Pre-history

A slide show of Holy Cross cricket teams is available here. Admittedly, most are of the school's teams, rather than the Club's. But some signs of the Club to come can be discerned in this photographic pre-history.

For alongside such well-known faces as umpire and Carlton secretary Martin Flynn, arts impressario Richard Demarco and Cross legends Alan Reid and Hugh Kilpatrick, can be found P Lynch (sadly a Paul rather than a Pat), Ian Ashley and, most intriguingly of all, Wieslaw Pitulko - the Ziggy of his day?

Vaughan and Parky on Captaincy

On this morning's Today programme Michael Parkinson interviewed Michael Vaughan on the subject of leadership in cricket. Pretty interesting stuff. Here's the link to the extended (seven minute) version.

99* - Catchin' Sachin?

At long last HX has something in common with Tendulkar - we're both stuck on 99. Admittedly, Sachin is on the verge of achieving the astonishing feat of a hundred international centuries while the HX Twitter team is one short of the slightly less astonishing feat of gathering a hundred followers.

The Little Master scored his 99th international century during the World Cup in March, just around the time that HX Twitter was born.

Can we pass him before his next chance comes with the start of the 2nd Test on Tuesday? If there are any blog readers who haven't yet signed up to Twitter for even more, even faster, (and perhaps most importantly) even shorter HX news, here's the link.

Something Else Fishy

A pike & two googlies

In another of what may now be characterised as an occasional fishing/cricket cross reference, I thought I'd share this Prize Letter of the Month from September's Cricketer magazine.

~

Toby Codd, Devon County Under 13's captain, earned a place on The Cricketer's Honours Board earlier in the season with a magnificent hundred against Isle of Wight. He rates another mention, for an altogether different reason, following his dismissal against Hampshire U13's at the ESCA U13 County Festival at Kings College, Taunton. Codd went fishing outside off stump and was snapped up by Hampshire keeper Alex Bass off the bowling of Robert Pike, resulting in the unusual piscatorial entry:


Codd     c Bass    b Pike 2

League Reorganisation - 2012 Divisions Released

Division 1 - Holy Cross, Carlton 2, Dunfermline, Glenrothes, Grange 2, Largo, Marchmont, Murrayfield DAFS, Musselburgh, Watsonians 2.

Division 5 - Holy Cross 2, Edinburgh Accies 2, Edinburgh South 2, Livingston 2, Murrayfield DAFS 3, Musselburgh 2, Penicuik 2, Preston Village, Stirling County 3, Watsonians 3.

Division 8 - Holy Cross 3, Carlton 4, Dalgety Bay, Dunfermline 3, Hawick & Wilton, Kirk Brae 2, Largo 3, Morton 2, SHRH 3, Tranent.

Fauldhouse have joined the National leagues. Stirling 2nds and Stenhousemuir 2nds have joined the West.

Five Borders clubs have joined the East, including Hawick & Wilton in Division 8 with our 3rds. Leith FAB 3 are no more. Edinburgh have failed to convince the ESCA Committee that they have access to a ground suitable for Division 1 cricket and so their 1sts will rejoin the East leagues in Division 2 and their 3rds will not rejoin the leagues this season.

Indoor Fireworks ?

Don't worry, we're not going to report on Mario Balotelli's latest visit to the bathroom. Instead we bring you news of the draw for the inaugural LiveSportOn.TV ESCA Indoor 6s.

We're in Group A along with Boroughmuir and Tranent. Games will be played at Liberton High School on Gilmerton Road on the evenings of Friday 20th January and Friday 17th February. The group winners will go forward to a Finals night on Friday 16th March.

In further indoor news, watch this space for details of pre-season nets which will be starting in early March.

John Arlott in Conversation with Mike Brearley

You may be interested in this programme: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b018gwvh on BBC4 tonight at 10pm.

If you miss it or don't have access to BBC4 (the only TV station really worth having...) , it will available onIPlayer soon after.

If you don't have time to watch that you may enjoy the conclusion of the 2nd test at Hobart:
http://youtu.be/I3y_MtcBle8http://youtu.be/I3y_MtcBle8

Four Pacemen of the Apocalypse

Something Fishy???

With a variety of intellectual powers on show, the results of the 2nd Annual Holy Cross Quiz Night were;

1. Four Pacemen of the Apocalypse - 47pts
(Professor McGill, Doctor Bonfield & Bishop Lynch)

2. FC Clam Idea* - 40pts
(Prez, Andy G, Michael from the Rugby Club & Ross (?))

3. Simple Minds - 34.5pts
(EC, Vik, Chuckie, Doogs,)

4. Three Dogs - 28.5pts
(PVB, Two dogs, Bimbo)

This means Dr Bonfield is the only mortal being to participate in the winning team twice. Allegations of favouritism levelled against Quizmasta K by this author will be fully investigated by an Independent Panel chaired by myself.

* not actual spelling

Reminder from Bimbo

 

Brother Crossers!

A gentle reminder that tonight (Friday 9th) is Quiz Night/Festive celebrations at Arbo.

Gates open at 6.30 for a 7pm start, looking forward to seeing you all there!

Quiz Goes OLD SKOOL

A Catholic Education

Yo Homies!!!

Accusations of dumbing down accepted!!!

This years HX Quiz goes straight back to the Old Skool!!!

After last years HNC level onslaught from a Quizmasta wot overjudged his Peeps, this year subjects will dip down into the High School syllabus including:

(translations in brackets for U30's)

Quizmasta K

Maths (counting)

English (txts & twitter)

Geography (places)

Science (totally crazy s***)

Music (choons)

Spelling (spelling)

Be there or don't be square!!! Friday 9th December for a 7pm start. Canny wait.

Quiz night!!!

Crossers!!

A call to arms!! The second annual quiz night shall be hold on Friday 9th December at Fortress Arbo!!

Along with the quiz, which promises to be another superb affair, a number of additional awards for gallantry shall be presented and the impending festive season shall be roundly toasted.

As always please feel free to bring additional brainpower along with you. Squadron Leader Fraser shall be in charge and after last years victory by the all the Presidents men has promised a far more rounded line of questioning.

We shall commence the evening from 6.30. Questioning starts some point after when sides have been drawn.

Tally ho!

HX Skipper comments on the new league structure

Sorry folks, EC's post has suffered the same fate as KF's infamous post about *******.

Inverleith RFC - Race Night

 

Crossers are invited to a Race Night at Arbo next Saturday 26th.

Starts at 7:30pm, hosted by Inverleith Rugby Football Club.

It's in aid of Mike Gordon's daughter's charity.

Entry £5.

League reconstruction update

Yesterday Paul summed up the situation on the ESCA forum -

In today's Scotsman Roddy Smith is quoted as follows - "We have received the views of the WDCU which are not unexpected. There is a situation where about half the country is very pro-regional and Cricket Scotland itself is very strongly of the opinion that a National League serves no real purpose. We will now sit down and take everyone's views on board before deciding what the future structure of club cricket in Scotland should be."

ESCA representatives will meet Roddy on Thursday morning. The Borders teams are meeting on Wednesday night. I would expect significant progress to be made sooner rather than later.

Because we will have leagues of ten whatever happens, I am confident fixture lists will be much easier to compile with far less clashes and competitive cricket for all.

ESCA AGM

As expected, last night's ESCA AGM was somewhat inconclusive and there will probably have to be an SGM before next season. Here's what we don't know -

• The composition of ESCA's top flight - The West meet on Thursday night to decide their response to changes in the National League (ie the move from three divisions with 32 teams to two divisions with 20 teams). As things stand, I think nine of the twenty clubs in the continuing National League are from the West. The West agm may decide to ask all of them to withdraw from the National League, but, if it does, not all of them may agree. If any West clubs withdraw from the National League, it is anticipated that they will be replaced by some of the seven East teams who were in the National League last year and who will otherwise join the top division of the East League. To add a little further complication, one of those seven, Falkland, will wait until after the West's vote to decide whether to join the East or the Strathmore; and Edinburgh 1sts will only be readmitted to the East's top flight if they can secure a home venue acceptable to the ESCA committee by the end of the year. All clear?
• The rules for the top flight - A number of the teams who may be coming down are keen to make sure that they are on the same footing as teams in other Leagues who aspire to (re)joining the Nationals. The most pressing issue seems to be whether they would be allowed two overseas players (only one is currently allowed in Div 1), but they may also want to try to change some of the playing conditions, in particular by introducing fielding circles, even though a motion from Carlton to introduce these was overwhelmingly defeated last night. Changes would require a special general meeting.

And here's what we do know -

• Three new teams were admitted to the League - Morton 3rds, SMRH 4ths and Edinburgh South 4ths. It is anticipated that Edinburgh South 3rds and 4ths will play on a new artificial wicket at the Inch, although this may not be available immediately at the start of the season.
• Two teams were readmitted to the League - Edinburgh 2nds and 3rds. (Musselburgh 3rds were also reelected).
• A number of Borders teams have expressed interest in joining the East - There are currently seven 1st XIs in the Borders League. One (Langholm) is joining an English league. Between three and five of the remaining six are said to be interested in joining the East. None of them is thought strong enough to be likely to feature in the top couple of divisions and none of them will bring their Reserve teams with them. A special general meeting will be required to approve entry.

PS - Many thanks to the East Committee for all their hard work over the last year. Thanks also to ESCA President, Bruce Dixon, for noting the passing of the great JLRB in his report to the agm.

PPS - I've disabled comments on this post to avoid generating a massive Rampant Lion-style thread. If you have any thoughts on the above, send me (but, please, not the whole club) an e-mail.

The Crumbling Face of Italian Cricket?!?!?

Anyone requiring cheering up for the weekend need look no further!!!

After the grim snapshots of the erse end of our decrepit and crumbling institution please enjoy this much more uplifting photo of the erse end of another decrepit and crumbling institution clapping his peepers on the Danish PM.

If this doesn't make you laugh, nothing will.

PS: Her name is Helle Thorning-Schmidt.

Arboretum Pavilion - now a danger.

Sad to see the old pavilion at Arboretum in such a state. The pictures (taken on Nov 1st) clearly show that people are accessing it at the rear-and posing a danger to themselves and others-including by removing various objects from the pavilion; some of which may be hazardous.

Scottish cricket makes the front page...

http://www.scotsman.com/news/cricket_star_faked_his_own_death_1_1933694

Indoor cricket.

Holy Cross have entered the inaugural ‘LiveSportOn.TV ESCA Indoor 6's’.

For some, the words cricket, indoor & league may summon up memories of this  (surely-alongside The Ascent of Man, The Singing Detective and Threads- the crowing glory of British television), in fact this competition involves something akin to cricket...

Now we just need a team…

Gary T and Cje play a proper athletic indoor sport but since the rest of you spending the winter evenings slumped in front of the XFactor, you could perhaps do with some exercise.

Can anyone interested please leave a comment to that effect-or email Jon.

We need a volunteer to organize the side…go ahead-seize the opportunity! …if might influence the selection committee currently engaged in the task of nailing down a captain for the 1sts for next season.

Details of the competition:

‘The competition will take the same format as the cricket Scotland tournament with 4 groups containing 3 teams in each.  The 3 teams in each group will attend on the same night and play round robin, each team will take part in 2 nights thus getting gets 4 games in total throughout the tournament.  Each of the 4 group winners would then attend the finals night for 2 Semi-Finals and a Final being held.

This will be run every Friday night from 20th January to 16th March 2012 at Liberton High School, the 1st game on each evening will start at 6.30pm prompt’. 

teams entered are:

Glenrothes CC

Edinburgh Schools Academy

Penicuik

Edinburgh South

Musselburgh

Holy Cross

Boroughmuir

Tranent

Marchmont

Edinburgh Accies

Fauldhouse

Morton

Pretty prizes

One Crosser celebrates his birthday today. In addition to the vast array of gifts, he's also received this monstrosity lovely trophy.

It's That Time Of Year Again..

Another snapshot from Portobello

...when I return to a familiar theme and repeat the same old same old.

I've blustered fruitlessly in the past about a dislike of playing our noble game in sub-zero temperatures during April whilst reaching for the BBQ sauce after the last game of the season and soaking up some rays.

Some well meaning souls mutter mitigatingly about seed germination prior to dropping temperatures or of having to share pitches with other sports teams.

But I shall not listen to reason for no man!!! I have a bee in my bunnet and in my bunnet the bee shall stay!!! I feel so strongly about this issue I've never once attended a meeting with it in mind, let alone raised it at a meeting I've not attended.

I don't think we'd have actually managed a game this September as there was a lot of rain about at times that would have put Saturday matches in doubt (good for the fishing though, I've been howking them out good style).

However, we've just enjoyed/endured our hottest September since the thermometer was invented inspiring headlines such as;

'Its Too Hot'
'Why Is It So Hot'
'When Will It Stop Being So Hot'
&
'Coldest October 1st Since Records Began'

Britain-bakes-hottest-October-day-100-YEARS

I have to apologise that this post has been delayed, but it took me a while to decide on a photo from the range available. I'll start reviewing photo candidates for next years rehashed article this afternoon.

Those past 'articles'.
2010
2009

Golf afternoon postponed

Due to slightly unforseen circumstances this Fridays golf day has been slightly postponed. Watch this space!

Making Waves

Were RCAHMS aware that their advert for their Open Doors day event (which focused on sporting/ leisure buildings; existing and lost) related to a significant ...er incident in the addled mind of a veteran Crosser history of HCACC?

Dumb Brittin

Too obvious

It appears that not everyone in our Grate Cuntry is as clevur as yuo and me.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01529m9/Pointless_Series_5_Episode_18/?t=37m39s

Club Night 23rd September

You may have heard that Gerry's band has run out of Sanatogen and will not be able to play tomorrow. Mercifully, that is true. So we have made a slight change to the evening's entertainment.

As originally billed, King Kerr will be telling some tall tales about the mighty Cross of yore, after which we will be showing the recent cult cricket movie "Fire in Babylon" about the day McGill dived in the field and landed on the box of matches in his pocket (or was that "Fire in Nylon"?).

In spite of this clear upgrading of the entertainment fare, the entry price has been slashed to a mere £2, for which you will still be getting a run at Mandy's excellent finger buffet.

See you there!

Fair play to the 2's and 3's...1sts...er

The table for the 2011 Fair Play awards have been released. Full league tables available here

The 2's and 3's are also near the top of the 'all divs' table here. 

Congrats to the 2nds and 3rds. The 1sts may need to have a think about why we slipped so far from our placings in previous seasons. 

ESCA Awards for Two Crossers

Two Crossers up for ESCA end of season awards: http://tinyurl.com/5wq8crd

Post-season maintenance

[The Grounds Commissar writes]

It's that time of year where we need to do some post-season maintenance on the Arbo square. This involves spreading 80 x 20 kg bags of loam over the square. This year, there is an added complication, because the loam has been delivered to Peffermill and not Arbo. Therefore we need:

1) People with cars (and even better, trailers) to transport the bags up to Arbo.
2) Volunteers to carry the loam to the Arbo square and spread it.

Weather permitting, we're want to do this on Saturday afternoon, with the bags of loam being picked at Peffermill from 12.00 onwards. Depending on reasonable numbers, we should be able to transport the material up to Arbo by 1.00, with the loam spreading finished about 4.00.

This is an important job. The Arbo square has improved greatly in recent years and we want to carry on that improvement. So, if you can spare an hour or two on Saturday, please do this important thing for the club. If, due to bad weather, the operation is cancelled, an all points e mail will be sent out.

Don't leave it to others, get stuck in.
Looking forward to seeing many of you on Saturday,

Smudger
Grounds Commissar.

Another date for your diary...no live band this time

A reminder that there is a ESCA meeting regarding the proposed restructuring of Scottish cricket on Thursday (Sept 15th) at Myreside -starting at 7.30.

The focus of the meeting will be on the The National Reconstruction Report  HERE

Clear Your Diaries - Friday 23rd September, Arbo, 7pm till Bedtime

Crossers, it gives the Management great pleasure to announce a Club Evening of which Jake and Elwood would be proud.


Making a very welcome return to Arbo will be former Club President and underarm leg-break legend Chris "the King" Kerr. Chris has agreed to regale us with tales from the days of rampant substance abuse and embarrassing facial hair. Now who wouldn't be interested in that? According to Chris, if you can remember the Seventies you're old enough to have forgotten them, so he will no doubt be bringing back some memories long since emotionally blotted out by the Club's senior players. As a congenial raconteur of great wit, King will delight Crossers of all ages and IQs.


A tough act to follow, for sure, but headlining our Crossational evening will be none other than the Grandaddy of Groove, the Veteran of Vibes, the Gerryatric Plank-Spanker himself and his ensemble of other folk whose children have stopped paying the maintenance.


Watch out for these kicking covers of venerable British Rock:


"Dazed and Confused"


"Ramble On"


"I'm Alive!?!"


"Who Are You?"


"Magic Bus Pass"


"Back From the Dead" and


"When I was Sixty-Four".


Mandy has kindly agreed to supply a suitably extravagant finger buffet (with all the crusts cut off) and a jumbo bag of Werther's Originals. The bar will of course be open for Horlicks and Lucozade with a two-for-one on Harvey's Bristol Cream.


Entry for over-21s only at a cost of only four pounds ten and six (or a fiver for cash). Come one, come all, because it's coming to all of us one day.

Caption competition

Footage of GT's helmet discovered

http://youtu.be/BhTN8eayySY

but both batsmen seem to be using it? How come?

Top Runs

In response to public demand, here is a list of top 1st XI run makers (league). Do check for possible errors.

Those wondering about the absence of CA Smith...he's currently 10 short of the 1000 mark! (990 at 17.68) -if only he'd turned some of those 2's into 3's....

Photos and Golf day

No it's not EC's score from his last round at Prestonfield, it's the £'s worth of damage done to some poor punters car as a result of a snap hook.

None the less he's keen to sort out a golf day for Friday the 30th of September. Let me know if you are keen and we'll get the ball rolling towards the hole.

On another note, a few photies from the last couple of weeks of the season are available here

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=Bainbro&target=ALBUM&id=5647510398104887249&authkey=Gv1sRgCL7niIiAieiEpAE&feat=email
None of that on field nonsense just good behind the scenes action.

64 more Robin..

Robin has been on at me recently about how many more 1st XI league wickets he needs to overtake Geoff Barratt. The figure is 64....so 3 more seasons at least Robin!

Derived from Hugh K's stats programme and McGill's averages, an updated list of the top wicket -takers is available here.

Presidents Trophy 2011

The replay of the final will now take place next season.

Rain reigns at Arbo as commonsense prevails in President's Trophy Final

It was a clash of the Division 1 Titans as 1st played 2nd in the end of term President's Trophy.

A coin toss went the way of the Cross and home advantage of hosting the tie at Fortress Arbo was awarded.

Rain overnight had left the square soft underfoot and as the Captain's went out to toss, it was clear that conditions above and below were likely to play a heavy part in the outcome of the game.

Fauldhouse were out the traps fast with their opening bowlers doing some fine damage. Owais run out, KF bowled, Spickers and CJE also returning to the Portacabin early on and it was 24-4 after 12 of the allocated 40 overs.

KO for KF


EC Smith was caught on the boundary as the cold and lonely scribe and photographer went for a heat in what had become a wet and perishingly cold day.

Calum joined his sibling after the Umpire took a long and hard look at an LBW shout before the trigger went up.

Bimbo then sent words of encouragement via Twitter from his Maternity Ward shopping trip with Mrs Bimbo and the BimboBump.

118 after the 40 overs - not a great score - but with the rain continuing and the light fading, who knew what the matchplay ball from Lords could do.

Tea was a feast of hot and cold foods and once again we thank Mandy for her efforts - often taken for granted.

Back out on the oval and Fauldhouse were in combat against the Cross and the Conditions, the latter to finally be their undoing.

Shannon, fresh from picking up his Player of the Year award the night before, was in fine form, unlucky not to get off the mark with some top class deliveries.

Jumping BeJesus

Pat has an LBW shout turned down

Lynch did manage a breakthrough when Owais held on to a drive from a Fauldhouse opener however as the conditions continued to deteriorate, the Umpires consulted each other and took the players off.

The Umpires decide enough really is enough

Naturally, both Teams were keen to get their hands on the silverware on offer however with the rain continuing to fall early into the Edinburgh evening, to have carried on would have been unsafe and not in the interests of the game of amateur cricket.

The rain clearly visible as is the punter on Ferry Road with their brolly!


For me, it was a poor end to a great season at Fortress Arbo for the Cross. On a personal note, it has been a tough season of no play due to injury. But beware, the Broonster will be back in 2012!!

Hat Trick for Mandy & Michael at Awards Night

Has Shifty Proposed to Mandy? Has he whispered something sweet to make her clutch her chest? Is El Presidente's breath caused Mandy's reaction?

Quick answer to all of the above sadly is No - in fact here we see Mandy & Michael being presented with exclusive Holy Cross Baggies as a token of appreciation for their unrivalled and outstanding services to the Club this season. Mandy then produced a stunning buffet after the Awards were over.

Before the Players were allowed to tuck in, Mandy reprimanded Charlie for bringing his mucky cricket shoes into the Clubhouse and reminded everyone that all the dishes and all the cups go back into the kitchen when finished!! You have been warned.

Bonfield is Top of the Crossers!

With 204 runs, 1 catch & 22 wickets, the Player of the Year Award for 2011 went to Shannon Bonfield.

Here we see EC Smith offering congratulations to 'Bonza' and one can only note the strong handshake on show here....

Bimbo wins in tense Holy Cross Arm Wrestling Championship climax

Bimbo was last night crowned as the Arbo Arm Wrestling Champion of the World in the historic surroundings of the Green Room.

He defeated the Mighty Quinn in a 3 bout final by 2-1.

On his route to winning the Tankard he'd bought to replace the one he thought he'd lost, Bimbo defeated Calum 'Big Guns' Smith in the Semi.

The Mighty Quinn delivered a knockout blow to the Smith Dynasty of Arm Wrestling prowess, taking the bookies by surprise with a Semi Final win over Smudger.

One delighted punter was spotted celebrating with his winnings shortly after the Bimbo win.

League Weekend 19

Saturday's fixtures -

• 2nds vs Preston Village at Arbo.
• 3rds vs Dunfermline 3rds at Campbell Park.

Saturday/Sunday -

• Awards Night in the Green Room.

Sunday -

• Presidents Trophy final vs Fauldhouse at Arbo from 1pm. Bar open at about 5.

Restructuring, Promotion and Relegation

As you'll all be aware, the structure and composition of next year's leagues is very unclear. However, our own PVB is doing his best to keep East League cricketers up to date with all the latest developments here.

Coming soon...

Apparently the 1st XI skipper has been interviewed by the gentlemen of the Edinburgh sports press ... the 3 hr interview is bound to produce some interesting material...

It's likely to appear here over the next couple of days.

but before we see that...did this 'information' derive from the interview??

Presidents Trophy Final

The Presidents Trophy Final vs Fauldhouse will be played at Arbo this coming Sunday, the 28th.


Or at least it will be unless Fauldhouse's SNCL play-off has to be postponed from the Saturday. If no play is possible, for whatever reason, on Sunday, there will be one further attempt to play the Final this season on the following Sunday, the 4th, although not at Arbo as it will have been turned over to winter sports by then. If the 4th also falls through then we'll try again in 2012. Still with me?


All support welcome. The Social Secretary is commencing negotiations to get the bar open from around 5pm so that those 2nds and 3rds who have a drink the night before at the awards can get a hair of the dog. The Final XI will, of course, abstain.

Maz drops bombs

[CA reports on the 1st XI match versus Marchmont- additional comments from CJE]

Arriving for the final game of the league season was largely similar to every other home game; the opposition all there, warming up, whilst various Crossers stood outside the changing sheds smoking and chatting. As ever, Charlie was setting everything up [GT was there too - and Mandy and Michael assisted too]. In fact Charlie and McGill were largely responsible for the game being on [the sunshine on Friday and Saturday helped too], both in terms care of the wicket all summer and in the last week.

On closer examination though, there were subtle changes. The flags had a uniform distance between them thanks to Gary T's debut on the flag distribution. He will learn that this makes for rather repetitive boundary golf. Other changes were that Euan and Keith were on time. Indeed, the opposition skipper didn't need to ask at least 3 times if the skipper had arrived yet [Pietsch asked 4 times..] Out they went to toss at quarter to 1 no less. Now the common cliche is to say that 'eyebrows were raised' when the opposition skipper wins the toss and chooses to bat. EC dispensed with the eyebrows [a quick trip to Roshan’s??] and said 'that’s not what I would have done' when the opposition elected to bat.

Bat they did and out came Macgregor and Sardesai to face new new ball [a new ball belong to Marchmont CC..] combination Bonfield and Trewartha. They were appropriately circumspect, with Aaron quickly on to a couple of short balls, MacGregor chipping away patiently, with them taking singles well when the opportunity arose. This combined with some sloppy fielding [any particular examples spring to mind?] meant that Marchmont made a steady start. They were on about 30 odd before Shanton got Aaron with an absolute beauty: swinging and then holding its line on a perfect length to just flick the top of the off bail and clean bowl his man. Breakthrough made and in came Loeffen, Marchmont’s gun player who has made plenty of runs this season [652 in the league in total]. He played and missed a few times early but also a played a few class shots, including a nice flick of his legs from Shanton. This nearly proved his undoing when he flicked one off Gary that fell just short of Dougie.

Macgregor and Loeffen saw off the openers and on came Charlie and Pat. Charlie didn't seem to be proving too difficult to play but Pat (notwithstanding one nice flick for 6 from Loeffen) was finding nice lines and exerting good control. Dougie replaced Charlie and bowled a beautiful spell. Straight from the off he was on the spot, bowling with nice flight and a lot of turn. He had a big shout turned down against Loeffen and Marchmont took drinks at roughly 75 odd for 1 - very much their session.

After drinks, Russell and Lynch continued and eventually Lynch got Macgregor LBW and suddenly things seemed to change. Peachey was out stumped; well bowled by Dougie [full bunger..? but it did drift.]. Collier who has had a good season came out and was caught by Lynch - a superb catch at a sort of fly gully. Someone described this as athletic; Pat has subsequently misinterpreted this as someone calling him an athlete.

Next up was urban street philosopher Keith 'Kay Eph' Fraser with a brace of catches. One a good one in a similar position to Pat's (he didn't make such a meal of it as he fell forward) and one at deep square leg (‘claimed’ by EC as he had posted Keith exactly there). Pat had bowled out (a solid 1 for 27 spell especially considering the marsh he was running up through) and Bainbridge came on at the Castle End. He induced Maksimyck to play on and GT, back on after Dougie had finished (figures of 1-30 not doing his spell justice) cleaned out Davi Sardesai with a yorker.

Throughout all this Loeffen was continuing nicely and made a solid 50. Number 10 came in, a big unit, and hit a few lusty blows. He smacked one straight back to Gary who (mostly out of self preservation) caught it before it re-arranged his face. Loeffen saw this as his cue to hit out and hit a big 6 before trying a repeat (perhaps to a slightly slower ball?) and skying one to the safest [KF ??] mid-off in Scottish cricket for a well made 60. GT finishing with 4 for single figures in his return spell.

A strange collapse from a Marchmont team that have had a good season. The scorecard reads; 33, 10, 60, 0, 5, 2, 0, 0, 0, 6, 0. These type of things used to be referred to as 'England style' collapse or, in the Green Room [circa 1998], as a 'Holy Cross style' collapse. Still, 131, although perhaps 20-30 runs short of what would be considered par, was still going to be a hard chase.

Owais Mahzer went out to bat sporting a grey Yankees cap in the style of legendary golden age MCer Rakim. Indeed, there has been some beef over who first used this 'look'. This feud has now been retired with Rakim agreeing to re-release the seminal single 'Shif - T for president (the Eric B remix)'. This will be used in the celebrations for the diamond jubilee of our Dear Leader. Out he went with Kay Eph and the fireworks started. After having a look for a couple of overs, Mahzer Maz started dropping bombs all over the shop. It was whack. Meanwhile Kay Eph was reflecting philosophically on his bat at the other end with the occasional spat out line. He 'spat up' a full length ball to mid off who [somehow] put him down [on a par with Big Pat’s dolly at Grange Loan]. Mahzer Maz eventually ‘nicked off’ to keeper for 36 off 28 odd balls [what was odd about them??] before stating something like 'I was jus gettin ma grove on' or 'just getting my eye in'. Still, braggadocio has always has had a role in hip hop culture.

In came Charlie (more Fresh Prince than Rakim) who batted with intent. Not only had the openers put on 50 odd with their fast paced rhymes but had used up many of the Marchmont openers' overs. The Fresh Prince and Kay Eph saw off the rest of Loeffen and Maksimyck and Charlie 'whacked' Davi Sardesai's first ball and basically took it from there. Scoring a well tempo-ed 62 whilst Kay Eph dropped the anchor (managing to see off an off spinner in the process (!)) and finished 34 no. The Fresh Prince playing some pretty 'fresh' shots (in the sense that they have not been seen before very often [fair enough…not in this country anyway...]) including a hoick over cow for 6 and two lofted drives straight for 4.

A 9 wicket win then means that we finish 2nd. A well deserved reward for a good season especially considering that we lost our first 2 games - we have gone 9 and 1 since then. Characterised by batting and bowling depth and consistency and backed up by good catching and (generally) high [KF again?] fielding standards. Its been good to have Marchmont back in division 1 and also congratulations to Fauldhouse who won the league and have gone this league season unbeaten - a notable achievement. Good luck to them in their play-off next Saturday. We have our final game (against Fauldhouse) in the President’s Trophy next Sunday at Arbo and all are welcome to support.

1997 vs 2011....

Having matched the performance of the 1st XI of 1997, questions have been raised about the relative merits of the two sides...

Derived from Hugh K's stats, here is the core side that represented the club in the 1997 season (number of appearances in brackets-15 matches in total):

Bates (15)
Barker (13)
Bradley (15)
Willey (5)/ Begg (4) / Wheatley (5)
Ellis (6)/ E. C. Smith (5)/ Afzaal (5)
Russell (11)
Robertson (c/ wkt) (11)
Dyer (15)
Worsnop (8)
Fisher (10)
McGill (15)

How does this line up compare with that fielded on the last Saturday of the season (and also not forgetting Two Dogs). 4 players (plus Bates-one 1st team league appearance in 2011) feature in both...but are they the same players...

Mazher
Fraser
Ellis
C. A. Smith
E.C. Smith
Bonfield
Russell
Pickering
Trewartha/ Worsnop
Bainbridge
Lynch

feel free to comment...especially keen to hear the Pres' views.

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)

League Weekend 18

Saturday's fixtures -

• 1sts vs Marchmont at Arbo in 2nd-place shootout.
• 2nds vs Largo 2nds, (quite far) away.
• 3rds vs SMRH 3rds, (not very far) away.

Hollywood Legend Pictured In Edinburgh

Family Day Out

It could have been any father out for the day with his boys to watch some cricket at Portgower Place on Sunday. But this wasn't just any family outing. Original James Bond star, McGill Collins, took his boys to the set of 90's blockbuster 'The Masterton Files' and regaled the youngsters with the tale of how he bowled Don Bradman twice with one ball in the semi final.

Young Chuckie McGill (back row, left) was overheard openly questioning his fathers version of events having recently studied the account of a witness to the filming who wrote everything down in a scorebook.

Without pausing for breath, the ageing megastar explained to the first twins he had out of wedlock, EC & CA Hurley (back row centre & middle row centre) how, despite winning multiple Oscars every time he makes a movie, studio bosses keep freezing him out of summer blockbusters and forcing him to turn out in low budget B-movies.

Despite this marginalisation, ‘Cocko’ Collins still manages to direct some independent movies of an evening. He recently cast Bollywood sensation Vikramabawz Groweary in ‘75’, a short film about a street urchin who buys a magical shirt on the internet and turns into a run machine.

Cocko’s other twins, Shane (beard) & Prat Blanchett (back row right) announced they hope to shoot a movie at Portgower Place one day, though due to legal wrangles, all sets have been moved to nearby studios 20^th Century Fettes until further notice.

Geordie McGill (middle row left) appeared to be yet again engaged in his addiction to voicemail interception.

Cocko is probably best known for his role as ‘Mitch McGill’ a Portobello lifeguard in the Scorcese epic Deep Slippy Gully.

Another Final...

President's Trophy Semi-Final-at Arboretum

Leith FAB 42ao
I Davies 19*
S. Bonfield 5-18, P. Lynch 4-12

Holy Cross 44-2
G. Trewartha 22*
O. Mazher 14*

HX will play Fauldhouse in the final. Date/ venue tbc but NOT Sunday 21st

The Croscars - Awards Night, 27th August

Hmmm. Normal service resuming - you know, stuff about cricket and the Cross, although the photo of the Grange night out was very nice.

To celebrate another successful season, Awards Night will be held in the Green Room at Arbo after the last league games on Saturday 27th August. No need to dress up like a member of the Bullingdon.

Many of the awards (eg Most League Runs, Most League Wickets and the highly prestigious Quack, Quack Oops award for most ducks) are awarded on the basis of Colin McGill's statistics. Others (such as the one involving the very snazzy Hawaiian shirt) are awarded entirely at the President-compere's discretion.

However, most awards need your participation, so please vote for as many or as few of the following as you like, and feel free to provide a little explanation/description where necessary. Votes to Mr Admin/JB/the Secretary by Thursday 25th, please.

• Club Player of the Year.
• 2nd XI Player of the Year.
• 3rd XI Player of the Year.
• The Wolrige Tankard - for the player with the best team spirit.
• Clubman of the Year.
• Most Improved Player.
• Most Disappointing Season.
• Most Memorable Team Performance.
• Best Younger Player.
• The WG Grace Award - best older player.
• Most Entertaining Moment.
• Trigger - the worst player-umpire.
• The Botham Award - most heroic individual performance.
• The James Bradley Memorial Princess Hissy Fit Award - best tantrum.
• Catch of the Year.

If there are any other incidents from the season that you remember with amusement or affection, please let me know about them and we may create a one-off award to commemorate them.

Just Not Cricket

What, no cricket, oh well, are we allowed politics on here? No, oh, never mind, here are some thoughts on the UK Riots (sic) anyway.

A good place to start, Peter Oborne in the Telegraph;

Telegraph Article

Looters and Rioters?

Next up, some Bullingdon photos; I say

“…But within hours of the photo (right) being taken, the 10 young men were wreaking havoc on Oxford, where they were all at university.

One of them, said to be Ewen Fergusson (4), threw a plant pot through a restaurant window and the police were called…”

David Cameron

About the destruction of peoples businesses during the riots;

“criminality pure and simple”

About the trashing of a restaurant by the super rich student members of the Bullingdon Club;

“Like many young people, I did things when I was young that I should not have done and that I regret”.

About Andy Coulson

“I decided to give him a second chance”

About looters and rioters

“Law-breaking has to be punished. One of the heartening things we are seeing now is because the courts have been sitting round the clock we are seeing a much tighter timetable between getting your collar felt by a police officer, going to a police cell, appearing in front of a court and being sent to prison”

Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson

About the destruction of peoples businesses during the riots;

“This behaviour was criminal behaviour”

About his days in the Bullingdon Club;

“The blissful sponge of amnesia has wiped clean the slate of memory,”

It's not just the tories, top Labour brain, Hazel Blears stands during the school holidays and asks;

“Why are these kids not in school?”

I can’t do her herioic expenses claims justice. Here is a link.

Fill your boots hen

Yup, she's still an MP. Just the sort of person we need to clamp down on people who think they can just take mod cons for free.

Coming soon, the Broonster/Frazerio dream ticket.