Scorecard

Montrose v Forfarshire Cricket Club 3rd XI on Sun 21 Jun 2009 at 1pm
Forfarshire Cricket Club Won 121 runs

Match report A Sunny Day East Angus Way!

When the fixture list is printed pre season, there are some games that are immediately circled as unmissable. The trip to picturesque Elie beach, away to the scenic Bread Al Bayne and any game at the beautiful Doo'cot Park spring to mind. Then there is the game which is often noted as highly missable due to the generally inclement weather that surrounds the area and the rather Eastern Bloc like surroundings - namely Montrose away.

The fact that Montrose is twinned with Warsaw and they play their cricket on an ageing piece of plastic is not usually the worst of it. The major drawback to cricket in the little seaside enclave is the weather. Perched close to the North Sea, this correspondent in his youth once contracted pneumonia as a result of fielding for forty five overs in the coldest wind imagineable to man. On another noteable occasion, we had to call out the air search helicopters when fine leg and deep square got lost in the thick mist rolling in off the sea.

So it was with some trepidation that we motored North with flasks of soup and duffle coats packed and survuval kits at the ready. Imagine our immense surprise when we reached Montrose and found to our disbelief nothing less than golden skies above Onion Park. With the mercury tipping a record breaking 15 degrees, we even felt the need to consider putting on suncream and the fact the local lads were all walking about in Speedos said it all.

I found myself in the highly concerning dressing room spot of changing between the Sims. Like the game of the same name, I found myself in a surreal world where survival was of the essence as I found myself getting more and more concerned that I would become the meat in a Sim on Sim sandwich. Whislt I enjoy a piece of Sunday roast - this was not quite what I had in mind.

Thankfully Sim senior went out to toss up to give me some breathing space and he came back with the news that the home skipper had won the toss and had surprisingly invited us to bat. Steven and David opened up and the batting was somewhat pedestrian for the first few overs. Steven displayed his full array of shots behind point and it would seem that Montrose had twigged this when they put all ten fielders in the behind point area. The scoring dried up and Steven was out caught at 5th gully shortly after.

Clark joined David and the pair put on an ultimately match clinching stand of 135. David batted beautifully throughout with a stunning array of strokes around the wicket and this along with some smart running giving him a brilliantly compiled 77. Perhaps the only surprise was that he didn't go on to three figures. This was once again an innings of great promise for the future.

Clark also fell surprisingly when not for the first time this season one of his team mates gave him out LBW in seemingly unconvincing circumstances. The umpire this time was Sim Junior and he will follow his father and Jingles to the Bread Al Bayne umpiring school for intensive training. The need for Forthill XI players to give their team mates out LBW when miles forward on the front foot seems a strange one - especially when Montrose later gave us an example of how to give not out when the player is struck on the back leg in front of all three......

Andy and Elliott took advantage of a tiring home attack and the innings closed on a sizeable Montrose total of 256 for 5.

Tea was taken in convivial surroundings with both teams sitting together and chatting about things like summer holiday destinations. Oh how things have changed from the confrontational Teddy era....!!!!

Andy W and Andy C opened the bowling to good effect and it quickly became apparent that the big total was going to be beyond the home team. Wickets fell at regular intervals and the two Andy's and Glenn bowled well. Elliott bowled with good pace as he continues to develop his new quick bowling style and Adees gave us another nice display of controlled left arm slow bowling to put the game beyond the Warsaw squad. The game was concluded when Ally beamed out the number eleven and Adees took a fine catch. During proceedings Chubbsy gave us two overs of dross to keep the interest going including the widest wide in history which Goose took in front of the ice cream van on the beach.

So it was a fine victory on a nice sunny day and amazingly some signs of sunburn were to be seen in the dressing room at the end.

Given it was Father's Day there was a surprising lack of shampoo and new smellies in the shower; although when quizzed about his Fathers Day present Simmy Senior said he had only received a single golf ball from his son - at which point Chubbsy blushed. Chubbsy was later heard confessing to a team mate that he had actually taken the single ball out of his father's golf bag the day before....

Missing in action today was Ian who normally relishes a trip to Onion Park and it is hoped he will be back to full fitness soon after a dose of Montrositis.

The chairman of selectors was also there running his eye over the local talent.

The Man Of The Match Award was given to David Salisbury for his excellent 77 runs and a good display of wicket keeping on a difficult surface. His performance was even more welcome given that he had to make his own lunch as his Dad had dragged his Mum off to see Take That. Alan's love of Take That is a bit of a secret but apparently he used to have posters of Gary up in his bedroom and was allegedly crying when Robbie left. Well done David.

Next week the club has a triple header Saturday when the firsts and seconds have the head to head smokie challenge and the thirds head up to Dookit Park to play the Northern Rail select. All players who are available have to play or they will be made to sit in David's Dad's house and listen to Take That all day....

Big Mental Gav has asked me to remind all travelling barmy army members that the Iran bus leaves Forthill at 8am sharp on Tuesday.


Forfarshire Cricket Club 3rd XI Batting
Player Name RunsMB4s6sSRCtStRo
extras
TOTAL :
 
for 5 wickets
0
256		        
Steven Sim ct Baxter b Hutchison 9
David Salisbury ct Thorogood b Gourlay 77 1
Clark McConnachie lbw Ramsay 75
Andrew Wallace Not Out  41
Elliot McCandless Run out  31
Ally Blair ct & Bowled Ramsay 1
Glenn Carnegie Not Out  2
David Sim   1
Andrew Cameron  
Adees Ahmed   1
A.N. Other  

Montrose Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
B Gourlay9.0228128.003.11
A Thorogood9.014000.004.44
G Hutchison9.0132132.003.56
A Hornsey7.005500.007.86
G Soutar2.002100.0010.50
G Ramsay7.0048224.006.86
K McDonald2.002700.0013.50

Montrose Batting
Player name RMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
 
for 10 wickets
0
130 (0.0 overs)		     
GA Hutchison b Carnegie 12
K Christie b Cameron 0
B Gourlay ct D Sim b Ahmed 40
G Hutchison b Wallace 1
C Thomson b Wallace 9
A Thorogood b McDonald 4
A Hornsey b Ahmed 11
A Baxter b Ahmed 11
G Soutar ct Salisbury b Sim 2
S Devnani ct Ahmed b Blair 5
G Ramsay Not Out  12

Forfarshire Cricket Club 3rd XI Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Andrew Wallace9.021326.501.44
Andrew Cameron5.0017117.003.40
Glenn Carnegie6.0031131.005.17
Elliot McCandless7.0216116.002.29
Adees Ahmed8.002438.003.00
Steven Sim2.0017117.008.50
Ally Blair1.10616.005.14