Our involvement with this national knockout competition, played on Sundays with 40 overs a side, was happy but brief, starting in 2002 when the rules were changed to allow clubs with more than two Saturday teams to enter and ending in 2004 as the 1sts were promoted as Champions to ESCA Division 1.
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| Captain Keith kisses the cup. |
In 2003 we were helped greatly by being drawn at home throughout the early stages of the cup and recorded wins against Montrose by 198 runs (Keith Fraser 106*, Ian Astley 3 for 1, Colin McGill 3 for 14); Strathclyde by 108 runs (Dougie Russell 46, Rod Mair 45, Ian Astley 3 for 24); Glasgow Victoria by 49 runs (Dougie Russell 84, Shannon Bonfield 3 for 17, Ian Astley 3 for 32); and Inverurie by 8 wickets (Joe Palmer 4 for 41, Shannon Bonfield 58*).
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| Dougie Russell, Rod Mair, Shannon Bonfield, Joe Palmer, Colin McGill, Shammo Biswas. Euan Smith, Anzelm Cydzik, Keith Fraser, Ian Astley, Jonathan Bates, Roland Dannreuther. |
David Potter has kindly given us permission to reproduce his report of the final which was played at Uddingston's ground at Bothwell Castle Policies -
On an overcast day Dollar and Holy Cross Academicals met in the nineteenth final of the Small Clubs Cup which is sponsored by Readers Cricket Balls. This was the first final for either side and they had made it through to the last day from an original entry of 32 teams.
Keith Fraser won the toss for Holy Cross and decided to ask Dollar to bat first on a beautiful batting strip. His decision was fully justified as the opening attack of Bonfield and Palmer made life difficult for the batsmen and it was no surprise when Robertson edged a catch off Bonfield who looked the livelier of the two bowlers to keeper Dannreuther with the score on 6. Buick and Buchanan-Smith steadied things for Dollar and took the score on to 36 before Bonfield struck again to clean bowl Buick for 26 and he followed up quickly to have Arnold adjudged lbw without scoring.
Bonfield continued to create havoc and his next victim was Anderson for a duck and Dollar found themselves in deep trouble at 42 for 4. Buchanan-Smith continued to hold firm, however he was lucky to survive on 21 when Fraser dropped him running backwards at extra cover. He did not make the most of his good fortune as Ian Astley who had now replaced Bonfield at the pavilion end bowled him a few overs later much to the relief of his skipper.
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| Ian Astley bowls Buchanan-Smith |
Wickets continued to fall at regular intervals as Fraser switched his bowlers around and only Jack Allen showed any resistance as he hit a patient 31 to be the last wicket out on 100. Bonfield finished with 4 for 16 and Astley had 4 for 26.
After the interval it was imperative that Dollar got early wickets otherwise they were staring defeat in the face. They did get a wicket with the score on 19 when Russell was given out lbw, but this only brought man of the match Bonfield to the crease. Together with the captain they put on an unbeaten partnership of 93 to see the Edinburgh side home to victory by 9 wickets with 24 overs to spare. Both batsmen played some delightful strokes to all parts of the ground and in the end Holy Cross to the great delight of their supporters ran out deserved winners on the day.
Some other random memories of the great day - a tea of such variety and magnificence that some of us still talk about it; Morrish, Buchanan and Blacklock's victory parade down Princes Street with the cup held out of their car's sun roof; champagne in the Green Room on our return.
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| Man of the Match and victorious Captain |
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yes, a great tea, enjoyed by all those not playing.
ReplyDeleteAhhhhh, sahweeeeet memories!!!! Here are some of mine...
ReplyDelete"wins against Montrose by 198 runs (Keith Fraser 106*"
I think they were so weak they felt obliged to let us bat first, I could only acquiesce as skipper and opening batter. EC Smith (remember him?) was the only other batter to make double figures if one recalls correctly. Never since have I hogged the strike so magnificently against a makeshift Sunday XI.
"Keith Fraser won the toss for Holy Cross"
Natch.
"His decision was fully justified"
Natch.
"Fraser dropped him running backwards"
Did well to even get near it if one recalls correctly.
"much to the relief of his skipper"
"with the score on 19 when Russell was given out lbw"
Now this is right up there with my greatest/funniest ever moments at the club. To say "Russell" disagreed with the decision would be quite an understatement. Immovable. Despite it missing a third leg stump I had to tell him it was absolutely plum (b?) to get him to exit the arena. Plus I had my eye on a 50.
"Both batsmen played some delightful strokes to all parts of the ground"
Err, not me m'lud, I remember gurgling through the 40's with a chinese cut and a drop at slips both going for 4, built of course on the back of a couple of dirty hoiks to long hops.
"in the end Holy Cross to the great delight of their supporters ran out deserved winners on the day"
Hoyles, Ellis (both), Palmer sr, Peltonen, Brown, Buchanan, Taylor, Kerr, wouldnt have been the same without y'all.
Unmentioned memories: PVB's peerless commentary on the DVD edition and the Safety Car actually catching fire en route to the showpiece event. Imagine how funny that was.