Sunday Match OFF-

Today's track. @HXCricket pic.twitter.com/Q4EaJ03WeP
— Brian Adam Fraser (@beefrazor) August 10, 2014

Some might say...a shame the rain didn't arrive 24 hrs earlier

Cross Comedy Combos

As the boundary golfers started to get lost in the haar on Saturday evening, it was noted that their party contained a comedy duo Vikram & Rob: Vik & Bob..

Which other comedy duos does the club contain...


TJ & Gerry: Tom & Gerry

John Bacon & Jon Bates: The Two Jonnies

GT & Nozzer: Michele & Webb

Spickers & Coastal Ken: Si & Lawrie

Shifty & David Craig: Mark and Lard

Willie Lytle & David Craig: 
-->Lytle  & Large. 
surely there are many more....

Smudger contributes to CS Blog

http://www.cricketscotland.com/cricket-scotland-bloggers-page/groundsman-blog/

Pres leads the way as thirds lift gloom

Saturday scores digest:

1sts (at Fettes College):

Holy Cross 204 for 7 in 50 overs.
(S McOscar 54, D. Russell 45*, K. Fraser 39)
Grange 2 0 for 0 in 0 overs.
No result - Abandoned due to heavy rain shower.

scorecard here

2nds (at Arbo)

Watsonians 172.
Holy Cross 33 for 1 off 10.
No result -  Abandoned due to (the same) heavy rain shower.

3rds (at St Andrews)

WON!!!
Full details to follow on this very unlikely event.
MOM performance from the Pres...

Cross make Semi at Soggy Arbo.

HX made it through to the semi finals of the CS Challenge Cup with a win over Marchmont. As usual, Arbo had drained well and was playable after the deluge on Friday which had caused a mini-lake to form in the Ferry Road/ Arboretum Road corner. As could be expected the wicket was very soft - especially after a sharp shower that halted the match after just 4 balls.

A slight breakdown in communications/some people refusing to confirm till the last moment meant that an unprecedented 15 Crossers turned up. The 11 that were finally entered on the team sheet were the usual 'Sunday mix' of 1sts, 2nd and 3rd XI players.

Dougie was in a no-nonsense mood: Irfan & Abdul were dropped for turning up late... Then Sandy failed to impress with his fielding in the first 4 balls and was axed during the rain delay.

With most of the 'proper' 1st XI bowlers absent, HX's back-up bowlers did a decent job of keeping the ball in the right areas, aware that the soft pitch would make batting very tricky. Andy K taking a wicket with the 1st ball after the resumption - Si casually pouching the slip catch. Decent spells from the returning Andy K, Simon and cje helped keep the run-rate low before some slightly looser bowling/fielding and more enterprising batting from Gandhi and Chetty gave the Marchmont
innings some momentum and some power hitting from Van Jaarsveld (till well held by Ziggy in the deep) helped the visitors to a defendable 136.

New boy Fin opened with KF and they started solidly as Marchmont opened up with their slower bowlers. Fin got a good one from Collier and cje and KF put on a steady partnership before cje picked out the only man in the deep from a full-bunger. Simon continued his fine season with another display of fluent batting and took control of the game. He was well supported by KF and Dougie (hitting nicely over the top).

Though KF, Jon and Dougie also fell, HX completed a fairly comfortable victory.

p.s. a pair of Hunts 'Clipper' batting gloves were left in the HX changing room -they are now in the Green Room.

ALL Saturday cricket off

1st, 2nd and 3rd XI matches all off.

Sunday:
Confirmation that HX vs @marchmontcc in the CS Challenge Cup is OFF. Apparently there is a small lake in the corner of Arbo.

Remember that HX are due to play Watsonians at Myreside on Monday evening. Weather is improving so hope remains.. 


Breaking..> message from Watsonians: I understand that there is no chance of play at Myreside tonight despite the sunshine but we will hopefully be able to get the game played tomorrow night.

Campbell Park on Saturday morning

Handbags and Beer Rags

[Andy G reports on some 20 over midweek madness- annotations from cje]

Coco's select XI welcomed Maccabi for the first midweek friendly of the season. I'm not going to remember all the details just a brief summary [really?] to keep the fans entertained. Coco - with 12 players - won the toss we batted first. Sandy was forced kindly went to play for Maccabi as they were short.

Mike Nevin and Vikram Gaware opened with the tactic of all out attack! We screamed [?] to 16 off 2 when Vikram fell to the dazzling [? it was raining] spin of Adeel (from Murrayfield - Dafs) out came Andy Graham and blocked the last ball of the over.

Gus McLean was bowling from the other end and Coco was umpiring. Let the jousting begin...

Gus bowled a quicker delivery and it bounced high off  a stone the pitch possibly hitting Mike Nevin's bat and beating the  bemused wicketkeeper. We ran a run/bye and Coco didn't flinch. Uproar from Gus!! He wanted the bye - these friendlies count to official ICC Scottish cricket bowling averages you know! The handbags were out ... Coco with a 1980's pink number with metal studs and Gus with a blue leather clutch bag. Coco referred to a wide that Gus had given previously (probably in 1978 [actually June 4th 2007]) where the batsman nicked the ball to second slip! The next ball was bowled and the over was over, and the handbags were tucked away ready for round 2.

Back to the cricket - Mike and Andy put on a good few runs until Mike was bowled by a good delivery by Mr Malik (Suli was back at Arbo!)
No 4 was Brian Fraser he came in, sliced spanked Suli for a four ... I think ... but then tried to play across the line and was given out LBW by Coco - a ludicrous decision   fair I think ... No 5 [no 5-was KF doing the batting order....grrr] Smudger comes trotting in he smashed Suli for another 4 - conceding circa 10 runs from his last over - was quite good fun and but beware this over just made him [who-Suli or Smudger?] angry!

Alex looked good for the few balls that he faced, hitting some sweet shots but finding the fielders,  he was bowled playing down the wrong line by a good ball that cut in off the sodden skiddy pitch.

Ross Parker stepped in around the 16 over mark and partnered Andy to his 50 - he was on 40 when Smudger was out - AG batted a lot more conservatively for his final 10-and all those present some observers questioned his ambition to go for another 50 #tightfisted !

Jug No.1 done

Andy retired and debutant Kevin Marsh came in, he smashed a couple of runs and with the final ball of the innings hit a 6 six towards the rugby posts...

A 6 on debut - Jug No.2 ??

Ross and Kevin saw us through to the 20 overs and we ended on 125 for 4. So we went out with a ok strong total and a bowling line up to die for [??].

Opening with debutant Kevin and the veteran Smudger we had change bowlers of Coco and Ross Parker and couple of surprises... Kevin and Smudger got off to a good start with some excellent bowling ... Unfortunately the batting was strong.

Adeel's dad smashed balls through point, cow corner, square leg and the covers and his partner ... Well he wasn't bad either...it was Mr Suliman Malik ... Back to thrash those who taught him the game. The majority of his shots in true Suli fashion were straight of the bowler's head and quite a few shots to cow [some things don't change].

Great innings from the elder brother - and he gloated about finishing on 52 - 2 runs more than me!

After 10 overs Maccabi had 80 runs - they were doing well so Adeel's dad stupidly sportingly tried to reverse sweep Coco off middle stump - the first of his 3 wicket haul!

No3. Another crosser??? Michael Baker [aka MFTRC] steps in - after being padded up for the last 20 overs he took an age to readjust his helmet and gloves! He felt hard done by about not getting a bat so he deffered to the opposition at halftime and convinced them to put him in at 3... This is why they were hitting all of those runs, we only had 10 in the field!

He faced the pace and Coco got him on the fourth attempt - after Vikram dropped him at slip!

Wait! was this an HX intra-club friendly ... Sandy Robertson came in to bat and quickly sighed as he saw coco had an over left - he lasted a few balls and hit a couple of runs but then fell to Coco's pace. With 3 wickets coco was a bit happier ... But ding ding the bell went round 2..

Coco had a tidy over going for about 3 or 4 and he had bowled 6 balls so the square leg umpire started to approach, the batsman plodded around the wicket and I started having a between over chat with the batsman.

But no there was a mystery wide and and Gus wanted another ball - and the handbags were out again.

There were flashes of pink and blue as the two old timers pinged stories of dubious wides and no balls from the 70s and 80s I didn't catch any specific examples but I'm sure there was some chat of Portobello Baths!

Now they only had about 15-20 over the final 5 or so overs. Unfortunately Vikram 'old man' Gaware is injured and wanted to save himself for Saturday [what for-cricket?? or hauling white goods from John Lewis] so we had a trio of exciting, flighty [?] and and at some points [?] the best balls of the game!

BAF was the first to turn his arm over and his first ball was awesome!
He tossed it so high that when it returned to the [Earth's] surface it had snow on it, it turned and rolled under beat the bat. Just fantastic, it was just a shame he was only able to replicate it once more in his over;  when he got Adeel out -caught and bowled.

Next up: Alex Candilish his first 2 balls were wides but then he found his rhythm ... Just excellent, going both ways off the pitch [the same delivery] and he put it just in the right spot for the batsman to put it straight in front of Smudger and he fell jumped forward to catch it for Alex's first wicket (EVER!- not just for the Cross) .

Jug No. 3 and possibly 4 - first wicket for the Cross and first wicket ever.

2 balls later he put another in the same spot but this time the ball was hit sweeter and unfortunately Smudger at short extra cover  did an EC   wasn't able to hold it.

The last over went to [Sunday's hero] Ted:  he bowled two yards outside off, toying with the batsman to hit the final runs, after missing two the batsman finally caught one  [howzat!?] and the game was over.

126-5.. we were beaten by a good batting side.

Match Preview Appears in The Times..??

It appears to be a business opinion piece...but the headline 'Lynch’s exit offers hope for next generation' suggests that it could equally be a preview of Sunday's match between HX 1st XI and the East Regional Academy...

wait...is the story at the foot of the page about Mr Biswas..?

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...

Inverleith RFC - Race Night

 

Crossers are invited to a Race Night at Arbo next Saturday 26th.

Starts at 7:30pm, hosted by Inverleith Rugby Football Club.

It's in aid of Mike Gordon's daughter's charity.

Entry £5.

Post-season maintenance

[The Grounds Commissar writes]

It's that time of year where we need to do some post-season maintenance on the Arbo square. This involves spreading 80 x 20 kg bags of loam over the square. This year, there is an added complication, because the loam has been delivered to Peffermill and not Arbo. Therefore we need:

1) People with cars (and even better, trailers) to transport the bags up to Arbo.
2) Volunteers to carry the loam to the Arbo square and spread it.

Weather permitting, we're want to do this on Saturday afternoon, with the bags of loam being picked at Peffermill from 12.00 onwards. Depending on reasonable numbers, we should be able to transport the material up to Arbo by 1.00, with the loam spreading finished about 4.00.

This is an important job. The Arbo square has improved greatly in recent years and we want to carry on that improvement. So, if you can spare an hour or two on Saturday, please do this important thing for the club. If, due to bad weather, the operation is cancelled, an all points e mail will be sent out.

Don't leave it to others, get stuck in.
Looking forward to seeing many of you on Saturday,

Smudger
Grounds Commissar.

Another Final...

President's Trophy Semi-Final-at Arboretum

Leith FAB 42ao
I Davies 19*
S. Bonfield 5-18, P. Lynch 4-12

Holy Cross 44-2
G. Trewartha 22*
O. Mazher 14*

HX will play Fauldhouse in the final. Date/ venue tbc but NOT Sunday 21st

1st XI match OFF

The match vs Glenrothes is off. In fact the square is merely soft but about 60 % of the outfield is waterlogged-with two small ponds at the Ferry road end (within the boundary): some ducks were swimming in it yesterday evening. An inspection will be made later today (Saturday) regarding the possibility of play on Sunday.

McGill's youthful Midweekers Master Mud

As ever we had a close an enjoyable game vs C & B - despite the wet pitch and the gloomy evening
(not helped by some classic HX tardiness which delayed the start of the game unnecessarily by 15 minutes.......yes guys, you are free to put out flags, tables etc...). The HX XI featuring 5 players under the age of 25....though two of these were Corstorphine CC players.

Some solid batting - with some good boundaries also struck. Followed up by some good bowling (Osama and Suli the pick) and some lively fielding: Ossie, Osama and Nawaz constituting a rather more athletic cover field that usually seen at Arbo.. two good run outs resulting.

Good knocks from Halcrow and Anwar in the gloom (plus Michael's traditional 1 over spell) set up a tight finish-C & B needing 4 off the last ball to tie-was well struck by Daniel but straight at the fielder.

Holy Cross 126/6 (20 overs)
C. Ellis 45 (27), S. Malik 20 (22), V. Gaware 15 (12)
K. Crichton 2/26, Kaeside 2/30

Currie and Balerno 121/5 (20 overs)
G. Halcrow 50*, F. Anwar 30. Kirk Crichton...2nd ball duck..

President's Trophy match off

Arbo square waterlogged.

no news yet re 3rds at Dunfermline

Bates and Zig propel 2nds.

Ists.
Div 1 (Arboretum)

Boroughmuir 8-0 (1.4 overs) vs Holy Cross.

match abandoned-pitch deemed to be too wet to continue.

2nds
Div 5 (Inverleith Park-Artificial)
[delayed start-match reduced to 40 overs per side]

Holy Cross 2nds 251/3 (40 overs)
J. Bates 103, A. Cydzik 64*, N. Webb 37.

OC's 169/7 (40 overs).
V. Mohanan 38, K. Thompson 34, A. Tocher 31

Hacking Inquiry Latest

Alleged hacking

Polis are to investigate hacking allegations made against an unnamed Holy Cross wicketkeeper this website understands. Although rumours of his hacking have circulated in the East League for many years, damning new evidence emerged late on Monday evening.

Followers of a tory leadership hopeful’s Facebook page were shocked when photos of the hacking actually taking place were posted.

Far from distancing themselves from the hacker, it seems that hacking has been prevalent throughout Holy Cross CC for a number of years. An unnamed player said “yeah, we hack all the time, usually we don’t even realise we’re doing it”.

The Polis released a statement on Tuesday morning saying “We can assure members of the public that we have investigated this matter thoroughly. A fully resourced team of senior detectives scrutinised the photo’s with help from experts from the FBI. We can categorically state that this photo shows a text book cover drive and there is nothing more to see here, move along or I’ll taser you, swab your DNA and sell your details to the press.”

The Club President was unavailable for comment having recently suffered a minor automobile accident in Buenos Aires here.

Trewartha Triggers Trophy Triumph

Scottish Widows 71a0 (15.5 overs)

K. Ramischand 25, E. Pickmere 17*
S. Bonfield 3/012/0
R. Bainbridge 2/1/9/2
C. Ellis 1/0/10/0
P. Lynch 4/0/16/2
G. Trewartha 3.5/0/6/5
V. Gaware 1/0/9/o
C. A. Smith 1/0/8/1

Holy Cross 72-4 (17.3 overs)

C. A. Smith 25, C. Ellis 25*
E. Pickmere 2/6

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!!.

Vik's best ever not enough..

midweek friendly (at Arbo-7th June)

Holy Cross 142-6 (18 overs)
V. Gaware 75*

Macabi 143-4 (18 overs)
R. Javed 82

Despite the Thunderstorm 2 hours beforehand, we were able to play an enjoyable match versus Macabi-indeed the final overs were played in pleasant sunshine. Cross started strongly despite CA and cje getting run out (but note, no Matt Prior style tantrum) but it was Vik who dominated the innings with 75-his 2nd midweek 50 of the season-and his BEST EVER score!!. Our bowling was mixed though Dave Sharpe bowled a good opening spell and Matt C bowled some good deliveries. The others tended to find Raja's hitting zones too often and their deliveries threatened only those in the upper deck of the 27 buses! A few missed chances (Johnny almost getting Raja) but Johnny took a nice catch at mid on (but was the dive strictly necessary?).