Ists Overcome Availability Crisis

For the first time in long while, HX failed to get 3 Saturday teams out, and we also had to concede today's Presidents' Trophy match vs Westquarter.

An availability crisis of monumental proportions led to the core of the 2nd team moving up to the 1sts, leaving the 2nds with effectively the 3rds. Unsurprisingly they lost heavily to Grange 3rds after being bowled out for just 46 [not sure what Lord Admin will make of that].

At Kirkhill, the 1sts scrambled a win, making heavy weather of chasing 100, albeit in tricky batting conditions.

An odd game of cricket began with an unfamiliar '1st XI' taking the field -several players making their 1st or 2nd ever 1st team appearance.

The wicket was reasonable given that it was under covers for 2 days but  gave assistance to the bowlers. The humid conditions certainly helped the ball swing.

After a slightly loose start, Jules & Shannon got their act together. Assisted by some ambitious drives from the Penicuik, and some unexpectedly sharp slip catching, wickets fell at a steady rate.
Ross (2/29), in his first 1st XI bowling spell for the 1sts, bowled a dolly mixture of a spell, including some wild ones but also several jaffas, including a cracker to dismiss their well-set opener, Steel. Meanwhile CJE was boring the batsmen to death before Shannon returned to complete a fine five-for (10-3-13-5).
A 26 run 10th wicket partnership was a bit disappointing, though it allowed Dan to take his first Ist XI wicket.

A vibrant start led by Spickers was halted by a flurry of disappointing shots, leaving us 33-3 and the game in the balance.
Ross kept things with a very handy 25 and a typically positive Julius (18) spanked a massive six before holing out. When Dom was bowled we were 85-7 and teetering.

With the prospect of stand in skipper Dougie being forced to bat with a painful hand injury, Shannon and BAF helped us get  over the line. Hardly an ideal batting effort but -given the poor availability-any type of win can be celebrated.

Reminder from Bimbo

 

Brother Crossers!

A gentle reminder that tonight (Friday 9th) is Quiz Night/Festive celebrations at Arbo.

Gates open at 6.30 for a 7pm start, looking forward to seeing you all there!

Hello, this is your President calling...

Greetings, citizens. At this time of year we like to have a little get-together called the AGM. This is the annual opportunity for the plebs (that's you) to vote to have our more pathetic generals hurled from the Tarpeian Rock, and to elect their glorious successors to carry the standard into victorious battle. You will also have the opportunity to elect sundry eunuchs and scribes to positions of bureaucratic influence within the court, err, club.

Needless to say some of the more senior elections will be, how should I put it, "technical" procedures (and given the quality of the candidates I'm seriously considering appointing my horse as Club Captain), but you should still take advantage of the chance to have more mortal underlings thrown to the lions - it's such fun.

In the spirit of Bread and Circuses I have decreed that this year's event should start later than usual, at the fifth hour of the afternoon, so that we can all make a dash for the nearest taverna - to celebrate the deposal of the old captains and mourn the appointment of the new ones. We may even sample some exotic cuisine from the valley of the Indus. I hope this festive opportunity will result both in a very high turnout and in unusually rapid progress through the agenda.

As primus inter pares I am looking forward to giving every one of you the chance to buy me a drink. Now bring on the sword-swallowing midgets, before I simply die of boredom...

Club Dinner - Get Your Tickets NOW!!!

There is still time to buy your tickets for the Club's 60th Anniversary Dinner. Tickets are as hard to come by as 1st XI runs at the moment so buy yours NOW to avoid disappointment.

Only £25 for a 3 course feast and top quality speakers - it's promising to be a night to remember.

There are two weeks of the season left - please bring your cash to Arbo next Saturday and I will pick it up.

Remember - It's Friday September 3rd, Craigmillar Park Golf Club, 7 for 7.30pm. We need a good 40 or 50 to make a good night a great night!!

So get negotiating with 'er indoors (or better still, bring her along!), book the babysitter, get a dog walker - whatever it takes.

Any questions, please give me a shout.

Cross Fisted by Arrows

The 1st XI turned up at Grange Loan unsure whether the weather would allow any cricket to be played, as it turns out the rain only rained on the Cross parade as Carlton ran out comfortable winners.

After a brief rain delay Carlton batted first and wickets proved hard to come by for the Cross bowlers with the Morningside men getting of to a steady start. Things might (might) have been different if a couple of very difficult chances off the opener Lockie (to be fair Spickers did well to get a glove to one chance and the other was a cover drive crashed at KF at sillyish mid, who did well not get injured) had stuck. They didn't however and Lockie proved the anchor of the innings putting together a creditable and composed 106.

Things never got out of hand though with some tight bowling from Andy K, Vikram, Charlie, yours truly and Praveen who narrowly missed out on a hat trick. At about 45 overs HX were looking at chasing a total of circa 225/230 which would have been acceptable, however some serious tap from the remaining Carlton batsmen, (Bhopal in particular putting the ball out of the ground on several occasions) meant they finished with a total of 255.

With our batting looking slightly weak this was always going to be a bit of an ask however when Habib who produced an excellent, pacey 10 over spell, ripped through our top 5 for very few on the board we were done for. Some resistance was offered by captain Pickering and a good knock from Praveen both scoring 27, however Habib was backed up well by the other Carlton bowlers especially Walker and we were scuttled for a disappointing 87.

Despite a poor week for availability no excuses should be offered, in truth Lockie's knock and the best spell of bowling I've seen in a good while from Habib won the game for Carlton. On this performance one wonders how Carlton aren't higher up the league and I look forward to seeing us demonstrate bouncebackability away to Grange next Saturday.

More McGill Midweek Misery...

The Midweek Crossers took on Bellevue Chapel at the Field of Dreams on another fine Scottish summer's evening.

The visitors featured the well kent (or skelpt!) faces of Andy 'The Mighty' Quinn and Norrie Webb in a side which put the Crossers to shame by not only turning up with a full compliment, but showing what T20 Friendly Cricket is all about by offering fielders as the Chapel chased a Cross total of 125. The Smith double act putting on almost half of the total.

At the interval, the kind Ladies of Bellevue offered the sides a selection of home made brownies and a box of biscuits, with cries of 'Can we play you every week' coming out of the home portacabin!

In reply, Quinn and Webb secured their places for the weekend by giving their wickets cheaply (Webb out for a duck) however some slack fielding and sympathetic bowling saw the Chapel secure a win with a boundary from the penultimate delivery.

More midweek madness next week with a friendly against Maccabi at Arbo on Thursday night - if you'd like to play please add a comment here, contact Captain McGill if you can (we understand his phone's on the blink at the moment) or e-mail secretary@holycrosscricket.co.uk