ESCA Week 11 match reports

Another poor week for the ’Muir, as all three sides were beaten.

The First XI made the trip along the M9 to Polmont to take on Westquarter and Redding. Electing to bowl they restricted the hosts to 165 for 9. Hassan Durrani and Rudolf D’souza were the pick of the bowlers, with 2 for 40, and 3 for 38 respectively.

In response the boys came up a little short with the bat. Hari Seeba was out early, but Jawad Ahmed and Gajander Singh rebuilt, putting on 64 for the second wicket. With the exception of a steady 22 from Ajey Chaudry, it was pretty much downhill from there though, as the boys ended up all out for 115. The Firsts are still within touching distance of a promotion place though, with this week’s game against bottom-of-the-table Selkirk looking like a belter.

With Saturday’s visitors Edinburgh 3 being in a promotion position, the Seconds’ game looked like a tough one, and so it proved. Batting first the boys were all out for 96, the visitors’ Muhammad Hamdan taking 4 for 15 off his 8 overs. Only Rajesh Domadia and Ashish Parlani made decent scores in a total that never looked like enough. Taking 5 wickets was something of a consolation, but Edinburgh chased it down in 22 overs.

In a week of poor results, the Third XI probably managed to have the worst of them. Sitting second on the table, and facing a Dunfermline & Carnegie 4 side sitting one place below them, the Thirds took advantage of a typical Meadows wicket to have the visitors 40-odd for 6 at drinks. What happened in the next 20 overs was something to behold, as the visitors put on 180 runs for the loss of just one wicket fishing their 40 overs on 224/7.

Chasing down that total was always going to require a feat somewhere along the lines of Headingley 2019. Even so, the ’Muir scorecard makes for horrific reading, with only one player making double figures, and a quartet of ducks. The 181 run loss was something pretty special on the Meadows. The boys will be relishing this week’s game against Botanics as a chance to get back on track.