Scorecard

St.Modans v Forfarshire Cricket Club 3rd XI on Sat 16 May 2015 at 1pm
Forfarshire Cricket Club Won 14 runs D/L

Match report Forthill 2nd XI (from now on in these reports to be called the Forfarshire 3rd team) were hopeful that their first game of 2015 would get the go ahead when they gathered on the Sports Club steps on Saturday morning. Word came through from Bannockburn that there had been some overnight rain and that the forecast for the day was not great. But with the wicket was declared playable and such was the desire of the Ferry side to see some action that they didn’t hesitate to head West as planned. With new 2015 skipper Sim Junior having been called into the Forthill team (from now on in these reports to be called the Forfarshire 2nd team) it was left to vice captain Sim Senior to marshall the troops.

The convoy headed off to meet St Modans in William Wallace country and arrived to find conditions that would have tested the manlihood of even Scotland’s greatest ever freedom fighter. A bracing wind of the arctic variety was hammering across the ground, the temperature was of the chilly status and with skies that were a mixture of black and blue it was clear that some rain was likely to occur during the day. Stand in skipper Sim won the toss and chose to field first - and what followed was a 45 over war of attrition. Fielders grew colder as the afternoon progressed, bowlers fought hard to keep the ball on the wicket, a rain interruption rendered the ball like a bar of soap and overall this was an unpleasant cricketing experience.

In terms of the cricket that was played, Kailas (3 wickets) bowled very nicely throughout and Samir (3 wickets) did likewise. There were other good efforts in difficult conditions from all of the bowlers. The Forfarshire outfit were generally on top throughout and had they held the catching chances that were offered then they could have wrapped up the innings earlier. Main culprit in the ball dropping department was McConnachie Senior, once again sporting a cream coloured Victorian style cricket jumper with sleeves designed to keep the hands warm, but which are clearly not conducive to ball catching. Positioned at an unusual backward square leg position, he first of all clanked a fairly straightforward pull shot from one of the Pollock’s on show – and then more importantly clanked an even easier paddle round the corner from the talented Seshgari who went on to be the home team’s top scorer. McConnachie offered no excuses apart from the blinding sun, frozen fingers, chatting to the umpire, blurred vision from facing into the teeth of a force 10 gale, old age and failing reflexes. None of these excuses cut any ice however with a furious Glenn who was bowling on both occasions that the red object inexplicably fell to terra firma and saw his figures in tatters as a result. Other catches were dropped by younger team members with no “old age” excuses; but in spite of the poor catching efforts, St Modans were still dismissed for 145 in the final scheduled over. It was thought by all that this would still prove a tricky total to chase down on not the easiest of wickets.

Tea was taken in the unusual surroundings of the area normally reserved as the visitor’s dressing room - due to the normal tea area within the club function suite being laid out for a 50th birthday party taking place later that night. In spite of the slightly unusual set up, tea was good with various tasty sandwiches, sausage rolls (hot and cold) crisps and sundry Mr Kipling inspired cake offerings on show. With players scattered across various dressing rooms and corridors this added to the interest and the 2015 tea adjudicator liked this very much. The upshot was that a competitive early season score of 6 out of 10 was awarded and the benchmark is now set for 2015’s Golden Urn competition awarded to the best tea of the season.

Sim Senior was coaxed into opening the batting by the senior pros in the team and he took guard alongside Samir. Just into over number two, the heavens opened and a rain delay followed. After some 20 minutes or so the rain subsided and conditions were good enough to resume. A wet ball and a pitch that had been livened up a touch were the result though. Samir fell and was replaced by brother Adam – and then came another rain delay. At this juncture the home side lost a player due to work commitments and another homester also made noises that he too would need to leave for work at some stage. But with the rain going off and conditions the same as before, there was no reason not to continue with the match – although the home team perhaps seemed less than keen to do so. Adam fell and Clark joined the captain, and then the required 20 over mark in the innings was reached that meant the game would definitely have a result. More noise was made by some fielders about work commitments, but the visiting batsmen just played away; then suddenly another home player departed the scene leaving St Modans with just nine men on the park.

With more black clouds gathering over the Wallace monument, Sim was dismissed after a fine innings -and Glenn joined Clark. With no one really sure what Messrs Duckworth and Lewis had in store for us, we kept playing away before the rain perhaps inevitably came on again. This time it seemed that the home side had seen enough rain for one day and decided the game was over no matter what. Back in the sanctuary of the dressing room, a considered calculation indicated that Forfarshire 3rds had won under the rain counting method – never the most satisfying way of securing a victory for anyone. The Forfarshire lads were happy throughout the day to just try and finish the game. With conditions being OK for play every time the rain went off; they were at a bit of a loss to be on the end of what appeared to be post match criticism from some home players. It sometimes needs to be recognised that if rain intervenes in a game of cricket, then the finishing time has to move on accordingly and plans made for a Saturday evening need to be revised. It is certainly unfortunate if people have work commitments that cannot be changed at short notice, but that is surely not the fault of the opposing team?

In any event, the Duckworth Lewis finish was perhaps a fitting end to a long day and an attempt to play cricket in unpleasant conditions. Cricket is not a game best played in cold, wind and rain – and whilst the Forfarshire 3rds went home with the full haul of points – there was no doubt that the winner on this occasion was Mother Nature. A pint with the Pollock’s was enjoyed in the clubhouse before the long trek back to Broughty Ferry and a very much later than expected arrival home that caused no end of inconvenience to the Forfarshire players.

This meant Ted missing out on a potential hot date, Simmy missing a reservation at his favourite restaurant, Clark missing a vitally required appointment at Specsavers, Chris missing the Rubik Cube Championship final, Adam not getting to the shop in time to buy his vapes before it closed, Kailas missing Britain’s Got Talent and many more time induced mishaps. So that was the story of game number one of the 2015 season for the Forfarshire 3rds. It is hoped that better weather lies ahead and tales of sunburn and hot summer evenings can be recounted before the season ends - as opposed to those of rain delays and frostbite.

The Man of the Match Award was given to Kailas for a fine bowling spell and he receives a year’s supply of fresh fruit courtesy of Tesco’s.

Catching practice will take place on Tuesday night and all players are expected to attend. Clark is reminded not to wear his Victorian jumper with built in woolly hand warmers and should instead wear a 21st century garment that allows the hands to catch the ball. No excuses will be accepted......

Next week sees the Forfarshire 3rd team heading along the M90 to Perth to meet the Do’ocot 2’s in what is usually an interesting encounter at a lovely ground. Let’s hope for some sunshine!





St.Modans Batting
Player name RunsMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
 
for 10 wickets
0
145 (44.4 overs)		     
T Sultan b  Narayanan 13
B Turner b  S Hill 28
G Pollock b  S Hill 1
J Wilson ct  D Sim b J Sim 11
F Reeves b  S Hill 0
R Seshgari b  Narayanan 38
G Etheridge b  Narayanan 32
Alec Pollock b  AG Walker 1
K Dhanani Not Out  2
Q Raza Run out  6
N Raza Bowled  0

Forfarshire Cricket Club 3rd XI Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Kailas Narayanan9.002137.002.33
Samir Hill9.0332310.673.56
Glenn Carnegie7.4115115.001.96
James Sim6.0011111.001.83
Morgan Sargeant6.002900.004.83
Gordon Walker7.0034134.004.86

Forfarshire Cricket Club 3rd XI Batting
Player Name RMB4s6sSRCatchesStumpingsRun outs
extras
TOTAL :
 
for 3 wickets
0
93		        
David Sim st  G Pollock b Reeves 25 1
Samir Hill ct  Wilson b Sultan 1
Adam Hill lbw  Sultan 4
Clark McConnachie Not Out  42
Glenn Carnegie Not Out  8
Blair Walker  
Gordon Walker  
Cameron Walker  
Kailas Narayanan  
James Sim  
Morgan Sargeant  

St.Modans Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Q Raza3.01300.001.00
K Dhanani2.001300.006.50
T Sultan8.031125.501.38
R Seshgari6.011700.002.83
J Wilson5.001900.003.80
F Reeves4.0111111.002.75
G Etheridge1.00600.006.00