Scorecard

Almond Valley v Forfarshire Cricket Club 3rd XI on Sun 24 Jul 2011 at 1pm
Forfarshire Cricket Club Won 10 wickets

Match report
Forthill XI having been rendered inactive for a few weeks by the Scottish “summer” - finally got back into action when the sun thankfully came out for a few hours on Sunday. Indeed it was a most pleasant day as we ventured down the A92 to Doo ‘cot Park for a first ever league encounter with Almond Valley.

We decided not to stop off on the way at the Rossie Priory Café for stale sausages and instead made straight for the ground. Maybe we will stop the next time as rumour has it the Rossie Priory Café is under new management following their recent kitchen nightmare.

We were playing on the closest pitch to the pavilion which saved us the effort of packing all off our kit up and transporting it to the pitch side shed that is the normal way of things when playing on pitch 2. This also meant we did not have to undergo the usual ritual of having to look for the sundry items that have fallen out of the skipper’s bag on the 100 yard journey.

It became apparent that the Boycott of the Strathmore Union - Richard “Ringer” Miller – was in the Almond Valley line up making him the first ever player to play for every club in Scotland. Thus extra spice was added to the occasion.

Skipper Sim Senior making a welcome return from injury lost the toss and Almond Valley chose to bat first on a decent looking pitch given the recent bad weather. The biggest surprise of the day came when the skipper announced that the Forfarshire ball convener had seen fit to award the third team a brand new cricket ball. This in itself was a momentous occasion as third team bowlers generally have to make do with a ball in the last throes of life and having had ball surgery over a period of years. This is known in cricketing circles generally as “reconditioning”. This would be known in other circles as a getting every last breath of life out of a knackered old cricket ball that is only really fit for giving to a dog to play with.

Inspired by the sight of a shiny new ball, Samir and Andy opened the bowling and strange things started happening – like the ball moving in the air. Once they overcame the shock and adjusted their line accordingly, the bowlers bowled well and the batsmen were soon in trouble. Samir in particular found nice away swing and was rewarded with the excellent figures of 2 for 3 from six excellent overs. Craig replaced Samir and also found the new ball to his liking and found some prodigious away swing and ended with figures of 3 for 19 - and in tandem with the inswinging Glenn (3 for 11) made serious inroads into the home batting. Craig’s victims included the prize scalp of Ringer Miller for a paltry 4.
It was left to the lower profile Norwood “guest” Scott Rodgers to play some fine lusty blows in an entertaining 25 to give some respectability to the score, but when he succumbed to a Jingles slow floater the innings folded with just 78 on the board.

This was a fine bowling and fielding performance from the visitors and it was great to see our young bowlers making full use of the new ball. Surely a club of our stature should out funds aside to ensure that our young bowlers get the opportunity to use a new ball every week which can only improve their understanding of the game and their performance levels. It would also ensure that when they do move up the teams and start to use a new ball they don’t die of shock when the ball starts moving!!!

Tea was taken earlier than anticipated and standard fare was served up. Tea and juice, assorted homemade sandwiches ( a bit heavy on the egg for this adjudicator’s taste buds), some Mr. Kipling efforts and a belatedly distributed pack of small sausage rolls courtesy of the King of Dawson Park. No actual ladies were in sight but a hairy antipodean that resembled the Rock did seem to be in charge whilst swigging a can of Tennents lager.

Fresh from the Rossie episode, chief taster Adam replaced the lid on a Tupperware dish that had a green eggy sandwich combo and declared “that is defo aff.”

Skipper Sim shouted down the table quite late in proceedings – “where have all the cakes gone” -having clearly not had sufficient sugar intake to satisfy his frame. The bad news was there were none but thankfully a two pack of Battenburg was conjured up from the visiting table just in time to avoid someone being sent to Perth to see if Baynes was open on a Sunday.

We have had some very youthful batting combinations in the third team down the years – but surely none could have matched the opening pair of Scott and Christian who between them rack up a combine total of 27 years. It was the older Scott (age 14) who took first ball whilst the younger Christian (age 13) settled in at the non- striker’s end. What followed was a partnership of great enjoyment as the pair knocked off the required runs to secure a ten wicket victory. Scott showed all of his shots and strength to compile a fine innings and was unlucky that time ran out before he could complete a well deserved 50; however 48 not out was fine reward for an excellent knock. Christian also played some great shots and showed great concentration and application for a very good 20 not out against some useful bowling from the home side.

The innings of both augurs well for the future and for our club this is what the third team is all about.

So a fine ten wicket win was secured and 25 more points earned as we try and keep up with the leaders in what is becoming a tight end to the season.
With fine batting and bowling performances all over the place – it was very hard to pick a man of the match; but after much deliberation the prize goes to Adam for saving us all from getting food poisoning and he receives a year’s supply of egg mayonnaise.

With an earlier than usual finish club stalwart Lindsay Cameron kindly invited everyone to a celebratory barbecue at his house. When we got there the curtains were drawn and no one answered the door bell. On going round the back of the house to search for signs of life we could not get past the large “Keep Off The Grass or you are Flipping Dead” sign and so had to go to Forthill instead. Rumour has it as soon as we had left the barby came out and the burgers started getting flipped….!!! Flipping burgers……sounds about right!!

So there is no league duty next week for Forthill XI with a friendly at home to Coupar Angus on the fixture list. This should prove a good loosener for the important league game at home to Rossie Priory XI the week after.

Almond Valley Batting
Player name RunsMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
 
for 10 wickets
0
78 (0.0 overs)		     
J Taylor lbw  McConnachie 7
H LeRoux b  Hill 11
D Mishnkoti b  Hill 0
A Dinesh lbw  Carnegie 1
R Miller lbw  McConnachie 4
S Kasi b  Carnegie 2
A Pradip st  Sim b McConnachie 2
Pedro ct  A Hill b Inglis 5
S Dishpendi lbw  Carnegie 0
S Rodgers b  Inglis 25
G MacKenzie Not Out  0

Forfarshire Cricket Club 3rd XI Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Samir Hill6.03321.500.50
Andrew Cameron6.012100.003.50
Craig McConnachie5.001936.333.80
Glenn Carnegie7.011133.671.57
Jim Inglis3.101527.504.74

Forfarshire Cricket Club 3rd XI Batting
Player Name RMB4s6sSRCatchesStumpingsRun outs
extras
TOTAL :
 
for 0 wickets
0
82		        
Scott Cameron Not Out  48
Christian Robertson Not Out  20
David Sim   1
Ross Lloyd  
Craig McConnachie  
Glenn Carnegie  
Samir Hill  
Adam Hill   1
Jim Inglis  
Andrew Cameron  
A.N. Other  

Almond Valley Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
A McKenzie3.00600.002.00
S Dishpendi4.00900.002.25
S Kasi3.00800.002.67
H LeRoux5.02900.001.80
G McKenzie3.001400.004.67
D Mishnkoti3.001300.004.33
R Miller2.301400.005.60