Scorecard

Dalnacraig v Forfarshire Cricket Club 3rd XI on Sat 26 Jun 2010 at 1pm
Forfarshire Cricket Club Won 2 wickets

Match report Forthill XI v Dalnacraig

On a three team Saturday, Forthill XI made the short trip along the Arbroath Road to meet local rivals Dalnacraig at……..where else but Dalnacraig.
The ground was minus the artificial outfield and floodlights anticipated by many and just looked like good old Dalners to me. These vast amounts of fake public objections submitted by Spider have clearly worked.

A quick glance at the wicket might have seen the preference for a plastic pitch return as it seemed to fall into the “dodgy” category and so it proved on this particular day when the ball definitely triumphed over the bat.
Simmy lost the toss as per usual and we found ourselves in the field on a balmy day. With a late surge of customers descending on Clubsport at 12.59pm, it was left to the effervescent pair of Miller and Reid to take first use of the strip. A controversial start to proceedings saw the normally jovial Miller clearly upset that the height of one of the stumps seemed below the number of inches laid out in the MCC rule book and some readjustment of the equipment was necessary before we could commence.

Samir and Callum opened up and it seemed that extras was the only way the home sides score was going to increase as defensive shot after defensive shot came into play. Now it certainly wasn’t an Oval type surface to bat on – but nor was it the minefield that Messrs Miller and Reid seemed to think it was.
Reid was eventually put out of his misery to the joy of the large crowd who had been slow handclapping; and the custodian of Clubsport arrived at the crease and proceeded to rack up his final sale of the day when his bat broke first ball. Thankfully Spider played some fine attacking shots, however this seemed to encourage Miller further into his shell and he seemed content to play the sheet anchor role.

Clark earned a reprimand from his skipper when attempting to run Miller out as Simmy seemed to feel that his presence at the crease was somehow enhancing our chances of victory. Eventually Miller fell when a rush of blood saw an attacking shot played into the hands of a fielder who failed to carry out instructions and caught it. Exit Miller for a bludgeoning 6.

Hopkins senior entered the fray and played well on the tricky surface against some good bowling from the young Forthill seamers. It was economical figures all round from the under 18 attack and Scott and Craig once again did well against senior opposition.

Panmure rugby legend Duncan Lindsay has been tempted out of cricket retirement by Dalnacraig and has signed a sponsorship deal with Michelin. On non windy days he is strapped up to the immobile turbines at the factory and sent in to bat and the swishing of his willow when playing and missing creates enough wind to power the plant for fourteen hours.

The innings closed with whimper rather than a bang and 143 for 7 seemed a losing score even on this tricky surface.

Tea followed and the home team was keen to learn their tea mark even before tea had been served. Spider made a fetching substitute tea lady but the lack of a fully fledged bird immediately saw points lost. This was redeemed via an al fresco sandwich or two on the Dalners balcony but in all honesty the sandwich content was of the bland variety, there was an over reliance on egg and there were no yummy puddings. There was a selection of Rocky biscuits which happen to be the tea markers favourite; but there were also copious amounts of Tesco value chocolate fingers which saw marks deducted. Overall I can offer a generous five out of ten for tea but there is much room for improvement.

Simmy Jr and Andy set off in pursuit of the target with some aplomb and seemed in little trouble when BP set off then stopped, then set off then stopped again, then set off then stopped again in pursuit of a single and was unsurprisingly run out. The Sons of Lindsay came together and again seemed fine until the quaintly named Johnny Shogun (who I am informed drives a Skoda) bowled Scott.

Clark came in and seemed to want to see the start of a the World Cup match at 3pm (even though it was already half past four) and played a series of reckless shots before falling to home paceman Ruzzak’s fiery bouncer for a shoddy 22. Simmy immediately ordered Clark to sign up to a week’s intensive coaching at the Miller School of Defensive batting.

In spite of these mishaps, with the score at 80 for 3 a 25 point haul seemed inevitable - when there suddenly followed a collapse of gargantuan proportions as Ian, Glenn and Callum trooped back to the pavilion for a combined total of 2 runs.

The High School sniffed a win and panic set into the visiting ranks and Simmy Senior joined Adam at the crease. Now most cricketers dream of hitting sixes, playing flashing cover drives and winning a game with a dashing fifty – but not so Davie Sim. This was a dream situation for him. A dodgy wicket that required someone to come in and mainly block with the odd deflection. A low score to chase which meant no need to hit it off the square at any stage. A game against his former school who discarded him as a cricketer when merely a child. Carlsberg don’t do Dream Davie Sim Cricket Scenarios – but if they did, this was it.

Talk about the cherry on the Rocky biscuit though – who is this coming onto bowl but Tricky Dicky the wily floaty leggie. Where were the Sky Sports cameras when you really need them? Simmy duly obliged by blocking Dicky out of the attack with the figures of 4 over for 6 runs and crucially no hacks skywards.
Adam did well to curb his natural hitting game and contributed a crucial 17 runs before falling late on to allow Samir to come in and join Simmy at the crease when the winning run was struck.

Never in the history of Strathmore Union cricket can there have been a more boring and yet strangely enjoyable knock than Simmy’s as he ground his way to 12 not out in six hours ( it wasn’t quite that long but that is what it felt like)

Credit to the home team bowlers and especially Hoppy who took three for 12 in nine accurate overs and was enjoying himself so much that he tried to bowl another one.

So a two wicket victory and another 25 points in the bag as the Forthill XI continue to do a Cowdenbeath and punch above their weight in a tricky league.

In tight games like these fielding is just as important as batting and bowling and fielding coach Ian can take credit for the effort, energy and example he showed the boys. As he said before the game, he is still the outstanding fielder in the division and can out run, out chase, out catch and out throw any of the young whipper snappers out there. Not content with that, he added out stumble and fall over anyone else in the fourth over as he went down like Didier Drogba on a bad day.

So all roads lead to Dawson Park next week, when another low scoring encounter can be anticipated along with another low scoring tea and another fall over from Ian – although particular care will need to be taken where he stumbles as the dog warden is on holiday this week.


Dalnacraig Batting
Player name RunsMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
 
for 8 wickets
0
145 (0.0 overs)		     
C Reid b  S Hill 6
R Miller ct  S Hill b Cameron 6
G McLaren ct  Carnegie b S Cameron 20
R Hopkins ct  McConnachie b A Cameron 26
S Johnny b  A Cameron 18
D Hunter ct  S Hill b McConnachie 15
D Lindsay Not Out  14
L Smith b  A Hill 11
M Ruzzak Run out  2
G Hopkins  
M Ancell  

Forfarshire Cricket Club 3rd XI Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Samir Hill9.0027127.003.00
Callum Walker9.032300.002.56
Glenn Carnegie7.0113113.001.86
Scott Cameron5.0020120.004.00
Andrew Cameron7.0022211.003.14
Craig McConnachie5.0119119.003.80
Adam Hill3.0010110.003.33

Forfarshire Cricket Club 3rd XI Batting
Player Name RMB4s6sSRCatchesStumpingsRun outs
extras
TOTAL :
 
for 8 wickets
0
146		        
Andrew Cameron lbw  Johnny 29
Steven Sim Run out  9
Scott Cameron b  Johnny 10
Clark McConnachie ct  Lindsay b Ruzzak 22 1
Callum Walker b  R Hopkins 1
Ian Potts b  R Hopkins 1
Glenn Carnegie b  Ruzzak 0 1
Adam Hill ct  b R Hopkins 17
David Sim Not Out  12
Samir Hill Not Out  6 2
Craig McConnachie  

Dalnacraig Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
S Johnny9.0148224.005.33
M Ancell8.513200.003.62
R Hopkins9.041234.001.33
M Ruzzak5.0124212.004.80
G Hopkins6.001400.002.33
R Miller4.01600.001.50