Scorecard

St.Andrews University Staff v Forfarshire Cricket Club 3rd XI on Sun 13 Aug 2017 at 1pm
Forfarshire Cricket Club Lost 8 wickets

Match report Forfarshire 3rd XI 186 for 9
J Sim 37, L Robinson 30, H Hardie 22; F Dilley 3 for 48, J Crooks 2 for 18
St. Andrews University Staff 190 for 2
J Crooks 100no, S Frankland 66no

Sunday 13th August 2017 saw the Forfarshire 3rd team in SPCU Division One action with a trip to table topping St Andrews University Staff CC. From here onwards in the report our opponents will be known as the Accies. This is short for Academicals and for the benefit of those who attended a non fee paying school this means “relating to a college or university”. This name seems appropriate given the educational standing of our opponents and is also far easier to type than their proper name which is rather long winded.

The weather was set fair for once and we gathered at Mackays Forthill ahead of departure. The skipper has decided to offer a selected door to door chauffeur driven collection and drop off service for his leading players; and this week’s recipient of the special vehicular treatment was Cammy. Upon collection he advised the skipper that he had been awake all night and was therefore not in the best of fettle ahead of the game. The skipper thought that this bout of insomnia was a rather unfortunate affliction and sympathised with the young man’s plight – but Cammy volunteered that the lack of sleep had in fact been caused by his attendance at a party rather than any medical condition.

With the troops gathered off we set; and the skipper collected a rather nice parcel of mint cake from his young off spinner that ensured he had sufficient Car Cakes for the day. This guaranteed the skipper’s happiness – and also guaranteed the young off spinner a suitable spot in the batting order and a bowl.

The jaunt to St Andrews through rolling North Fife countryside is a pleasant one and the car chat was excellent. We celebrated by opening the Car Cake package and had a nice slice of cake apiece – before wrapping the parcel up carefully for the journey home. Cammy slept the whole way there and got no cake.

Upon arrival we were pleased to see we were playing on the pitch adjacent to the pavilion and thus avoided the long trek to the secondary pitch some miles away on foot. From a distance the pitch looked nice and white – but on closer inspection the old sage skipper could see that it was rather worn and dry and anticipated a tricky surface to bat on. The toss was lost and we were invited to bat first and Cammy ( now awake) and Lewis opened up.

It was clear from the start that the wicket would provide some assistance to the bowlers with movement and bounce of the unpredictable variety. Run scoring was not easy, but the scoreboard ticked along well thanks to the generous bowling of wides by some of the Accies bowlers. Batting was a war of attrition and the usage of the full quota of overs was quickly identified as the main focus. Cammy fell and Lewis was joined by Nigel. A nice partnership was building before Nigel swished at one and was caught in the mid off region. Craig provided stout resistance before edging behind and Lewis was the mainstay of the top order following his fine recent efforts with the Scotland under 15 team. Andy looked to strike out but soon fell – and James G came in and batted away well to demonstrate his continued progress; but the outstanding batting performance came from James S. Mixing stout defence, good running and some fine straight hitting he compiled a highly valuable 37 runs and was very well supported by Harry who also played well for an excellent 21. Kailas promoted himself up the order and was duly rewarded when he played the shot of the day in the final over by smashing a stunning four through extra cover.

The innings closed on 187 for 9 and the visitors were happy with their score. The wicket was hard to bat on, the full 45 overs had been negotiated and it was felt that a good bowling display would hopefully see us win the game. The Accies stuck in well in the field, but some wayward bowling in the wides department helped the score and we felt this might prove crucial.

The third last tea of the season was taken in the confines of the pavilion and having enjoyed some fine Accies teas in the past it was suggested that the Golden Urn for 2017 could even end up in St Andrews. The tea was good. Some exotic sandwich fillings and fancy wraps blended nicely alongside some bog standard sausage rolls. Something for everyone. Some very tasty home-made scones populated with copious amounts of jam and cream were super. The tea was well stewed and there was juice for the kiddy winks. The Accies also displayed Forthill style politeness by letting us tuck in first before they attacked the fare. Manners. Overall very nice and the adjudicator was pondering his mark and whether this effort was sufficiently good to trump the 92 out of 100 season’s leading mark achieved at Forthill earlier in the season…. He glanced up at that moment and almost choked on his scone when he saw before him at the back of the tea room a full coloured and rather sizeable Dundee United FC club crest. This was clearly there due to the fact that Dundee’s second best football team use this venue as a training base…….but with the marker being strongly of the navy blue Dundee FC persuasion this did not sit well with him and 25 points were automatically deducted. This could be seen as rather unfair on the Accies, however the adjudicator was adamant that the deduction would stand and a mark of 62 out of 100 was given. Even allowing for the deduction- this was still higher than Rossie Priory (Faf’s Caf) achieved in 2010.

With tea over, the second innings commenced. Winker ( 9 overs, 2 for 21) and Kailas (9 overs for 18) opened up and both bowled excellent spells. The opening batsmen had great difficulty scoring runs against the pair and both fell to Winker during his opening salvo. The skipper decided to bowl them both out and after 18 overs the Accies were well behind the clock and the visitors were seemingly well in control. Crucially however, the pair at the crease were two of the league’s most accomplished players in Messrs Frankland and Crooks. After successfully seeing off Kailas and Winker they started to open out and slowly eased their way back into the game. With the Broughty Ferry lads seemingly having switched off and apparently assuming the game was won…..the batsmen were picking up the necessary runs and batting very well in still tricky conditions. The Forfarshire team woke up, however in spite of some good bowling and a fighting performance in the field- the Accies batsmen managed to score the winning runs in the 43rd over. Frankland finished up on a fine 66 not out, but was outdone by Crooks who it transpired on countback post-match had notched an unbeaten century. Clearly no Maths graduates were on the scorebook or a suitable round of applause would have transpired at the time.

Full credit goes to the Accies batters for knocking off the runs. These are two fine players who simply outplayed the Forfarshire bowlers on the day. For the young visiting line up it was a lesson in never taking the eye of the ball and assuming a game is in the bag…..

This was a fine game of cricket played in excellent spirit throughout. Games against the Accies are always pleasant affairs free of any nonsense; and they often produce high quality performances and today was no exception. The Accies deservedly sit top of the league table and would be worthy winners of the 2017 title. Our best wishes go to them for the rest of the season.

The visitors changed and got back into the cars for the journey home feeling disappointed and sad. But the captain’s car soon perked up when it was remembered that Car Cakes were stashed under the front seat. The skipper also miraculously produced mini cartons of apple juice from the depths of his car boot to accompany the minty produce and this brought even more joy. The journey home was certainly cheerier than it otherwise would have been - as we discussed the day’s events and tucked into slice after slice of delicious cake. Any cricketers in the world travelling to an away game and facing a car journey home could do far worse than take some Car Cakes with them. Fantastic…

So the season slowly draws to a close and for Forfarshire 3rd XI there remains only two more road trips to negotiate and no more outings on home turf. The first one next week is the short hop along the Arbroath Road to Dalners Dome to face the High School Hurricanes - and thereafter the following week the curtain falls on 2017 with a jaunt to the Doocot Dynamos. Our league placing is of the mid table variety so no relegation woes are faced – but neither are any champagne moments on the horizon. Think Partick Thistle.

All local cricket followers are politely reminded that Sunday 20th August sees the Scottish Cup Final being played at Forthill between Carlton and Watsonians. This is the first time that this showpiece game has been played in this area. Entry is free and there will be a BBQ, bar and other refreshments available all day. It is hoped that the local cricketing community will come along and support the event.


Forfarshire Cricket Club 3rd XI Batting
Player Name RunsMB4s6sSRCtStRo
extras
TOTAL :
9nb 27w 2b 1lb 
for 9 wickets
39
186		        
Lewis Robinson ct ? b Jess 30
Cameron Walker ct ? b Crooks 0
Nigel Clarke ct ? b Dilley 10 1
Craig McConnachie ct ? b Frankland 5
Andrew Wallace ct ? b Kathari 10
James (jnr) Girolami ct & b Crooks 11
James Sim ct ? b Dilley 37
Harry Hardie ct ? b Dilley 21
Kailas Narayanan Run out  0
Michael Watson Not Out  10
Clark McConnachie Not Out  13

St.Andrews University Staff Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
M Kathari8.0042142.005.25
J Crooks9.021829.002.00
F Dilley9.0148316.005.33
S Frankland9.0028128.003.11
P Jess7.0131131.004.43
S Mansel3.001600.005.33

St.Andrews University Staff Batting
Player name RMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
2b 3lb 
for 2 wickets
5
190 (43.0 overs)		     
D Bransden b Watson 10
M Kathari ct Clarke b Watson 9
S Frankland Not Out  65
J Crooks Not Out  100
P Smith  
F Dilley  
J ?  
S Mansell  
P Jess  
J Farnham  
S ?  

Forfarshire Cricket Club 3rd XI Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Michael Watson9.0321210.502.33
Kailas Narayanan9.011800.002.00
Andrew Wallace9.013900.004.33
Craig McConnachie2.00700.003.50
James Sim6.004000.006.67
Harry Hardie2.001800.009.00
Lewis Robinson6.004400.007.33