Heriots FP v Forfarshire Cricket Club Forfarshire on Sat 12 Sep 2009 at 12 noon

Scorecard

Heriots FP v Forfarshire Cricket Club Forfarshire on Sat 12 Sep 2009 at 12 noon
Forfarshire Cricket Club Won 14 runs

Match report Almost two days of solid rain washed out any hope of play on the scheduled weekend for this match. So it was an unexpected pleasure to return to Arbroath for our second game in two weeks. It was also unexpected for most of the Forfs to be playing as late as the 12th of September. We were blessed with one of the best Saturdays of the summer for our play-off clash with Heriots. This was another unexpected pleasure with the sun shining through clear blue skies and temperatures soaring past 20 degrees.

The Forfs arrived at the ground unusually early, the majority arriving before 10.30. A notable exception was Wally, who must have got lost on the back roads from Carnoustie. The main advantage of the early arrival was to commandeer the home changing room. It was yet another unexpected pleasure to find the home changing room almost twice the size of our usual away changing room, which is more akin to a sardine can.

The wicket for the game was the same one we played on two weeks before, so we had a pretty good idea how it would play. Once again the ends were very dry and the spinners would play an important part in the game. Everyone was in agreement that it would be a good day to get a score on the board batting first, so there was a buoyant mood in the changing room when Rhino returned from the toss with the good news.

Kelbey had departed for Australia earlier in the week, which meant it was an all Scottish qualified Forfarshire side that would be playing. Henry returned after his injury scare and Sam missed out as he was playing hockey. Robert Cannon made his first appearance since the beginning of June, after his return from the USA. His lack of cricket hadn’t stopped him making runs for the second and third teams. He was a welcome addition to a batting line up that must be one of the strongest that Forfarshire have had for a number of years.

Howie and ‘Smiler’ Wallace got us off to a, now expected, good start. Their 91 run partnership took us through to the 21st over and was a good platform for Rhino to come in. The seam bowlers failed to make much impression on the slow wicket so the slow bowlers were introduced. Wally failed to complete another fifty when a rare turning delivery from Euan McIntyre beat his defences. A disappointing end for him but still a valuable contribution and a tremendous season of runs he can be very proud of.

Rhino then had to face his arch nemesis as soon as he arrived at the crease. After a watchful start it was clear Rhino didn’t want to give McIntyre his wicket but at the same time wanted to try and dominate. It was an unexpected selection by Heriots to play the 57 year old and Rhino was quick to point out that his fielding would be a weak link.

Another good partnership developed as the score passed 150 in the 35th over. By now the wonderful Arbroath hospitality had kicked into gear. The fantastic weather was ideal for the barbeque to get fired up. Of course AB found it impossible to resist and was first in line.

Howie was next out attempting a surprising shot over cover only to be caught. This came just after a tactical plan was put in place for him to bat through and Rhino to play some shots. Nevertheless yet another fine innings from Howie brought a superb season for him with the bat to a close. Dougie was elevated up the order to 4 and took advantage of his chance with a well compiled 33. Some spectators felt his innings was cut short as he was unlucky to be given out run out. Robert didn’t waste any balls in his quick 12. Umair batted well for 22 not out from 15 balls, which gave us the ideal finish to the innings.

It was time for the legendary Arbroath teas, which were enjoyed by all. The prospect of playing in the Premier division next year was some recompense for not having a fixture at Arbroath to enjoy their legendary teas next year.

Q and Dougie opened the bowling and it took only until the third over for Q to pick up the important wicket of Knox. A slightly loose shot from Knoxy was well held low down at point by Bobby Cannon. Henry replaced Dougie and AB replaced Q but it was clear that the spinners were needed. Rhino was first to come on and then Umair was into the attack at the other end. Some were surprised to see Umair on before Blackie but the skippers faith in him was rewarded immediately with a wicket. Umair has an uncanny knack of picking up early wickets and that was just what was needed. The sixty run partnership was broken and soon after Umair had his second.

Rhino conceded 26 runs in a good spell of 7 overs, with 12 of them coming from 2 sixes over the short boundary. Umair completed a good spell and was replaced by Blackie who continued the good work. Farrell and McIntyre had by now compiled a dangerous partnership and were starting to catch up with the run rate. They still needed 87 from the last 10 overs and had to take some big risks. Blackie picked up a deserved wicket and was the partnership breaker for the Forfs. Farrell came out of his ground to try and force the scoring but was smartly stumped by Wally. Another partnership started to develop but the scoreboard pressure was too much and a really good catch from Bobby on the run at deep mid-wicket gave Blackie his second.

Gav McIntyre has looked dangerous against us in the past and he batted well once again. His was now the key wicket as he made his way to 83 from 77 balls. Blackie was on hand to produce a beauty of a delivery that bowled McIntyre and gave Forfs the upper hand. There was too much left for Heriots to do and Blackie picked up his fourth of the innings and AB came on to finish things off with 2 wickets.

It was a tight game but Forfs managed to keep their noses in front throughout. This was a really good team performance and one that will have to be repeated more than once next year if we are to stay in the Premier division. Once again the weather did it’s best to ruin the season and there was still a little disappointment that we didn’t win the division. Thoughts turned to another long winter and as we left the ground to head for the pub the orange filled sky at sunset seemed a fitting end to the 2009 season.

Forfarshire Cricket Club Forfarshire Batting

258 for 5

Player Name		Runs	Catches	Stumpings
Graeme Garden	Caught & Bowled Harrison	71
Craig Wallace	Bowled McIntyre	39	1	1
Ryan Watson	Caught Knox b Harrison	60
Douglas Philip	Run out	33
Robert Cannon	Caught Farrell b Harrison	12	2
Umair Mohammed	Not Out	22	1
Tony Weed	Not Out	4
Aman Bailwal
Henry Philip
Graeme Black
Graeme Quinn

Heriots FP Bowling

Player name	Overs	Maidens	Runs	Wickets	Average	Economy
A Edington	4.0	0	17	0	0.00	4.25
C Farrell	9.0	0	63	0	0.00	7.00
A Farooq	4.0	0	20	0	0.00	5.00
A van Niekerk	10.0	1	36	0	0.00	3.60
E McIntyre	10.0	0	41	1	41.00	4.10
E Harrison	10.0	0	62	3	20.67	6.20
C Goddard	3.0	0	17	0	0.00	5.67

Heriots FP Batting

244 for 9

Player name		Runs
S Knox	Caught Cannon b Quinn	4
Q Ashraf	Bowled Mohammed	29
C Goddard	Lbw Mohammed	24
C Farrell	Stumped Wallace b Black	45
G McIntyre	Bowled Black	83
E Harrison	Caught Cannon b Black	18
A Butt	Lbw Black	0
A Edington	Caught Mohammed b Bailwal	6
A van Niekerk	Not Out	10
A Farooq	Caught Wallace b Bailwal	0
E McIntyre

Forfarshire Cricket Club Forfarshire Bowling

Player Name	Overs	Maidens	Runs	Wickets	Average	Economy
Graeme Quinn	10.0	2	38	1	38.00	3.80
Douglas Philip	4.0	0	21	0	0.00	5.25
Henry Philip	5.0	0	18	0	0.00	3.60
Aman Bailwal	4.0	0	29	2	14.50	7.25
Umair Mohammed	10.0	0	41	2	20.50	4.10
Ryan Watson	9.0	2	45	0	0.00	5.00
Graeme Black	8.0	0	46	4	11.50	5.75

Umpire :
M Wylie and L Horne
Scorer :
R Milne