An experience at the Meadows

You wouldn’t have known the strip was a cricket pitch if it hadn’t have been marked out. One of their players said to me when I was umpiring “this is the worst it ever been – it’s dangerous.”

So with two of our players still on buses somewhere in Edinburgh it was not wise for us to lose 2 early wickets for 10 runs; at least I had entertained the crowd with a onehanded flick before a splendid caught behind by Blackie sent me packing.

There then followed some serious coastal erosion by Jon and Ziggy. Scores of 10 and 15 in 20 overs fail to show the value of this excellent partnership. The bowlers would not have been out of place in Div 1 and the ball was doing all sorts but by taking the score to 42, we had a platform.

Ziggy sportingly walked for a caught behind but as he had snicked it before the ball had bounced, it appeared clearly not out to both pvb and Smudger; the Accies captain and all his team very sportingly accepted the recall without question.

By now Nippun’s bus had arrived; so Jon and Ziggy got out and together with Norrie (who had been invigorated by a brisk walk to the Meadows having parked at Grange Loan!) Nippun transformed the game. Fortunately for HX, Norrie was facing at the precise time their spinner came on. An early pie was gratefully dispatched to mid wicket and then whenever the ball was pitched half a yard short or an inch or two wide, Norrie was in position to drill the ball to the legside boundary; most Crossers would have been happy to nudge these balls for a single to leg. 17 off the spinner's first over and over 60 altogether was decisive, and he was not a poor bowler at all.

Nippun’s backfoot shots kept out lots of excellent balls but also picked up excellent fours to overpitched balls; two very fine late cuts would have had John Arlott purring with praise, and a textbook hook by Gerry took us to 155 when we had thought 130 would be a good score.

Norrie accounted for their opener with a high swinging full toss which beat the batsman round his legs as he tried to dispatch it. I have seen many umpires call such balls, but to their credit, Accies' young umpire accepted that it was low enough to be legal. Usama got the other opener and then Norrie dismissed their very talented Thomson with a very mean shooter; Ziggy commented that he could well have won the match on a normal pitch.

Then it was Ian and Gerry’s turn. With his 2nd ball Ian bowled their youngster and his celebration indicated he was not unhappy. Two fine spells and batsmen willing to take chances with half volleys led to both runs and wickets. One ball lodged in Carmichael Snr's helmet and drew blood, but he came back when they were 68-9 and both batsmen showed some skill and kept the score ticking along, helped by Gerry’s numerous no-balls, one of which bowled one of the final pair with the score about 70. Ian took four wickets aided by good catching especially by Nippun, and Gerry three. Smudger captained really well, judging that spin was not the best plan on such a wicket, and keeping the main men off strike by strategic field placing.

One feature of the game was the accuracy of the bowlers with very few wides indeed on either side. In short a great team effort, great sportsmanship from both sides and appreciation of opponents’ skills.