Meadows Mayhem.

Andy G reports on a 3rd XI victory at the Meadows. A Shame the '1sts' couldn't do the same on Wednesday.

After negotiating the start of a pre season hockey match on Thursday night the #fuds managed to gather 11 for Saturday’s epic tie against Watsonians.

After much emailing on Friday morning we obtained the crucial information that vegetarians were not  allowed in Watsonians which meant we could crack on with the inspired idea of a BBQ and beer cricket day at the Meadows. Elmo became available late which meant we had a real south African braai!

Anyway, after organising folk to bring meat, some of the highlights - Parker with his lemon and pepper marinated chicken wings, Elmondt had procured a large south African sausage and Mark and I brought our chipolatas as well as soya sauce pork chops. I must admit it was a pretty impressive feast!

So whilst Parker’s chicken was marinading overnight we decided the thing to do was go for a few drinks – in order to be able to bat well the following day. Parker, me, Henton, Elmondt, Mark and Alex were all out – therefore guaranteeing runs and wickets according to the Holy Cross 3^rd XI laws of cricket.

We ended up in Garibaldis till 2.30am – with my girlfriend’s dad who is 62.

Great night out …

The next day, with some sore heads, we descended on the Meadows to find an unmarked, unprepared wicket. Watsons were happy to play which was great. Fag buts were used to mark out a crease and some plastic cutlery was pulled out of the stump holes and we were good to go.

I went out for the toss – hoping to bat second so we could finish off the beer and eat what remained of the BBQ but the Watson’s skip won and stuck us in. Alex opened with Mr Hopkinson. It seemed like a good idea, Alex would get some good time at the crease and Greg is the classiest bat to feature for the 3s since Richard Ellis. 

Unfortunately the partnership was a short one. Two balls into Alex's innings he was bowled by a 12 yr old. At first he proclaimed that the young man was swinging it both ways, then cutting it in at a 45 degree angle, save to say the only thing that was at 45 degrees was Cruickshank who was bent over laughing at Alex's shot!

That brought Dave 'the bin-raker' Coaton out of the traps. A drive through extra cover started his scoring and it was looking good. Greg then fell for 19 ... Bowled

I then came in to bat with Dave, this could be an exciting partnership – led by general banter and captain 3 runs. It started really well, 21 runs off 3 overs but it was over when Dave nicked it into the keeper’s gloves.

This brought Parkie out to the green green wicket. Watsons brought on a young off spinner at the Marchmont end – this made the leg side boundary about 3 feet away from the square and the off side boundary about 100 ft away – not the smartest end to choose from the young lad against 2 hockey players. Fair to say we capitalised on this … our partnership was 62 off 7 overs then Parkie was bowled.

This was the second funniest wicket of the day. Pitching just outside leg and travelling further down leg Parker tried to defend it but missed, it then hit his pad, his foot and rolled slowly onto the stumps tickling the bails off. He stood for a few seconds, gave a look of bemusement and disgust... then walked off.

Cruicky came in as cheery as ever, in the first three balls we ran 8 runs, at which point the garibaldi’s specials caught up with us and mark exclaimed that those would be the last of the 3s. The next shot was definitely a 3 but Mark refused to run them at all.

The partnership flourished, Mark played some actual cricket shots and I even got a 4 through the covers with a back foot drive! Unbelievable.

With Mark and me trotting along nicely I got my ton  and was given permission from Mark to have a swing! Not that I was going slowly before we were going at 8 an over! At the 28^th over they decided to bring on their 9^th bowler, 4, 2, top edge straight up – 4 12 year olds look like they are about to collide but a booming voice of the old boy who was the 9^th bowler got shot of them pretty quickly. He clutched it and I was gone. Out trotted Craig Wright – duck! 2^nd in 2 competitive games for the Cross.(he did score a few mid week against Grange cricket in the hockey v cricket game).

Jamie Johnstone have never scored a run in competitive cricket then hit 16 – including a huge 6 over to Jawbone Walk! Elmo finished not out and the funniest dismissal of the day was Matt Henton at no 11.  He took middle, took a good stance then preceded to leave a ball that pitched in line and hit the middle of middle stump!

Hiliarious and a good finish to a cracking innings 291 all out with 2 overs to spare!

We then had a cracking BBQ and then it started to rain … boooo!

So we took to the field and mucked about a bit as the ball got more and more out of shape – after 5 overs it looked like smudge’s dog had had his way with it!

Coco opened well but with no reward getting 0-13 off 8. Henton opened at the other end but because we thought we better tie up the 20 overs quickly to get a result he ended 3-16 after 4. Parker came on at the other end getting an lbw with his first ball – inspired captaining! 

We held 1 catch through Craigy Wright at point, pretty tough one too!

Craig ‘im a batsman’ Wright replaced Parker at the 20^th over he bowled darts – very similar to shifty – and was rewarded with the last wicket – coco did drop one and parker another!

Elmo was superb – 4 wickets for 2 runs – would have had 5 wickets for 0 if Coco could catch!

Anyway onwards and upwards – smellies will be difficult no doubt! But with captain Mcmonagle at the helm im sure we’ll be fine!

League Weekend 15

Saturday's fixtures -

• 1sts vs RH Corstorphine at Arbo.
• 2nds vs Largo 2nds, away.
• 3rds vs SMRH 4ths, (not very far) away.

Midweek cricket is now over for the 2014 season.

Subdued but Significant Seconds' Success

After our early season run of three wins and a tie, things haven't been going so well lately. So we approached the return match with Preston Village slightly nervously: three of our remaining five fixtures were against the top three; PV had been struggling themselves and would be looking for a win; and availability was poor.

But if our availability was poor, PV's was worse and they arrived with just nine men. Smudger won the toss and, with rain forecast for later, had no hesitation in doing what he always does anyway and deciding to bowl. Vik (6-1-9-2) and Popey (5-1-8-1) opened up in such a tight, aggressive fashion that it was a surprise when the first wicket fell to a run-out as Vik pulled off a good stop in the gully and, with Popey's assistance, ran out Dobie who couldn't make it back to the non-striker's end.

The key moment, though, came with the wicket of Shiraz Ramzan. Shiraz has feasted on our bowling in recent seasons and it was a huge bonus when James yorked him first ball. Popey, moonlighting from helping out at some minor sporting event in Glasgow, has put on a good deal of pace since he last played for us and this was a fitting reward for a fine spell.



Popey (on the left) at his Scottish day job.

The other incident of note in the innings came when Davie King collapsed in agony setting off for a run. Davie, who's had more than his fair share of injuries in recent seasons, immediately self-diagnosed ruptured tendons, but a later x-ray found a broken bone as well. It was naturally all a bit subdued after that and only a looming storm cloud seemed to induce a bit more urgency in the HX attack as Dan (3.4-4-5-2) nipped in for his almost obligatory cheap wickets and Vik returned to bowl Black who had compiled a dogged 20. The Village People all out for 54 in the 28th over, just in time for the rain to put paid to hopes of a quick turnaround.

After tea the end came fairly quickly with JB (23 no) hitting three boundaries in the eleventh over as PV, gambling on a second bowling point, deployed an Aussie-style umbrella slip field, or as near as you can with only nine men.

Umbrella field - not Arbo on Saturday.

Thanks to Popey for helping out and to PV for another game played in good spirits and some black humour. We hope that availability and Davie recover well and soon.

League Weekend 14 and the Week Ahead

Saturday's fixtures -

• 1sts vs Murrayfield DAFS, away at Leith Academy.
• 2nds vs Preston Village at Arbo.
• 3rds vs Watsonians 4ths, "home" at the Meadows.

Sunday -

• Martin Flynn Memorial Trophy game vs Carlton at Arbo, 2pm start.

Midweek -

• Wednesday, Activcity Trophy QF vs Morton at the Meadows (reserve day Thursday).

Silverware returns to Arbo!

Holy Cross v Marchmont 23^rd July 2014 Parks Trophy final

On a warm sunny Edinburgh evening, Newfield hosted the 2014 Parks Trophy final between Holy Cross and Marchmont.

Yet another toss won by the Holy Cross skippa, saw McOscar elect to bat first in the hope of setting a good total on a wicket that looked hard and fast, with a lopsided boundary.  In typical Holy Cross fashion, tardy timekeeping meant a slightly different opening duo strode to the wicket than I had planned.




Parks Trophy winners - Standing: Julius Newman, Dougie Russell, Kevin Marsh, John Bacon, Simon Pickering. Kneeling: Simon McOscar, Charlie Ellis, Saideep Kachodi, Rob Bainbridge, Raja Javed, Shannon Bonfield. Photo: Broon.

 

Some tight early bowling from Rees and Sheikh, saw Holy Cross get off to a measured start. McOscar broke the shackles with a big 6 over wide mid-wicket off Rees in the 3^rd over, which was comically signalled 4 by the umpire. However the next 2 overs only conceded 2 runs and the Cross were 0-17 after 5 overs.

The openers continued to work the ball around and set a platform, with Javed clubbing 14 runs off Sheikh’s 4^th over that took us to 0-42 off 8. After frustratingly finding the fielder with regularity, McOscar decided to ‘hit out or get out’ at the start of the 10^th over and provided a high but regulation catch to Rees, off the bowling of the Marchmont skipper Maksimcyzk. McOscar departing for 15 and leaving the Cross 1-49 off 9.1 overs, slightly behind what you’d expect as a par score on this ground.

Vijay was next at the bowling crease for Marchmont, conceded 10 off his first over, with Saideep quickly moving to 7 runs off 7 balls. Maksimcyzk repeating his first ball of the over theatrics, bowling Saideep, which brought Newman out to bat. Given a free licence, Mr Hockey aka Jules, plundered a big 4, but then missed the last ball of Maksimcyzk’s 2^nd over, out for 5 off 4 balls. The Marchmont skipper now with figure of 3-8 off 2 overs!

Javed continued his dominant display, smashing 34 runs in boundaries on his way to an impressive 50 that was greeted with rapturous applause by the magnificent Holy Cross supporters. Trying to chase another boundary in the 16^th over, Raja mistimed a straight drive and was well caught at deep long-off. A superb innings that laid a good platform for Holy Cross, which picked up the run rate to just under 6 an over.

A now settled Ellis and new man at the crease Bacon built a solid 21 run 5^th wicket partnership, before Ellis was called through for what turned out to be a suicidal run, out for 11, the Cross now 5-99.

Bacon who had also scored 11 then tried to pick up the pace, but was bowled by Vijay at the start of the 17^th over, leaving the Cross 6-112 and in need of a couple of good final overs to set a decent total. Dougie 4* and Shan 9* put on 13 runs off the last 13 balls to take us through to a total of 6-120. Marchmont captain Maksimcyzk  returning figures of 3-24 off his 4 overs.

A solid total to defend, but one that would leave plenty of work to do in the second half of the game for Holy Cross.

A close run thing - Navan scrambles home. Photo: Broon.

Marchmont got off to a flyer with the first ball of their innings getting dispatched high over the short square-leg boundary by Vijay for 6 off Bonfield. A tight first over for Newman, saw only 3 runs and Marchmont keeping slightly ahead of the pace at 0-13 off 2.

With both Vijay and Ahmed throwing the willow at the ball and seeing rewards for their shots, they moved steadily to 24 off 4 overs. A solid start with neither batsman looking in any real trouble, saw Ahmed dispatching a Bonfield slower ball in the 5^th over for a huge 6 straight down the ground. Marchmont now slightly ahead of the required run rate at 32 off 5.

Newman continued his fine season, coming in off a shortened run-up that also saw success v MDAFS in the semi-final. Off the second ball of Newman’s 3^rd over, Bainbridge misjudged a pull shot from Ahmed and shelled what could have been a critical chance. Finally some reward, Newman taking the vital first wicket off the last ball of his 3^rd over. A caught and bowled, seeing him with figures of 1-11 of 3 overs. Marchmont were now 1-38 off 6 and keeping their noses just in front of the required run rate.

Time for a change in bowling and McOscar opted to take some pace off and introduced Bacon at the Ferry Rd end, which paid immediate dividends. A sharp stumping taken by a somewhat slimmer and trimmer Spickers, seeing Vijay depart for 16, leaving Marchmont 2-40 off 7 overs.

A double change, with Charlie ‘the glory hunter’ Ellis taking over from Newman and taking a wicket maiden in his second over, keeping the pressure on Marchmont and slowing turning the ledger back in the Corss’ favour, as Bainbridge was offered an opportunity at redemption and took a fine catch.

It must be said that all 11 men were performing well in the field, with some excellent and most unlike Holy Cross fielding. Of note, Spickers was seen diving to horizontal to save what could easily have been 4 byes and Dougie racing around the boundary like a spring chicken, diving to save 2 runs and surprisingly leaping up uninjured!

The large Holy Cross crowd were now starting to believe that the tide was turning in our favour and the screws were tightening on Marchmont, as some tight bowling saw the pressure mounting.

In Ellis’s final over, Newman bobbled but held on to a catch that was hit straight down his throat at long-off to dispatch Rees, who had moved to a run a ball 16. Reducing Marchmont to 4-68 at the start of 14^th over.

Both Bacon and Ellis bowled extremely well and pulled the game slightly back in our favour, with figures of 1-18 and 2-19 respectively off their 4 overs and left Marchmont needing 35 off the last 30 deliveries.

Cometh the hour, cometh the man!

After his fine knock with the bat, Javed was introduced in to the attack to bowl the 15^th over. He quickly settled in to a good line and length and took the critical wicket of Collier in his first over and conceded only 2 runs. The task now starting to look more challenging for Marchmont, 42 required of 30 balls, but more importantly for Holy Cross they now had the opposition 5 down.

After an absolute pie of a loosener from Marsh that was dutifully smashed behind square for 4 by the Marchmont skipper Maksimcyzk, he then proceeded to hit the very next ball straight to Newman at deep mid-off, who easily took his 3^rd catch of the day.

Marchmont now reduced to 6-82 and by the end of the over, needing 35 off the last 24 balls. Still some work to do for Holy Cross, but the vocal crowd now starting to believe a win might be on the cards.

Javed took his second wicket in his 2^nd over, a tidy catch taken by Kachodi and conceded 6 runs. The task looking a tough one, as Marchmont were now 7-91 at the end of the 17^th over.

Javed then singlehandedly accounted for the final 3 wickets of the Marchmont innings in the next 5 deliveries of the 19^th over. As well as skittling Chetty and Sheikh, he also completed a tidy run out, after fielding a straight drive and taking the bails off, leaving Wilson high and dry after backing up too far. Javed finished with the figures of the day and probably the best of the tournament, taking 4-8 off 3.5 overs!

The final wicket with the 5^th ball of the 19^th over sparked jubilant celebrations for the crowd and the men on the field.

Raja celebrates the final wicket. Photo: Broon.

In the end, our total of 119 was just too much for a valiant Marchmont to obtain. Despite Raja deservingly picking up the ‘man of the match’ award; this was really a win for the whole team. A superb victory for Holy Cross, which returns the Parks Trophy to Arboretum Rd after an absence of 2 years.

Raja and Si - Man of the Match and Captain. Photo: Broon.

As Skip of the 1’s, I would sincerely like to thank everyone that played in the early rounds of the Parks Trophy. As I mentioned in my speech, this win was not just to the credit to the 11 men on the field last night. If my memory serves me right we had 15 or 16 guys play in the 3 games that it took to win the Trophy.

Many thanks for PVB and McGill for doing the book yesterday as well and it was also great to see so many supporters down at Newfield cheering us on.

A number of hardy punters partied on long in to the wee hours, with the Parks Trophy taking in some of Edinburgh’s err ‘finest’ drinking establishments.

Next in line is the Presidents Plate semi-final for the 2’s and 3’s and the Activcity quarter-final for the 1’s.

Rainy, Rainy go away!

Holy X 1st XI v Feruchie – Arbo 19^th July

The morning dawned quite nice in Edinburgh, but a rather menacing afternoon weather report saw an early txt from the Feruchie skip looking for any potential of early call off.

11:30am arrived and with the clouds gathering, Arbo was warm and very muggy.  For the first time in a long time, McOscar lost a toss and Holy Cross were put in to bat. Strange decision as Feruchie only had 10 men and a number of their 1^st XI not playing.

We started poorly with Saideep playing over the top of a slow in-swinging yorker on the first ball of the second over, gone for a duck! Holy Cross 4-1 off 1.1 – perhaps not such a silly move to make us bat first….

There were comical scenes with Charlie’s first ball, as he played a dead bat forward defence off Gourlay, who would be classed as a military medium swing bowler. To his shock, the bottom half of his new Bubble bat (provided by Holy X’s new Del-boy Jimmy McOscar) exploded on impact with the ball and one chunk narrowly missed taking out his off stump!

McOscar and Ellis set about rebuilding, against some very good bowling by the Freuchie Pro Akbar and Gourlay. It was slow going, with very few poor deliveries and we managed to tick it over at 2’s an over, until spin was introduced at the Ferry Road end in the 9^th over.

The clouds were getting heavier and some light rain started falling with a second spinner introduced at the clubhouse end, McOscar then nibbled at a ball on a good line and length and gifted a catch to the keeper, who must have been watching MS Dhoni’s tactic of standing 4 foot back for a spinner!

The Cross now 31-2.

Raja was the next man to go, after bludgeoning 10 runs off 2 scoring strokes. Looking for a third boundary, he was struck in front, with the umpire hardly needing to lift his finger as Raja was so plumb he pretty much turned his back and walked off!

OK, so the Feruchie decision to bowl first now looking a good one with HX 42-3!

Jules and Charlie then started taking advantage of the spin bowlers struggling to grip a now wet ball and put on 50 runs in 21 minutes, all while the rain started falling heavier and heavier.

We’d progressed through to 92-3 off 21.2, when the wet stuff just got too heavy to stay out in the middle.

An early tea was taken, more to watch what was happening in the British Open, but time was called on the day’s cricket at 2:30pm with Charlie 34* and Jules on 24*.

A frustrating way to end what was shaping as a very promising innings

Let's hope for better weather next weekend for our critical clash v MDAFS!

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....