Bimbo blast seals victory for BFLs, while 2s and 3 compete but lose.

Saturday Results Digest.

1sts

Edinburgh 2 80ao (Obeid 40, Bainbridge 5/27, P. Kumar 3/14) lost to Holy Cross 81-1 (S. Pickering 31*, N. Metha 21).

Getting Mazhar (700+ runs this season) for 0 was key (top delivery from Bimbo: top catch from Spick). After that, good spells from Bimbo and Praveen pressurised an understrength Edinburgh batting line-up into some 'ambitious' shots. A useful partnership (assisted by a few fielding lapses) between nos 9 & 10 showed that the pitch was perfectly playable before Milly ended it with one of his signature submarine balls. New boy Pat ended the innings with his third ball - a useful delivery that hit the top of off.

Runs efficiently knocked off (against some decent bowling, with the pitch doing some odd things) by Nipun, Spickers and cje.

Surprisingly early finish meant we could enjoy the Bates and Bailey show at Arbo and the BBQ (cheers to Bainbro, Mandy and Michael for their organisational efforts).

2nds

Carlton 3s 262 for 7 (C Paterson 126, Z Yusaf 42*) beat Holy Cross 2s 196 for 7 (P Bailey 64, J Bates 56, F Allardice 2 for 18, R Metcalfe 2 for 26)
Scorecard here

3rds

Carlton 4s 166 for 9 (G Newman 45, H Aslam 20, A Rive 20) beat Holy Cross 3s 132 all out (M Nevin 30+, B Irvine 3 for 12, H Aslam 2 for 33)
Report and scorecard here.

Additional Midweeker - Gifford on Monday

At fairly short notice, we have an additional midweek friendly next week, on Monday evening at Gifford which is said to be a lovely place.

Smudger has seven players already. If you'd like to join them grab him after the games on Saturday or drop me a line at secretary@holycrosscricket.co.uk and I'll pass on the message. 5.15 meet at Peffermill.

League Weekend 14 and the Week Ahead

Saturday's League fixtures -

• 1sts vs Edinburgh 2nds, away - umpires, Mike Blackshaw and Chaitanya Badhe.
• 2nds vs Carlton 3rds, Arbo.
• 3rds vs Carlton 4ths, Home at Campbell Park.

Saturday's cricket is bookended by two Cross social events. On Saturday night there's a barbecue at Arbo, but first, on Friday evening, Gerry's band, Doc Rodent, are playing Whistle Binkies from 6.30. It seems the suavest, swingingest man in the East League has not been impressed by the Cross turnout at his recent outings and writes -

Let me try reverse psychology and see if that works ...... No, I don't want you to come to the gig because it would be wasted on a bunch of losers ...... I mean, come on ...... it's WAY too much for you to handle, especially just before a game. No. Horlicks and slippers more you style, I think ...... That should do it ......

Next Tuesday evening we have a midweek friendly against Scottish Widows at Arbo (drop an e-mail to secretary@holycrosscricket.co.uk or buttonhole Captain McGill if you fancy a game). Wednesday evening nets have now finished for the season.

Out of this World

Holy Cross fielders have recently become used to objects falling from a great height....over their head but...


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/7909343/Meteorite-lands-on-cricket-pitch-during-county-match.html

Rumours Confirmed as Historic Document Discovered

For many years, Coastal's claim that the club once had a 4th XI - that played their home fixures at Jock's Lodge - has been met with much scepticism. Now the club's historians have unearthed a document (fixture booklet for 1987) which seems to support this notion.

An eminent historian has verified the booklet and stated: 'I am now satisfied that the document is authentic; that the history of their wanderings since 1950 is true; and that the standard accounts of Holy Cross' habits, of their personality and, even, perhaps, of some public events, may in consequence have to be revised'.

It will also be noted that the club had a junior side in 1987 (it also seems to suggest that cje's first appearance for the Cross was as a nine year old..) as well as a full set of Sunday fixtures.

Looking on the positive, now that we only field three league sides we could only suffer three thrashings on Saturday...

Thrice Thrashed

1sts.
at Fettes
Grange 220ao
D. Phillip 103, R. Pollok 40, B. Parkinson 22.
A. Millington 4-44

Holy Cross 105ao
S. Pickering 27
B. Kaczynski 6/26

High class knock from Douglas Phillip took the game away from us after Grange had been 86/4 at drinks.
Excellent opening spells from Phillip and especially from young William Edwards (final figures of 7/4/4/2) set the tone for our rather spineless response. After that Kaz bowled well but not sure our 'shot selection' was the best.

2nds.
PVB reports:
'Div 5 SMRH2 about 220 - 5 with 50 for Pete Mitchell & good knocks from Steve and Dave. Holy Cross didn't roll over completely till they reached 79-4 (Nipun Mehta 49) and then lost their last 6 for 0, 5 more wkts for Charlie Butcher. A well deserved win for a sporting team'.

3rds
Morton 2 vs Holy Cross @ Meadows

Morton - 248/6 (S Vass - 81*, S Aron - 51, Raj Thangaraj - 38)
beat
Holy Cross - 98/10 (Teegarden - 3fer, A Farrell - 2fer)

Meadows misery as 3s get mauled by Morton

In what proved to be a dark day for the Cross with a trio of disappointing defeats, the 3s were simply outdone by promotion candidates Morton at the Meadows.

A partnership of 102 from Sri Lankan pair Aron & Vaaj saw Morton post a tough target of 248 at the end of an innings that started off well for Cross when Bell was caught by Nevin from a Geddes delivery in the 3rd over.

Geddes claimed the wicket of Farrell with the hosts on 38 and when Turton nicked Jones' delivery to the juggling McGill (what, haven't you heard about the athletic dive & control yet?) 70 for 3 seemed like a great start.

Martin went for a duck on 86 then Ellis pushed Tuarangaraj into Captain Ken's gloves as the century was posted on the scoreboard at the end of the 26th over. So, half of the order back on the boundary and at 100-5, the thought of an early tea sounded appetising!

What followed must have been great to watch - just not from inside the boundary if you were the fielding side!

Aron & Vaaj knocked up a 102 partnership off 46 balls inflicting pain on the bowlers and tiredness upon the fielders having to run to collect the ball from various parts of the Meadows!

Tea was had and the Cross were in bat, looking for Ken and Mike to take the game to Morton's bowlers.



Teegarden & Farrell were both economical in their bowling as the opening pair looked to chase a formidable total on a useful wicket. Nevin produced a fine display, reaching 38 before being bowled by Vaas - a decent partnership of 54 with his Captain.



Ken went for 18, Ellis for 12 and CoCo for 6 leaving the Cross looking at salvaging pride in whatever batting points they could aquire. Geddes, Williamson & Jones ALL went for ducks to Teegarden in the American's 7th over leaving a tail looking unlikely to threaten the Morton total.




However, credit should be given where credit is due! None of the final 4 batsmen sold themselves for no runs, with Robertson (7), McIntosh (3), Brown (2) and Michael from the Rugby Club (1) all putting vital runs on the board despite the lone piper in the park trying to pollute everyone's ears with his tuneless drivel!



Match Pictures

Additional Midweek Fixture Announced

To take the place of the cancelled fixture vs Currie & Balerno ...

an additional fixture has been announced against these opponents on the Meadows in Mid-August.

Andy G has offered to captain the side.

League Weekend 13 and the Week Ahead

Saturday's League fixtures -

• 1sts vs Grange 2nds, away at Fettes College. Umpire - Chaitanya Badhe.
• 2nds vs SMRH 2nds, Arbo.
• 3rds vs Morton 2nds, Away, Meadows 2 - Please observe the parking restrictions: only one Cross car on the tarmac area by the changing rooms.

Sadly, Tuesday's scheduled midweek game against Currie-Balerno is off, as C-B have had to schedule a Midweek League fixture that night. Nets as usual on Wednesday at New Field.

Quasi Traditional mid season BBQ!!

As we are just over the halfway stage of the season it seems a good time to ruin a perfectly good weekend's cricket by proposing the annual Holy Cross BBQ!

Looking at the fixtures I think next Saturday 31st seems like an excellent choice to invoke the rain gods and thus I declare it shall be held on said date.

As is becoming tradition of sorts the BBQ is a splendid opportunity to bring the other half along to see how you spend a quarter of your valuable weekend (although through bitter experience I would urge caution in doing so). Last year saw a 100% increase in the number of ladies in attendance so it would be great to see this topped in 2010, maybe to get into double figures!

With over 10 days advance notice this year there is little to no excuse to avoid attending on what is rare opportunity to bring all three teams together in orgy of Cross love......again of sorts.

60 Years of Holy Cross CC - Club Dinner!

Fellow Crossers,

It's our 60th anniversary this year - so let's celebrate in style with the Holy Cross CC Club Dinner.

Where?: Craigmillar Park Golf Club

When?: Friday 3rd September, 7 for 7.30pm

How Much?: £25 a head

Speakers to be announced.


End the season in style with a great way to bring Crossers young, old and McGill together for a night to celebrate YOUR Club. Wives / Partners / Friends etc also welcome.

All 3 Team Captains - time to rally your troops!

Tickets will be available on a strictly First Come / First Served basis due to anticipated demand. No cash - No ticket!

PVB and I are already on board to organise - ARE YOU? A working party of a few Crossers can make this grand event the Talk of the Cross for years to come. Any takers? If so, give me a shout.

Broonster

Missing/Lost/Borrowed Kit

This is an urgent appeal to anyone who may have seen Vikram's kit. It was left in the clubhouse, green room about 4 weeks ago in a large plastic see through bag, pads, gloves (left handed), helmet, thigh guard etc have all gone walkabout.

If any knows where it's gone or has picked it up could they please let Vik or me know ASAP. I'm sure Vik will only be too pleased to pay a handsome reward for any information leading to the return of said gear!

Also missing 1 x President - if found please return to Green room

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.

Cross Crushed by Carlton, 2nds lose at soggy Arbo but 3's win (!!!)

Saturday Results Digest:

1sts
Carlton 2s 255 for 5 (B Lockie 106, R Bhopal 55*)
beat Holy Cross CC 87 all out (M Habib 4 for 11, J Walker 3 for 17)

An understrength 1st XI were well beaten by a strong Carlton side.

2nds:

Div 5 HX2 111 : Falkland 113-3

3rds

Division 8

At Campbell Park

Musselburgh 3rd IX 104-8 (all out)

lost to

Holy Cross 3rd XI 105-4

**just to set the results in some context:
of the 71 players we had registered at the start of the season, 47 were unavailable this weekend...

Smudger's Army fail to take the Falklands

The Field of Dreams has witnessed many outstanding performances, individual flashes of brilliance and surreal scenes of cricketing history in the making. Saturday at Arbo proved to be no different!

A makeshift 2's side featured a handful of regular Thirds and a Holy Cross debutant in the shape of Neaves against a Falkland side which offered a fine blend of youth and experience in their ranks.

Following a week of rain and a smittering of sunshine, the wicket at Arbo had held up exceptionally well considering and it was Cross who batted first. PVB and Scott Russell opened the batting as the clouds closed in.



A partnership of 23 came to a halt when Bailey was caught and bowled by the on-form Miekle for 15. It was the same man who put paid to Royal John's innings, in exactly the same way - this time for a duck!

Ellis Snr started sharply with a boundary however he lost Russell (16) shortly after when Scotty was tempted by Miekle into making a skyward blast but this was caught at cover. Neaves hit his first ever Cross runs and in style - a boundary but he lost Ellis to a dodgy run out call shortly after drinks.

In came Captain Smudger to steady HMS Holy Cross however the Skipper could only add 5 to the scoreboard before being caught at point from a Wilkie delivery.

Ray was out for 6 after taking a wild haymaker swipe at the ball and Neaves was bowled by Wilkie shortly after. Lohan then made his way to the middle to stop the rot.




McIntosh and Brown put on double figures between them (6 & 4 respectively) which left Cross on 104 with Gerry coupling up with Michael from the Rugby Club as the last stand.

Needing 6 more runs to gain another batting point, Lohan was keen to get on strike and was heard from the boundary urging Michael on occassion to 'stop running'! With 109 on the board, Michael facing - Ladbrokes suspended betting. However, ye of little faith - cometh the hour, cometh the Michael and the big man lashed out and earned his first run in competitive cricket for the Cross!



Another run from top scorer Lohan took the Cross to 111 all out, with our music man finishing on 24.



That man Lohan tried to take on the visitors on his own in response after an awesome Tea with 3 for 14.

Despite this fine showing, including a top catch from McIntosh, it wasn't enough to thwart a fine batting display from Caldwell and Anson who finished on 31 & 32 with the visitors completing the task in the 34.1 overs with seven wickets in hand.

Full photographic evidence available via Broonster's Facebook page

League Weekend 12 and the Week Ahead

Friday evening sees Gerry's band return to Whistle Binkies, starting at 6.30 - nice and early so that Crossers can get a good night's rest before Saturday's League fixtures -

• 1sts vs Carlton 2nds at Grange Loan.
• 2nds vs Falkland 3rds at Arbo.
• 3rds vs Musselburgh 3rds, home at Campbell Park.

There's no midweek friendly next week, but there are nets as usual at Newfield on Wednesday night.

Holy Crosstopus looks forward to the weekend

Following on from the soccer World Cup that came to a whimpering stop in South Africa at the weekend past, Paul the psychic octopus has retired back to his German Sea Life Centre home.

Therefore, we have enlisted the less expensive and somewhat less psychic Holy Crosstopus to predict this weekend's results for the 3 XIs.

Saturday 17th July -

1sts vs Carlton 2nds (A);
Both teams will be keen to get back to action following a week off due to the rain in a valiant attempt to move away from their 'mid-table mediocrity' placings. The two sides last met at Arbo back in May, with Saturday's hosts winning on a muddy wicket by 52 runs.

Crosstopus Prediction: Can the Carlton wicket hold up with the prospect of the Masterton T20 Final on Friday? If so, a tough batting paddock and a tight game on the cards.

2nds vs Falkland 3rds (H);
The 2's take to the Field of Dreams in this Division 5 clash which, in the corresponding fixture in May, saw Falkland scrape through by only 26 runs.

Crosstopus Prediction: On my home patch, Aqua-Arbo may prove to be too tricky for the Fifers.

3rds vs Musselburgh 3rds (H, Campbell Park):
Playing in the rain offers no fear for the Mighty 3s. After last week's demolition of Smellies 3s at Inverleith, anything above a monsoon will offer ideal conditions.

Crosstopus Prediction: Lady Broonster to make exceedingly good cakes.

Arbo "a bit damp but playable"

Broonster has just passed by Arbo and taken this photo of McGill inspecting the square.

When shown the photo, Smudger said: "the 2nds won't be prevented from playing by a foot or two of water."

Huntly Memories

Some Crossers will have bad memories of taking on Huntly in the SCU Trophy of 2005...with 7 men (the full story of why we had 7 is too embarrassing to repeat here).

But at least we can now say that we were knocked about (seem to recall a ball being lost in the woods...) by a test cricketer: Azhar Ali, who was the Huntly Pro at the time and is batting at No. 3 for Pakistan at Lords.

http://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/Article.aspx/1794735/?UserKey=

Midweek Crossers Muffed

July 13th - at Roseburn.

Murrayfield Dafs 119/7ish (Adeel batting well again after his runs against us for Macabi).

Holy Cross 'limping' to 65/7 (R. Bainbridge 27* ['forcibly retired'], B. Fraser 19).

As ever an entertaining game with some er friendly bowling on offer. The end wicket providing plenty of life for the quicker bowlers. Ken getting carried away with getting a wicket with his 1st ball of the season and trying to bounce the Mufs' batsmen out... In contrast Andy K and Bimbo 'tuned up' nicely for Saturday with two good short spells.

Thanks to Mufs for an enjoyable game and for providing a sub fielder - one who took 2 good catches!

Text Match Special

The Thirds weren't the only Crossers in cricketing action on Saturday. As TMS covered the England-Bangladesh one dayer at Bristol, much of the interval was given over to discussion of the forthcoming Pakistan-Australia series, the first Test matches to be played between two foreign nations in England since the Triangular Series of 1912.

After addressing the political, economic and cultural questions (Will Pakistan ever play another home Test series? Will enough people turn up? Who will English cricket fans support?), TMS finally homed in on the vital issue. At Lords, where the series begins on Tuesday, every Test century scored and five wicket haul taken is recorded on honours boards with England's heroes commemorated in the home dressing room and opposition stars in the visitors' hut.

But what if someone scores a ton or takes a Michelle this week ? Where will their achievement be recorded? As Pakistan are the home team, should an Aamer fivefer go on the England board?

After what seemed like hours of speculation and burbling, an authoritative answer finally emerged, not, as one might have expected, from one of the BBC's pundits or even in the form of an official communique from the MCC, but as an electronic pronouncement from a much higher authority, a certain Andrew Quinn who had recently taken a tour of Lords and was able to inform Arlo, Blowers & Co that there is in fact already a separate honours board for "other" matches.

Caption competition

What is McGill saying to Phoebe as he shakes her hand?

1st and 2nds Rained off.

Lacking the moral fibre/ idiocy of the 3rd XI, the 1st XI match (Home to Glenrothes) and 2nd XI match (away to Leith FAB) were cancelled without a ball being bowled.

Cross reign in the rain against Stew Mel

Youngster Usama Shahzad stole the show in the rain affected clash at Inverleith, grabbing a 4-for on the artificial track against Stewart's Melville. Making his HX debut was Andy Williamson, a friend of Broonster and a return for Lytle for his first outing of the season.

The rain, which had put paid to the 1sts and 2nds games, held off long enough to allow Cross to dismiss their hosts for 61 all out. The aforementioned Shahzad took 4 for 22 in a fine bowling display which maybe could have been 5 had the umpire not adjudged his dismantling of McQueen's stumps to have been a No Ball.

Grumpy Geddes, who had remonstrated prior to the game that it 'was crazy playing in this weather and it's going to be a storm at 3pm', was slightly happier on two counts come the end of the innings. Having taken an exceptionally economical 3-11, he learned at the interval that Baby G had accomplished his first pee in the potty! Double celebrations then in the Geddes household tonight!

McGill picked up a brace for only 6 runs and Morcom got in on the act, taking a wicket for his troubles.

Facing a target of 62 to win, Cross went out with simple instructions - keep it calm and carry on!

Nevin done neither and was back sheltering under the trees after facing two balls. Surely the Cross couldn't make heavy weather of this in the erm, heavy weather?



Captain Ken came in to steady his ship and threw caution to the wind, batting well above his Coastal Erosion average and for the record, hit a 2 off his opening ball!! In an innings that lasted 16 balls, our Leader produced an unlikely 15 runs before being bowled.



Making a cameo appearance for the Cross was Irishman Willie Lytle and the bearded batsman knocked an impressive 18 out before succumbing to Tulloch's bowling. Young Miss Tulloch clean bowling Willie with an awesome delivery.





Cometh the day, Cometh the McGill! Coco's unbeaten 22 put Cross level and perhaps it was cruel that the winning run came off a bye - but that's the way it goes!



So, a win for the Mighty 3's who were singing in the rain. A big thanks to Simon, Charlie and Smudger who popped over from Arbo to watch, umpire and substitute field.

More pics now available on Broonster's Facebook

Solid start for 3's at Inverleith

Breaking News: Holy Cross 3's defy conditions to restrict Stew Mel to 61 all out at Inverleith in this reduced over league fixture.

Geddes took a hat trick as HX bowled out their hosts with 7 of their 30 overs left.

League Weekend 11 and the Week Ahead

Saturday's league fixtures

• 1sts vs Glenrothes, Arbo.
• 2nds vs Leith 2nds, Leith Links.
• 3rds vs SMRH 3rds, SMRH artifical.

Next Tuesday night there's a 20:20 friendly vs Murrayfield-DAFS at Roseburn Park by Murrayfield Stadium. If you'd like to play, comment here, e-mail me at secretary@holycrosscricket.co.uk or buttonhole the mighty McGill. On Wednesday night nets are at Newfield as usual.

Cross crash out of President's Trophy

Despite restricting Westquarter & Redding to 115-7, holders Holy Cross fell short in their reply only posting 101-3 in this restricted over clash.

More on this soon (maybe...)

breaking news...Ellis forced to retire with knee injury

http://tinyurl.com/266h6j4

Heavily delayed match report 1st vs Watsonians 2s

Holy Cross travelled to Craiglockhart on Saturday to take on league leaders Watsonians who had been unbeaten since the opening game of season. Actually this isn't strictly true as some of our number travelled to Myreside although knew they were in the wrong place when two teams were seen warming up.

Seeing as how it's now Wednesday I can't remember if Watsons chose to bat or were put in. Either way they batted first on a wicket that looked like it had the potential to be interesting. In he absence of our regular opening bowlers Andy Killey and your author got the game underway. Killey looked particularly dangerous on the Craiglockhart deck, beating the bat on several occasions and was eventually rewarded with the wicket of Flannigan, one of several Sonians batsmen to have been a thorn in Cross sides in the past.

Fox was next to fall to a superb catch from Andy Quinn and, with both bowlers keeping things tight, after 20 overs Watsons were 64 - 2. However after witnessing Crosbie the No4 deposit the ball out of Arbo on several occasions in the return fixture Cross knew there was still plenty do despite the good start. A change of bowling brought Doctor Astley to the fore and in line with my early morning premonition he was the man to remove the dangerous Crosbie. Around the same time Saisubramanian was beginning to look dangerous hitting a succession of boundaries. Buoyed by compliments from the previous weekend's touring party's key batsman Damo, the skipper thought he was due a bowl and how right he proved to be, removing Saisubramanian with his first ball to another good catch from KF.

From here on Watsons wickets fell regularly with Charlie amazingly picking up his first senior 5 for (amazing that it was his first not that he did it). Watsonians ended all out in the 46th over (I think) for 174.

With the pitch becoming more unpredictable it was a total we should have chased down but by no means for certain. When Charlie fell for 2 Sonians' mood changed; however 23 from Spickers and 28 from EC around another good knock of 46 KF (thankfully the selectors are still ignoring his form) got us close. When Calum fell for 9 a few nerves might have began to flutter in Cross stomachs.

No need however, with Dougie and Psycho at the wicket the remaining runs were swiftly knocked off. Bates was in a particularly savage mood hitting a quickfire 25* to close out a good victory. With both sides missing players this was a good win for HX with every single player contributing and an excellent effort in the field. It was particularly pleasing to see how the fielding had improved from the game against Accies where it was the difference between the sides.

It's a Road....

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1292625/This-really-isnt-cricket-Outraged-villager-parks-car-wicket-protest-smashed-window.html

OCs Game Off

Unfortunately our hopes of putting out two sides on Thursday night have proved too ambitious. The Presidents Trophy tie at Westquarter goes ahead, but the Arbo friendy vs the Old Contemptibles is off. Our apologies to our old friends at the OCs.

Explanation required

Can a member of the third XI please explain what is happening in this scene. I have spent the last 5 hours trying-but failing- to work out what is going on.

Academy game cancelled

1sts vs East Regional Academy

Cancelled due to inclement weather.
A break in the weather at 11.30 ish allowed a start to be attempted.
2 overs played (HX 6/0) before rain became too heavy.
Further very heavy bursts left the pitch waterlogged.

Breaking News....1sts beat leaders but 2nds and 3rds lose

Saturday Scores Digest:
1sts
Chased down Watsonians' 174 all out for the loss of 5 wickets on a very tricky wicket. KF led the way with 46; useful contributions from Spickers, EC, CA, Dougie and Psycho - and extras. In the first half Killer and Bimbo led off with disciplined opening spells, and the Doctor got rid of key man Crosby - cje was able mop things up with his 1st EVER 5-for, including their skip Breach who made a battling 83.

But ultimately it was all down to the skipper's inspired bowling change.... obviously...ask him about it....at least KF didn't start laughing till he took the catch.

Watsonians 2 174ao (D. Breach 85, V. Saisubramanian 19, C. Ellis 5/20)
Holy Cross 176-5 (K. Fraser 46, E. Smith 28, J. Bates 25*, S. Pickering 23).

brief mention here:
http://sport.scotsman.com/cricket/Cricket-Four-times-50-equals.6400172.jp

Watsonians' view of events here:

http://www.watsoniancricket.co.uk/seconds/second-loss-of-the-season-for-2s/#more-1237

2nds
pvb reports:
Watsonian 3rd XI beat Holy Cross 2nd XI by about 24 runs.

Watsonian 3rd XI scored 230-9 (Steve Lockhart an impressive 98* & Gareth Burnett 41 or so).
Holy Cross went along merrily to about 120-1 and 195-5 but were all out for about 206. James Budden batted stylishly for about 60, Norrie got 35. Alan Borthwick and a youngster Middleton got Watsonians back on track.

3rds
This week it was the turn of the 3s to be hit around by a young batsman:

Dunfermline 3rds 206 for 5 B Wilkinson 109no,T Lucas 35no
beat
Holy Cross 3rds 146 for 7 C McGill 64,R Ellis 31, T Lucas 3-20
by 60 runs
further details to follow....

Cross Below Par Against Dunfermline

Click on pics above to enlarge

Amidst incredible closing scenes at Campbell Park, a very youthful Dunfermline IIs recorded a win which leaves Captain Ken wondering if there will be 11 mobile players to choose from next week!!

Cross elected to field initially with 10 men following a call-up to the seconds for Usama and despite the numerical disadvantage, Geddes and McGill - who were to feature later in the batting - both took early wickets, leaving the Fifers 9 for 2 after 3 overs, McGill forcing Petrie to hit the ball down the throat of McIntosh who's one-handed catch at deep point proved to be one of the highlights of the afternoon and Geddes taking out Penman for a duck.

Further successes for Ellis, Shazad and Nevin saw the visitors finish on a reachable 206-5.

The star of the visitors show was young Ben Wilkinson who went in at Tea a centurion - Not Out at 108.

Cross went all out on the attack with Nevin and Coastal Ken however Mike was back in the sheds after a hat-trick of balls faced and the showers had hardly heated up before his Captain was sharing the shower gel after being dispatched for a single run.

Mahmood changed bats during his spell but neither could help him reach double figures as he fell to Lucas for 7. At the end of six overs, Crossers everywhere were searching the record books for our lowest score as we stood at 12 for 3.

Thomas Lucas claimed his third wicket, dismissing Usama for 2, and with a quarter of the innings gone Cross were a dismal 20 for 4.

Where the youth had failed, the experienced steadied a ship of Titanic proportions. A solid knock by Ellis Snr accompanied by Coco saw a partnership of 78 take Cross to the dizzy heights of 98 before the former fell to Williamson.

The game looked to have slipped away from Cross by this stage, but Geddes wasn't giving it up that easily - however he tried too hard and required a runner. Shortly afterwards, so did Coco!

Amazing scenes then as Usama padded back up for a supporting role for Geddes but just who from the sidelines could go back out to provide assistance for McGill? Looking across the bench, it became clear - none other than the youthful Ellis Snr!

The scene was set and it would have sold tickets at the Fringe! Comical stuff indeed with Geddes forgetting about his runner on occasion and the sidelines amused by the whole situation.

Coco made it to 64 before being run out on the final ball and Cross finished four runs short of an additional batting point on 146 for 7.

Further match photos are on Broonster's Facebook

Maccabi make light of McGill's Midweek Men

Wikipedia offers the definition of Maccabi as a reference to one of the Maccabees whose story has become synonymous with courage, success and victory.

Sadly for McGill's Midweekers, the Maccabees of Edinburgh cricket upheld that tag and a man of the match performance by Adeel, hitting 79 (9 fours, 2 sixes) not out saw the visitors win by 58 runs.

The Cross front line opened up well with Patel marking his return with a maiden over and Bainbridge keeping it tight.

Then the hard hitting batsmen decided to cut loose and despite valiant efforts in the field and a heroic wicketkeeping display by rookie McIntosh, the Cross bowlers were given little change from Raja and Adeel who put on an opening 86 partnership.

In response, Mehta (13), Cartwright (17), Ellis (3) and Bainbridge (9) fell as Bargon and Raja grabbed a brace each, leaving Cross looking fragile at 47-4. Patel and Astley stopped the rot with an unbeaten partnership of 65 as the Cross saved some face and posted a final total of 112. Astley was the pick of the batsmen with 3 top drawer sixes in his unbeaten 33.

League Weekend 10 and the Week Ahead

This Weekend's League fixtures -

• Saturday, 1sts vs Watsonians 2nds, away - umpire Mike Blackshaw.
• Saturday, 2nds vs Watsonians 3rds, Arbo.
• Saturday, 3rds vs Dunfermline 2nds, home at Campbell Park.
• Sunday, 1sts vs East Regional Academy, Arbo - umpires James Wilson & Imtiaz Ahmed.

Next week there are nets as usual at New Field on Wednesday evening. There are currently two evening games scheduled for Thursday - the Presidents Trophy 2nd round away at Westquarter and a friendly at Arbo against the Old Contemptibles. We would like to be able to honour both fixtures. EC will be assembling a team for the cup tie, but if you'd like to play vs the OCs please contact Colin McGill, comment here or e-mail secretary@holycrosscricket.co.uk.

Psycho Slams Swann Slur

The BBC sports website's text commentary on the tennis has just reported the following -

Zvonareva 3-6 6-3 5-2 Pironkova. A Tweet arrives from England off-spinner Graeme Swann: "Sat on bates bulge at wimbledon with two of the best looking men I know on women's semi final day. The air reeks of desperation."

While Mr Admin admits to having occasionally reeked of desperation, usually during a spell of "off-spin", he would like to make it clear that he is not currently in London and has never met Mr Swann or his handsome friends.