HX lose sixes war 11 -18...

At Arboretum.

Grange 2's 297-4

HX 185 all out

delayed start: match reduced to 45 overs per side.

scorecard HERE 

Superb batting from Stuart Moffat (76) and Iain Worth (103) took Grange to 297 for the loss of just 4 wickets. Too many loose balls but very efficiently 'put away'.  A number of near things in the field but also a couple of drops..

In reply, Raja struck a brilliant 99 but once he was dismissed the HX innings subsided to 185 all out.  At one stage we were 130-2 off  19 overs.. Gordon Allan taking 4-29 and Ed Abel-Smith 3-53.

On this form, Grange 2nds must be strong favourites for the Division 1 title.

Tranent Trounce Thirds

[pvb reports on the 3rds]

HX 3rds v Tranent

Tranent’s talented side deservedly trounced Holy Cross at Campbell Park, but one has to say that it was not a great contest.  Mark Anderson’s wonderful display of hitting gave HX too big a target (265); but it wasn’t just him – Aiden’s powerful strokes over extra cover and Adnan’s lofted drives gave Tranent a fine start. Keith bowled splendidly and took 2-24.

I noticed a tweet which mentioned that Mike dropped Mark on nought – a tad harsh I think since half our side would not even have managed to run the 20 metres to get their hands to it – it was a splendid effort. So was Ted’s brilliant slip catch – Ian Bell should be taking lessons from him. Dave Sharpe’s absence meant that we used 9 bowlers and a first wkt ever for Ted, a first wkt in 10 years for Paul, and a first wkt off a double bouncer for Craig. There was serious danger of the game being abandoned as ball after ball vanished over the hedge, and pvb was pondering what happened if neither side had a ball to play with – match abandoned I guess.

After last week when the team went form 22-0 to 45 all out in 12 overs, some caution was needed, so Paul tried to bore Tranent to death. Mind you it is not simple scoring off Adnan who bowls the majority of his inswinging balls on a good length on leg stick and then swinging down leg, and Mark as we know would test Div 1 batsmen. Our own Mark C woke everyone up when he came in with his extravagant shots and topscored with 31; we were aiming to get 150 which would have been maximum losing points. As with Hawick Tranent has no weak bowlers, and reaching the 150 target looked a pipe dream till Mark called Paul for a quick single to gully – it was a masterstroke and brought  other freeflowing batsmen to the crease. After a short downpour Richard hit a wonderful 6 over long on and 18 quick runs, Keith followed suit with a lofted four off Mark’s ninth over ( yes ninth – but a diplomatic solution was amicably reached), and we scored 135 – 9 bonus points in all, perhaps a little generous for such a thumping .

Thanks to Tranent & Scott for excellent hospitality at Campbell Park; theAsian lads have transformed  the team and they would compete well in Div 3 / 4, and we wish them well.

1sts 2nd in 1 in 11

Scores Digest.

1sts (at Arboretum)

Marchmont 131ao
M. Loeffen 60, S. McGregor 33.
Bonfield 6-2-9-1
Trewartha 9-3-34-4
Ellis 4-0-13-0
Lynch 10-2-27-1
Russell 10-0-30-1
Bainbridge 4.3-1-10-3

Holy Cross 135-1
C. Ellis 62*, O. Mazher 36, K. Fraser 34*
Loeffen 8-3-22-1

Report from the Marchmont website here.

This surprisingly convincing victory means that Holy Cross 1st XI finish 2nd in Division 1.
This equals their performance (in a differently structured East League: after the formation of the SNCL but before the Leagues and Grades were amalgamated) in 1997, when they finished 2nd to Cupar (and, as in 2011, just above Marchmont in third. Funnily enough Fauldhouse finished bottom of Div 1 that year!). Good stuff guys.

2nds

Div 5 - Largo 2nds vs Holy Cross 2nds at Largo.

Largo 126 all out - runs for Alex Anderson, 4 wickets for Colin Smith.

Holy Cross 127-6 - runs for Butt and Bates.

3rds

Division 8 on Inverleith Arti
Holy Cross Academicals 3rd XI 38 all out in 21.2 overs
(Kevin Casssidy 3-3, Craig Goold 3-6, James Crispin 2-17)

Stewart's Melville FP Royal High 3rd XI 42for 3 in 17.1 overs
(Umar Malik 14 in 11 balls: R Ellis 8-4-5-2)

Crucial Win for Twos but 1sts Flattened by Fauldhouse

1sts
At Arbo
Fauldhouse 283-5
Z. Ali 107*, A. Wallace 72, D. Mullligan 30, D. Allan 29

Holy Cross
189ao C. Ellis 64, R. Bainbridge 42, R. McDonald 4-23
further details to follow

2nds
pvb reports:
Div 5 at the Meadows

Holy Cross 2s 155-8 (Webb and Mehta 40+) :
Accies 2s about 98 all out (Astley 4 wkts).

Impressive bowling and excellent sportsmanship from Accies. HX were held back early on - 45-4 after 20 overs. Then Accies kept on losing wickets amidst some fine shots on a lottery of a pitch. Thanks to Accies for all their preparations in ensuring we had a scoreboard and a fine tea.

3rds
beat SMRH 3rds by 10 wickets
details to follow