Worth Waiting 5 Weeks For?

A panel of independent judges have marked yesterday's HX 1st XI's performance vs Carlton 2's :

Bowling: 5
Batting: 3
Fielding: 1

Well played Carlton but they should have been tested rather more...

Soggy Success

 Pre-season Friendly (at Arboretum Playing Fields)

40 overs per side (later reduced-after rain delay- to 35 overs per side)

Edinburgh CC 173ao (31.4 overs)
Majeed 109
D. Russell 4/ 20, S. McOscar 2/32

Holy Cross 176/ 7 (33.5 overs)
R. Javed 59, E. Smith 31, K. Fraser 22*, O. Mahzer 16.
U. Farooq 2/17, Irshad  2/40

more details to follow...

Weekend Ahead

 
Reminder of this weekend's matches at Arbo:

• Saturday: 1sts vs Edinburgh, 40 overs a side, 1pm start.
• Sunday: 2nds/3rds vs Dunfermline Wanderers, 35 overs a side, 1pm start.

Let us hope it stays dry ...

Final over win for Keith's Codgers

Keith's Codgers
 199/ 3 (35 overs)

O. Mazher 50* (retired)
C. Ellis 52* (retired)
K. Fraser 38*
E. C. Smith 33

Raja: 8/1/33/1
G. Trewartha: 8/0/31/0
D. Russell: 6/0/58/0
J. Bates: 8/1/53/1
N. Webb: 5/0/19/0

Dougie's Dandies
191/ 8 (35 overs)
R. Javed 71
D. Russell 32
G. Trewartha 33

C. McGill 8/1/29/0
C. O. Smith: 8/0/44/2
C. Ellis: 8/0/47/5
E. Smith: 3/0/22/1
S. McCosker 8/0/35/0

Despite a wicket that looked decent but was a bit of a pudding and some
periods of cold weather, we managed a enjoyable inter-club match (I'll leave aside the abject standard of the tea bags bags we had to use: hopefully this will soon be rectified)  .
Everyone (bar Norrie) managed some valuable time in the middle and the bowlers got some overs under their belts. Good testing spells from Raja, GT & Simon, while Smudger and Coco did well to keep things tight against strong batting. Undoubtedly there was some friendly bowling on offer but some of the batting was impressive-Dougie getting some rough treatment from Owais and EC.
Raja got close to achieving the 25 needed of the last over...though cje may come under suspicion for his decision to bowl 'leg spin'.

Moment of the match:
 EC's dismissal of GT with a surprise (genuinely) good ball. No footage exists but EC insists that the dismissal at 3.17 in this video is a virtual replica.

Special mention: 2 stumpings for Smudger! Plus a 40 mins spell on the roller in heavy rain!

Top Runs

In response to public demand, here is a list of top 1st XI run makers (league). Do check for possible errors.

Those wondering about the absence of CA Smith...he's currently 10 short of the 1000 mark! (990 at 17.68) -if only he'd turned some of those 2's into 3's....

Read all about it

Last night I recieved a text from Tillekeratne Dilshan informing me he'd just bumped into a top Scottish Cricketer on Princes St.

"I'd been hanging about all day with my autograph book hoping to meet one of the Holy Cross Cricket team" said Dilshan, "then, just as I was giving up hope of ever seeing one of my heroes, around the corner strolled Ellis Charles".

Ellis was in action on Saturday blazing his way to 222* against Victoria FCC as 'the Cross' reached 47-17 in a league decider somewhere near Glasgow. Fortunately for the Glaswegian villagers the game had to be abandoned before Charles could take 10 wickets probably for no runs.

"I've memorised Charlie's book 'Coco - Chicago's Worst Pitch' ( book link ) and have never given my wicket away since" gushed the Sri lankan captain. "It was much better than that nonsense his captain wrote about what to do when its wet, overcast, the pitch is a bog and your up against the best attack in the league on their own patch ( book link )". Although I thought he did look a bit worse for wear, maybe it was the recent floods in Morningside".

Charlie Ellis invented the "Chuck".

Norrie Tastic & Ziggy Licious were unavailable for comment.

Final ball drama in intra-club game

At Arbo

Coco's XI 106-6 (20 overs)

Vik's XI 110-6 (20 overs)

Shannon hitting the last ball for 4 to secure victory.
more details to follow....

An enjoyable game despite the soggy wicket.
Cheers to Andy G for organising it-and getting 22 players out!!.

Bon-on-Fire

Div 1 (Sunday 12th) at Arboretum

Holy Cross 166-9 (50 overs)
C. A. Smith 40, C, Ellis 23, S. Pickering 21
A. Knapman 3/34, S. Azhar 2/16

Eastern Regional Academy 108ao (30 overs)
G. Buchanan Smith 54.
S. Bonfield 5-20, V. Gaware 2/33, C. Ellis 2/9

full scorecard here

On a pitch that had been waterlogged the night before but was merely soft at 1pm*, Cross took advantage of some slightly wayward Academy bowling to reach a healthy 75/2 off 25-heading for a score of 180-200 ish - above par on a v tricky drying surface.

A sticky middle section followed in which the Academy bowlers bowled tighter and the Cross middle order failed to maintain their momentum saw Cross limp to 139/9 off 45. Only some good biffing from Norrie (17* off 15 balls) and 11* from Milly got us up to 166 - a competitive score on a wicket that was unlikely to suit the Academy batsmen- used to covered wickets.

So it proved, as Shannon and Vik reduced the Academy to 1/2, then 5/3 ...and then 31/7 with Cross taking their chances. The Academy batsmen playing some ambitious shots 'on the up' - given the surface. Vik's 1st wicket (lovely ball that took the top of off) was a highlight but Shannon's spell was sheer class - extracting a great deal of assistance from the surface: the Academy batsmen playing and missing 3/4/5 times an over. Crucially we also took our chances...then we stopped doing so: coupled with Buchanan-Smith's good striking (4 sixes in his innings) and some less than brilliant bowling from the bottom end....and the Academy seemed to have a sniff. This was snuffed out as CA took a good catch at long on to get rid of Buchanan-Smith, before Ziggy took another good one (off CA)-including time for a quick 'tit-rub'.

A nice note from Bill Polson: 'Thanks too to all at Holy Cross for their hospitality but particularly to the lady and gentleman who kept the scorers, coach and administrator supplied with very welcome warming tea'. So cheers to Mandy and Michael, plus Colin McGill for scoring - plus our supporters (S. Robertson, A, Quinn, C. Graham and -most boisterously-R. Worsnop).

*The early stages of the game were momentarily interrupted by a nasty accident on Ferry Road (at the junction with Boswell Drive) in which a car flipped over-Paramedics and the Fire-Brigade were quickly on the scene: one hopes that those involved are ok. This is the third nasty accident I've seen at this spot in the last 5 years or so.

...Breaking News...Scottish Cup match vs Irvine is OFF ......

...... due to waterlogged pitch.

Reserve date: May 29th -at Arbo.

http://www.cricketscotland.com/ScottishCup09

Can Catch, Can't Bat ...

Saturday results digest:

1sts -at Arboretum
Fauldhouse 120ao
Worsnop 4-42

Holy Cross 111ao
Cydzik 39
Sandhu 3-16

We did well to recover from 33-7 but if only we'd made a half decent start...

2nds-Roseburn
lost to Mufs 3rds by 10 wickets

Admin adds - Charlie's too kind - we couldn't bat (unlike last week) or catch (just like last week). A depleted 2nds scored far too few as the recognised batsmen were dismissed cheaply and tamely by a decent, but not terribly threatening, Murrayfield-DAFS attack. Debutant Irfan Butt hit a promising 29 and the lower middle order added some useful runs, most notably with Roshan's huge six, but 120 was unlikely to be enough unless we struck early. For the second week running Roshan and Usama opened the bowling very well but without any luck and as Darren Kidd started to get his eye in the run rate accelerated.

The last 30 or so runs came very quickly as the bowlers struggled to grip a sodden ball, but by then the die was cast as catches dropped while the ball was still dry (sorry, Smudge) had cost us dear. Thanks to MUFS for a game played in the usual good spirits and without any of the "overenthusiastic" appealing which is now so widespread.

3rds-Campbell Pk
beat Largo 4's by 10 wickets

further details to follow....

Nozzer's XI Win Battle of the Cross

EC's XI 145/7
J. Bates 50
O.Mazher 29
Wickets for Dougie, Pat, Calum and Norrie.

Norrie's XI 146/6
D. Russell about 45*
Norrie 40ish
Millington 15* ish
Wickets for Jon, Shannon, Rob

Pitch played ok given that it was the edge strip and that it was April the 16th! (as KF points out-just too early). Certainly Jon, Dougie, Owais and Norrie all played with impressive fluency. Some good bowling and batting performances though the ground fielding was ...ahem a bit rusty. But good to get some time in the middle before the season starts.

Reminder-nets this Wednesday evening at Newfield.

Blurb Review

A New Year and mood of change is clearly with us. After the proposal to replace the club badge, KF now suggests that Mr Admin's 'boringly polite' blurb (see the left hand side of your screen) should be replaced with something more honest. Here is his draft; comments, amendments welcome:

We play on a council owned pitch which, early in the season is pock-marked by rugby studs and have no nets, sightscreens or covers, never mind a youth set-up (all under 18’s are fast tracked into the 1^st XI). We are surrounded on three sides by bigger and more successful clubs with better facilities. The ground is next to a main road which often encourages members of the public to hurl friendly slurs at us from passing cars.

Our spacious (if slightly decrepit) changing rooms with communal showers were boarded up years ago and we are currently waiting for some local youths to finish the job of burning them down. We now change in a poky metal shipping container with a leaky lav. Despite having more than 60 players registered, we often struggle to find 33 fit and available bodies every Saturday where we have teams in Divisions 1, 5 and 8 of the East League. We also participate in the first round of Sunday cup tournaments and regularly allow teams from lower divisions to thrash us in midweek 20/20 competitions. Promotion for our 1^st XI would be a disaster for the club.

There is a strict policy of only beating the best team in the league whilst surrendering meekly to the basement boys. In recent seasons our 2^nd & 3^rd XI’s have taken this policy a little further by successfully being relegated. Futile attempts have been made to improve all of the above, but we’ve been beaten down by circumstance and reality at every turn. We now accept our status and frown on any attempts to better the meagre resources we already have.

Whether you are resident in Edinburgh or just passing through, if you’d like to play competitive cricket (ability, or lack of, absolutely not an issue), with an eclectic bunch of so called cricketers we would be delighted to hear from you. We do hire (if not always use) nets just around the corner every week throughout the season and also run ‘winter’ nets during the close season. You can contact us via the website.

A Miracle?

Much concern was expressed about the condition of the Arbo square after being played on when very wet in a midweek friendly : that the strip would take decades to recover.

O ye of little faith. In fact after just 4 weeks the pitch is well on the way to a full recovery. Divine intervention??



Mind you it was then churned up a bit again by Smudger's nasty machine....


The square is now scarified. Top dressing/ overseeding will hopefully take place next Saturday -volunteers required.

Cross lose in Midweek Mudbath Madness

According to Bimbo a reliable source, the insane Midweekers' match against Tranent went ahead this evening, despite the torrential rain...

HX making 93 in their 16 overs (runs for Vikram I believe) and Tranent passing that total with 1 over to spare (34* for returning ex-Crosser Judas Suli Malik).

1st and 2nds Rained off.

Lacking the moral fibre/ idiocy of the 3rd XI, the 1st XI match (Home to Glenrothes) and 2nd XI match (away to Leith FAB) were cancelled without a ball being bowled.

3rds Lose Opening League Match. 1sts Lose Friendly.

The 3rds narrowly failed to defend 137 at Inverleith Park against DT 2nds (Norrie make 49 on debut and also - I hear - being the pick of the bowlers - and fielders!). 65 odd from one of the DT batsman made the difference. No doubt Coastal will fill in the details. Report by DT here; in which the Thirds are described as having several 'tedious slow bowlers'-is this a description of their bowling or their personalities.

At Arbo, the 1sts played out an enjoyable friendly vs Marchmont, Cross making 151 on their 40 overs, with Shannon making a good 50. Batting was difficult early on against some fine bowling from Marchmont's openers but there was some fairly fluent batting in the middle overs before a late collapse. Not a bad score given the soft wicket (it was an end strip) and the long grass in the outfield.

Despite generally tight bowling, a few expensive overs got Marchmont back into it and a flurry of boundaries helped them pass the total with a couple of overs to spare. Marchmont's Kiwi Matt Loeffen impressed with bat and ball (including a hatrick).

Holy Cross: 151 for 8 (40 overs) - S. Bonfield 62, D. Russell 35, C. Ellis 20, K. Fraser 14;
M Loeffen 4-9 (incl. Hattrick)
Marchmont: 152 for 7 (38 overs) - M Loeffen 52, N Chetty 34, N Ghandi 31*
S Bonfield 7-2-14-1
A Graham 4-0-14-0
P Kumar 8-3-19-2
C Ellis 8-2-20-1
A Millington 3-0-21-0
Co Smith 4-0-32-0
D Russell 4-0-26-2
Most importantly, after last week's wash-out, several 1st teamers had some 'middle time' and got through some overs. As could be expected, fielding was rusty....... The 1st XI will hopefully be up to full strength next Saturday when they take on Watsonians 2, at Arbo.Good luck to Marchmont for their 2010 season.

Aussies point the finger

Amid accusations that the pitch at the Oval has been doctored,
Australian journalists and conspiracy theorists have pointed the finger at the man pictured left.

He was apparently seen at the Oval earlier this week-having (it is alleged) been asked by the ECB to employ his infamous 'remove all the grass' method of pitch preparation (last used in preparing the notorious 'black pitch' for the 2nds match vs EU Staff in August 2008).



Update....
It is now suggested that the man accused
lacked the technical knowledge to doctor the pitch alone. Hence suspicion has now shifted to
the bearded trainee Horticulturalist pictured here. Intriguingly, the man he's pictured with has recently served on the Lords groundstaff. The plot thickens.