bonus points in all, perhaps a little generous for such a thumping .

Thanks to Tranent & Scott for excellent hospitality at Campbell Park; theAsian lads have transformed  the team and they would compete well in Div 3 / 4, and we wish them well.

Russell Regime Diktat #0002

JC, he say OMG

The Holy Democratic Committee of the New Way for the Cricketing Crossers would like to thank all of the Great & Fit Men who attended Winter Nets on Saturday. Our newly installed covert iris recognition system calculated 24 (twenty four) able men in attendance. This required the complete facilitation of the facilities, or in other words, the use of all 4 (four) available nets.

This remarkable achievement is believed to be the first time that the use of 2 (two) nets has ever been exceeded by our venerable institution. The astonishing show of club unity is also a powerful vindication of the demanding new standards of Captain Russell.

Four Lanes

Let us pray that it is not an early pinnacle of His second coming!!!

At one point Lord Admin was overheard to mutter that there were "too many people here", but his office have since retracted this as "mis-speak" after a subsequent update of the weekly accounts showed a marked increase in revenue.

Legends in attendance at Le Galleon included the very dishonourable Coco McGogo, Jerry 'Lohan' Garcia & both Sir Shanton John AND his new bride Dame Bimbo Furnish.

There are now only 2 (two) nets remaining this pre-season on the next two Saturday's, 17th & 24th March.

The Russell Regime hereby urges a note of caution. We cannot get carried away with this amazingness and must ensure that a high attendance is maintained. See you next Saturday, normal rules apply.

Rumours Confirmed as Historic Document Discovered

For many years, Coastal's claim that the club once had a 4th XI - that played their home fixures at Jock's Lodge - has been met with much scepticism. Now the club's historians have unearthed a document (fixture booklet for 1987) which seems to support this notion.

An eminent historian has verified the booklet and stated: 'I am now satisfied that the document is authentic; that the history of their wanderings since 1950 is true; and that the standard accounts of Holy Cross' habits, of their personality and, even, perhaps, of some public events, may in consequence have to be revised'.

It will also be noted that the club had a junior side in 1987 (it also seems to suggest that cje's first appearance for the Cross was as a nine year old..) as well as a full set of Sunday fixtures.

Looking on the positive, now that we only field three league sides we could only suffer three thrashings on Saturday...