2015 Active Edinburgh Finals

After a comfortable win earlier in the week, Holy Cross took on MDAFS on finals day on Sunday 9th August.

With the usual Holy Cross availability issues, we went from having 13 names last week to 10 men confirmed on Saturday evening, then to get a txt from KF at 11:32am on Sunday asking if we had 12 men available, as he was severely hungover, typified this seasons unavailability.

Luckily Owais had popped down to watch and quickly raced home to drop off his son and get his kit!

First up was MDAFS in the semi-final. Winning the toss, it was an easy decision to bat first on what looked to be a quality wicket at Myreside. We put on 136-5, with every man getting in to double figures – Zia with 39, Raja 27 and Kashif 21. Calamity struck off the last ball when Bacon turned to come back for a second. He crumpled to the ground faster than Dougie walking around the boundary playing boundary golf! The early prognosis wasn’t looking good, could that be a season ending injury…

Kashif picked up a 3 early wickets, as well as us getting a suicide run out, which left MDAFS struggling at 29-4 at the end of the 6^th over. Charlie came in to the attack and gave me some catching practice at deep mid-on, leading to me dropping an absolute sitter. 2 balls later, I managed to hold on to the next one, which required a lot more running and distance to be covered.

MDAFS then mounted a mini comeback, but with 7 wickets down and 38 required from just 18 balls, they were always going to struggle. The final 3 wickets were shared between Raja, Charlie and myself. MDAFS all out for 110 in the 19^th over.

 

The final would see us coming up against Saturday’s Championship foe, Edinburgh CC.

Another toss won, Holy Cross were to set Edinburgh CC a target to try and chase down in the final.

Raja and myself got off to a good start, 23-0 at the end of the 4^th over. After a lovely boundary, Raja then chipped one straight to mid-off, out for 18 in only the 5^th over. Zia and then myself donated our wickets, hitting boundary balls straight to a fielder, Holy Cross stuttering to 40-3!

Kashif blasted some quick runs and was then caught in similar fashion, 66-4 off just 8.3!

Charlie took over and batted superbly. Thanks must go to the ECB’s Steven Finn, as Charlie was caught out off a no-ball after Razak’s slinging action had displaced the bails during his delivery stride. KF came and went for 2. Dougie was next man out, hitting a well-paced 20 and took us through to 114-6. Charlie batted extremely well and finished with 39 (ish), which included a big 6 off the last ball of the innings to take the Cross to a defendable total of 134-7!

Again Kashif started us off on the right foot, taking 2 wickets in the 2^nd over, Edinburgh CC slumping to 15-2! With fielding restriction in place for the first 6 overs, I struggled a bit and leaked several boundaries. The 3^rd wicket partnership raced to 56 before a disastrous run out – 56-3.

In the 9^th over Charlie took the 4^th wicket, courtesy of a very good catch from Euan, Edinburgh CC now 56-4. Some late hitting and another spilled catch by myself, which took one bounce before crossing the rope, saw Edinburgh CC reach 99-7 with 5 overs remaining. 36 required of 30 balls, it was going to be tight!

Zia removed his keeping pads and took a critical wicket in his first over, 115-9. With 2 overs to go and one wicket remaining, Dougie bowled a great over that included 3 dot balls, meaning Edinburgh CC would require 11 to win off the last 6 balls.

7 runs were taken off the first 4 deliveries from Zia’s over, which took it down to the wire. Off the fifth ball the batsman missed, Euan fumbled behind the wicket and the non-striker took off. Euan calmly collected the ball and rolled it back to Zia who took off the bails at the non-strickers end, the umpires finger went up and that was all folks, Holy Cross were 2015 Active Edinburgh Champions!

I’d like to say a huge thank you to all the guys who played in the game’s leading up to and on finals day. By my calculation we used a grand total of 20 players over the 4 games, many who were from outside of the 1^st XI squad!

It’s that sort of contribution that to me epitomises Holy Cross! A bunch of guys who perhaps don’t have the skill or flashy 1 day coloured uniforms other clubs have, but still willing to give it their all. As skipper, I loved the fact that every guy on the field put in 100%, even those who were half crocked by the time the final came around on Sunday!

All in all, the day was a brilliant experience and a real team effort. Yes there were a number of guys making significant contributions at critical points in both games, but as a whole we won as a team!

I’d also like to mention the contributions of Costal and Elmondt, who both stepped up to play in the quarter final and then again in the semi-final on Sunday! Thanks also to Quinny who answered an 11^th hour call to play in the final, as he fielded particularly well and made some vital saved on the boundary. Without you guys, I have no doubt that we probably wouldn’t have made the semi-final let alone have gone on to be champions without your efforts!

I look forward to celebrating the win with you all at the awards evening on the 22^nd August in the Green Room (more to follow from JB on that subject)!

Cheers,

One very happy Skip J