Cross Cruise to Victory

ESCA Div 1-at Roseburn.

Holy Cross 1st XI 186-7 (McOscar 65, Fraser 38, Smith 37) J. Zarkoob 3-33

MDafs 1st XI 98ao (Akerkar 35) Bonfield 4-13, Russell 3-28.

full scorecard here

Dougie's rotation policy meant that Owais and GT were rested: Bimbo and Quinn coming in.
Thursday and Friday's rain left a soft Roseburn pitch but the weather was generally fine on the day-though few showers dampened things.

 HX's 186-7 was built upon a very solid platform: a patient 38 from KF and another classy, high tempo knock from Simon (65 off 73). 186 was a very good score given the slow pitch and outfield and the lengthy boundaries (no sixes and only 7 fours in the match despite some good hitting).

MDafs made it easy for Simon by bowling to him on a a different-far better pitch- than the others had to bat on... We reached a very healthy 100-1 at drinks but a good spell from Akerkar (conceding 7 from his 1st 8 overs) and McOscar's slightly tame dismissal (stumped off wheeler) slowed things down.
EC (37 off 40) -in his final innings before leaving for Manchester- added impetus to the innings and though we lost a few cheap wickets (hard luck Beezer! Hope the jet lag has worn off Andy!), he, Shannon (11*) and Bimbo (4* off 2 balls) [I better mention his contribution as he'll only complain..].

Parsimonious spells from Raja and Bimbo  (both 1-5 off 5) kept the MDafs top order under constant pressure as they limped to 24-3 off 16 overs.
Some positive batting from Jaffery and Sorrell gave the innings some momentum before the Akerkar (assisted by cje's long-hops) threatened to get MDafs into the game (72-4 off 29). Shannon dismissed Sorrell with a lovely slower ball before he got Akerkar for a classy 35 (nicely snaffled by KF)  before Dougie took 3 wickets (Simon taking a nice catch at Long on and Shannon one at slip-via KF's gloves..) to bring the contest to a conclusion. Shannon took the final wicket to finish with 4-13.
New boy Jack Beesley impressed with his superb fielding...if only we had 11 fielders like him and Tom... Cheers too to Sandy for stepping in at the last moment, scoring etc.

Another solid performance with bat and ball from HX Ists.

Last Trophy of 2011: First of 2012..

Presidents Trophy Final Replay -29/4/12
At Grange Loan.

Fauldhouse 103ao (33.5 overs)
D. Mulligan 51
S. Bonfield 6-11

Holy Cross 104/4 (29 overs)
D. Russell 40
D. Law 2-28

Possibly too cold for cricket..

Cheers to:
Carlton CC for hosting and preparing a good strip.
The umpires (Bruce Dixon and Jim Brims) for sticking it out in such dire weather.
Popey for travelling up and stepping in as sub keeper.
Roshan for turning out and putting in a good shift in the field.
Coco and Jon for scoring.

Good catches to dismiss Zahid (EC) and Derek (Andy Q) were crucial to keeping the Fauldhouse score low. Shannon in fine form - off stump taking a bit of a beating.

...breaking news...
more good news.. Nozzer makes the semi-final of his Pool tournament...

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.

Clash of the Titans

Lets hope the weather holds this weekend so Arbo doesn't witness another scene such as this where a fragile old man was forced to arm wrestle a far stronger virile opponent for the amusement of a braying crowd. Disgraceful.

Quote of the Day

Even CJE (whose batting style-and liking for uncovered wickets- has been likened to the great man on a few occasions and who keeps a battered copy of Boycott on Batting in his kit bag) was somewhat taken aback by his comments in today's Daily Telegraph:

'We need to guard against negative thoughts because if you get into a defensive frame of mind it stunts your shot-playing ability, you become cautious and it inhibits clear thinking. You get too tense, it dulls the mind and you make poor decisions'

er...

Holy X Xmas Drinks

Gents,

Having spent the best part of two weeks snowed in with only the internet for amusement it's certainly time to arrange some festive drinks. A few folk wll be heading to the St Vincent Stockbridge - Howe St for a few this Saturday.

Happy days!

Shock News: Finally a Midweek Victory!

Because of our season of 20 over misery, Coco cleverly decided to shorten the game to 18 overs per side.

Though we had only 6 confirmed at 3pm; but as it was a vital league game a midweek friendly HX were able to scramble together a strong side (Bainbridge, EC Smith, CA Smith, S Bonfield, A Killey, C Ellis, I Astley, D Cartwright, S Robertson, C McGill).

Holy Cross 134/5 (18 overs)
the retiral point of 25 reached by Ellis, EC Smith and (most impressively) Killey.

E U Staff 128/6 (18 overs)

A thoroughly enjoyable game on a sunny evening on a fine (covered) Peffermill pitch (obviously a good groundsman...yes, it seems that Gavin does a good job). Some impressive hitting from the EUS batsmen took them ahead of the run rate before their retiral/ some wickets (including a nice overhead catch from Shannon and a run out via a Killey throw from the boundary over the bails) slowed them up. A few bowlers receiving some tap...though not Bonfield, Bainbridge or Astley.

The Doctor also took a crucial catch in the last over to dismiss one of their returning tonkers. They eventually needed 12 to win off the last over and then 6 off the last ball; but Coco hit the stumps.

Cheers to EUSCC for their hospitality.