Scorecard

St.Modans v Forfarshire Cricket Club 3rd XI on Sat 04 Jun 2016 at 1pm
Forfarshire Cricket Club Lost 182 runs

Match report It was a much changed Forfarshire third team that prepared for the long trek to Bannockburn to take on the St. Modans Sunrisers. A week of injuries and call offs across all three teams meant our resources were fairly stretched and a flurry of Friday night phone calls ensured eleven men made the journey. That should probably read six men and five boys made the journey; given that our number included one under 15 player and four under 13’s… Of these; Liam, Tom and Akash were all making third team debuts. No longer a boy…………Ian also played to help us reach the required number.
 
We set off on time, but encountered a huge tailback at Broxden roundabout outside Perth which set us back somewhat - and it was with just a few minutes spare that we arrived at the sun-drenched ground. With apologies made we quickly changed and Clark once again lost the toss (100% record this year) and we found ourselves fielding first. Craig and Lewis both bowled well and in spite of some lusty blows from the aggressive Tippu the score was in check. Lewis managed to hit Tippu on the helmet with a nice bouncer which was interesting.
 
Blair and James came on next and the runs started to flow a bit; but James made the breakthrough, removing the dangerous Tippu. The runs kept flowing though and a hot afternoon in the sun was clearly coming our way. The other opener Belli had been becalmed up until now and reached a rather patient 50; but he soon opened out and reached a well-deserved 100. Liam bowled nine fine overs which was good to see and youngsters Akash and Tom were also given a bowl and did admirably under difficult circumstances. Unfortunately, numerous chances were spilled along the way and had they all been taken then the score might have been a little lower…..but as it was, the innings folded on a rather daunting 286 for 2.
 
This was a hard afternoon’s toil in the field and some improvement in the line and length and catching departments will be welcome going forward. Highlight of the innings was a magnificent catch at mid-wicket by Akash who brilliantly held on to a tough chance.
 
Tea was taken in the pleasant confines of the Sunrisers function lounge and nice seating and tables were provided. The tea was nicely laid out on a central table and drinks were found in the form of a lovely brew (probably PG tips) and a juice option for the non-tea drinkers. Copious amounts of tasty pizza formed the table centre piece. Hot sausage rolls which had been thoughtfully trimmed into bite size pieces were also on offer. Some nice sandwiches were also available with the likes of tuna, cheese and ham as fillings…..and just one plate of egg - thank goodness after last week’s Egg Fest. There were cakes and biscuits too……and although these were not home-made; there was a nice selection. This was all topped off by the rare sight of a lady in the background. Now, this may have been a barmaid from the function suit as opposed to a bona fide tea lady of the old fashioned variety; but it was none the less a female presence who did appear to have some hand in proceedings. To add to the plus points; this was no rushed affair. Plenty of time was allocated to the consumption and enjoyment of the well assembled fare. Overall this was a high quality tea offer. The tea adjudicator was well pleased and was struggling to find too many faults. The lack of home baking was perhaps the only downside if being highly critical; but he settled on a season’s high mark of 89 out of 100 to put the Sunrisers in pole position for the 2016 Golden Urn. This tea will take a bit of beating…..
 
Well fed, and with a batting line up partly dictated by those old enough to umpire…..James and Lewis opened up. Some good opening bowling saw us quickly behind the clock and any thoughts of an unlikely victory evaporated as rapidly as Simmy Sr eats a kebab. The former skipper was missing this week as he was going to Elton John’s house for tea. Unfortunately some quick wickets fell and the two openers were soon followed by Craig and Adam. Adam got a special send off from home paceman Wilson who was clearly overjoyed to fire one through our star man’s batting defences, This was the one hotspot in what otherwise was a very friendly affair. The big home pace merchant is certainly a lively character…. Clark and Blair held off the inevitable for a little while but when they fell the young lads found things a little tricky against an experienced attack..The innings folded on 104 runs and a fairly hefty 182 run defeat was inflicted.
 
Credit goes to the Sunrisers who played well throughout and are a talented and experienced side. They thoroughly deserved the victory, the game was played in fine spirit and they were excellent hosts. The young Forfarshire side will have learned a lot from the experience. There were some good individual performances and lots to work on and the young lads stuck to the task well. We made our way back home and after stopping for juice and crisps (a change from a pint of foaming ale) there was much chat about exams, who has the best Maths teacher and which phone apps are the most fun……

I joined in with some tales of O Grade English (what’s an O Grade?), Greasy Deasy (Grove Academy circa 1980) and Space Invaders (what’s that?) but was clearly way out of my depth…

This week we revert to a Sunday fixture and have a home encounter with the unbeaten Royal Challengers Kinloch. With the Forfarshire Under 13’s on ECB Scottish Finals day duty in Edinburgh; it will need to fall on our more experienced players to try and derail RCK from their top spot.

I am off to brush upon my free game apps….whatever an app is! 
 
 
 
 
 

St.Modans Batting
Player name RunsMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
 
for 2 wickets
0
286 (45.0 overs)		     
T. Sultan ct  McConnachie snr b J Sim 54
D. Belli Not Out  114
G. Etheridge ct  Dev b Latto 43
S. Gupta Not Out  55
F. Reeve  
R. Seshagari  
M. Yasir  
B. Turner  
A. Pollock  
G. Pollock  
J. Wilson  

Forfarshire Cricket Club 3rd XI Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Lewis Robinson9.014300.004.78
Craig McConnachie9.004100.004.56
James Sim6.0040140.006.67
Blair Walker4.003000.007.50
Liam Latto9.0047147.005.22
Akash Dev5.003800.007.60
Tom Bruce3.003800.0012.67

Forfarshire Cricket Club 3rd XI Batting
Player Name RMB4s6sSRCatchesStumpingsRun outs
extras
TOTAL :
 
for 10 wickets
0
104		        
Lewis Robinson b  Yasir 4
James Sim b  Yasir 11
Adam Hill b  Wilson 6
Craig McConnachie ct  G Pollock b Yasir 7
Blair Walker lbw  Etheridge 12
Clark McConnachie ct  & b Gupta 29 1
Liam Latto b  Gupta 2
Ross Bailey ct  Etheridge b Belli 0
Akash Dev ct  G Pollock b Reeve 3 1
Tom Bruce Not Out  0
Ian Sim ct  Gupta b Reeve 0

St.Modans Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
J. Wilson 9.0131131.003.44
M. Yasir 6.002337.673.83
S. Gupta 6.0028214.004.67
G. Etheridge 2.00919.004.50
D. Belli 1.00212.002.00
F. Reeve 2.02020.000.00
T. Sultan 1.00100.001.00