Last ball win for Cross in Masterton.

MDafs 124/8, 20 overs
L. Hayes 26, S. Rangaswamy 21*
S. Bonfield 4 overs 3/20
V. Gaware 4 overs /18
A. Killey 4 overs 1/33
C. Ellis 4 overs 2/20
A. Millington 4 overs 0/30

Holy Cross 125/2, 20 overs
S. Pickering 48, S. Bonfield 37*

A good solid bowling and fielding performance led with tight opening spells by Shannon and Vikram. Good to see Andy Killey back and bowling well - he was unlucky that several of his best balls went for edged boundaries. We took most of the chances and never let the MDafs batmen get into striking rhythm ('only' 11 boundaries conceded), though there were a few too many wides. Andy G's bloodied knee illustrating the efforts made in the field. Their 124 was a little under-par given a decent firm deck (though the outfield was a little thick).

Spickers got the reply off to a positive start, smacking his first ball for 4 and scoring a fine 48 off 39 balls. Shannon continued his good recent form, playing the anchor role. The Cross seemed to have a easy task when needing 3 to tie (which would have been enough - us having lost fewer wickets) or 4 to win from the last over. A series of dot balls caused some tension amongst the watching Crossers (especially the next batsman) before a wide and then a scrambled leg bye secured the tightest of victories.

We will play Stenhousemuir or Marchmont (away) in the next round. Revised draw here

A very pleasant evening's cricket and as always against the Muffers a good-natured game. Their VC's view of events here.

2nd warm-up win for 1sts

At Bailliefields, Westquarter (25th, April).

Holy Cross 180/6 off 40 overs.

C. Ellis 93*, E. C. Smith 22, K. Fraser 20, D. Russell 14.

Westquarter 54ao off 22.5 overs.

S Farooqi 16,
S. Bonfield, 6 overs, 1-13
R. Bainbridge, 5 overs, 1-10
I. Astley, 3 overs, 3-6
N. Amjid, 4 overs, 3-6
A. Millington, 3 overs, 2-14

full scorecard here:

http://tinyurl.com/r4emub

The 1st XI followed their workmanlike victory against Edinburgh University with a more convincing display against Div 2 side Westquarter; against whom we’d rather underperformed in previous contests. In contrast to most pre-season matches, the sun shone and we fielded a near first-choice XI. Dougie Russell, looking fit, made his comeback and was soon striking his trademark straight drives.

The pitch was an interesting prospect: firm but rather pitted: resulting in ankle high and head high balls from deliveries pitched in the same ‘areas’. Fortunately, the Westquarter bowlers failed to keep a consistent line and gave us plenty scoring opportunities-even if the rather thick outfield slowed the scoring rate. We made an over-par 180-6 with Ellis, employing -as encouraged by the club President - some agricultural [or should that be horticultural?] strokes, making 93*. With Fraser, E.C. Smith and Dougie making useful runs, all of the top 7 have had some ‘middle time’ over the two pre-season games; apart from C. A. Smith, run out by Ellis.

Shannon’s opening spell rather put the wind up the opposition; getting their leading bat (Mumtaz) 2nd ball -via a sharp slip catch by Fraser - certainly made the task easier. The other bowlers backed-up Shannon’s effort well: Nadeem taking his first wickets for the Cross, Astley causing problems with virtually every ball. Millington (in his first game for a while) and Bainbridge also bowled solid spells. Some good catching by Fraser, Bonfield, E. C (with an edge between keeper and 1st slip the only major blemish) and some over-ambitious shots helped us knock Westquarter over for 50.

Thanks to WRCC for hosting the match and the excellent tea.

An encouraging start but things will be far more testing next weekend when the 1st XI face Murrayfield-Dafs on Saturday (Roseburn) and, in the Presidents Trophy Final on Sunday , Watsonians (at Kirkhill, Penicuik).