ESCA Week 12 match reports
Another tough weekend for ’Muir in the League, as all three sides taste defeat for the second consecutive week.
The Firsts took on Selkirk at Meggetland, being put in to bat by the visitors. While Lawrence Dingre did the usual at the top of the order with 31, the rest of the side found it tough to get going, and it wasn’t until Abdul Ghaffar, Ajey Chaudhary, and Ben Risi came in at 6, 7, and 8 that anyone else scored double figures.
A total of 128 is always going to be difficult to defend at the MCG, but the boys made Selkirk work hard for it, taking 7 wickets and taking it to the final over before Selkirk won it off the last ball. A bit of a sickener that one…
Over at Gyle Park, the Thirds were taking on Botanics in a clash between 3rd and 4th place in Division 9. Captain Subham Biswas won the toss and, looking at a damp but drying pitch, sensibly elected to bat. He was rewarded with an excellent 234, with excellent contributions coming from opener Kashif Naveed (88 off 75) and Shahmir Khan who scored his maiden 50 for the club.
It’s fair the say that Gyle is a bit of a batting track, offering little for the bowlers. And so it proved, as the boys were made to work hard in the field. Some excellent batting from Botanics saw them chase it down in the penultimate over for the loss of 4 wickets.
Over at Cavalry Park the Seconds won the toss against Marchmont 3, with stand-in captain Colin Siller electing to bat. After losing opener George Dickson cheaply, Adam Cornick and the ever-reliable Irfan Mohammed stabilise the innings, before the fireworks started. Ashish Parlani’s unbeaten 157 off 94 balls featured 16 fours and 10 sixes and was, from those that saw it, one of the finest innings from a Boroughmuir player in recent years. Unfortunately it wasn’t enough to secure win for the Seconds, with Marchmont chasing it down with one wicket standing in the second last over. Of particular note was Joe Pilny’s brief cameo with the ball—2.4 overs taking 4 for 16.
As ever, we’ll be looking to improve next week…