The Mighty 3s made the journey east to take on Leith Franklin Academicals Beige (perm any one from four and you'll get their name this year) at Leith Links in glorious sunshine.
With Russell and Mahmood moving up to the 2's, Eberst came in for his first game of the season and Michael made his League debut. However, with only 10 available players, Captain Ken knew he had his work cut out.
The home side were first to bat, and steady bowling from Ray and Geddes kept Leith from putting on runs early doors. Ray almost made the breakthrough early on however Shazad was unable to hold a piledriver from Watt Snr. Coco and Ellis came on either side of drinks (where Leith were 62-3) to take a wicket each with Geddes taking the catch of the season to give Coco the scalp of the dangerous Khan.
At tea (and a fine one it was too - cheers Ladies of Leith!), it was anyone's game with Leith reaching 152 for 6.
Cross went for experience as they set about making light of a relatively low score on a decent for Council standards wicket.
Lawrie & Eberst, with a combined age of 126, opened. A quick call to Ladbrokes was made at this juncture however they have already suspended all bets on this year's Coastal Erosion Award.
Captain Coastal happily frustrated the life out of opener J Watt, who ended his spell on 1 for 6, and it took him 34 deliveries before our Leader notched up his opening run!
Ken added a further single before being bowled by Khan and Eberst amassed 7 before Ellis came in to steady the ship.
A slow start saw Cross go in at drinks 50-2, surprisingly only 12 off the hosts total at the same stage.
Ellis continued to chip away before being bowled by M Watt, a youngster with lots of potential, taking him to a top Cross score of the day at 32.
McGill and Ray both added 15 to the total as Cross stuttered towards the home total.
Geddes came in following the dismissal of Ray and perhaps still feeling the effects of his catch earlier, pulled up whilst taking a dash between the stumps. With a runner required, all eyes looked towards the sidelines for a pair of reliable legs. With Ray already showered and changed he was still the only option, so back on he went!
By the time Geddes was despatched by Fisher, a win looked increasingly unlikely for Cross with a lack of depth in the tailenders looking unlikely to trouble the home bowling.
Shazad looked sharp adding 14 not out however, after Brown fell to a Fisher delivery on 3, it was the additional batting points that became the target. Howlett came in to knock out a couple of runs and secured an extra point as Cross stumbled to 133.
A disappointing end to what could and possibly should have been a different outcome. However, with a light batting line up and a numerical disadvantage, it was a credible performance by the Cross.
Next week the 3s head back to Campbell Park looking for bouncebackability against Largo 4s.
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An excellent report Broonster. Coastal has a long way to go to beat the club coastal award, held by Andy Greig who got off the mark with his 50th ball at Falkland.
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