ESCA Week 9 Match Reports

Boroughmuir completed the first half of the season with all three sides in action despite Thursday and Friday’s heavy rain.

The Firsts were at home to Holy Cross where the toss was to prove crucial. The visitors won and put the Firsts in to bat on a proverbial sticky dog, still damp from Friday’s rain. Unsurprisingly the boys found it difficult to score—opener Lawrence Dingre’s strike rate of 30.55 being the best example (it’s normally comfortably above 100). That they managed to get to 92 was down mainly to a terrific 31 from Benjamin Risi.

That might have been a defendable total on a normal day, but with a rapidly drying strip, the visitors had much the better of the conditions, and reached the total for the loss of two wickets.

The Three’s faced Royal High Corstorphine in a home game on the artificial at Gyle Park. Stand-in captain George Dickson won the toss and elected to field on wicket that, it transpired, had been marked out at 24 yards. That didn’t seem to phase opening bowlers Andrew Bentley and Infant Joy Wilfred, as they dismissed the openers in short order. RHC then successfully rebuilt, as captain Azhar Abid and Evan Russell played carefully on a batting wicket to set a reasonable total. Once both of those two had been picked up by Shahmir Khan (who ended with three wickets) wickets started to fall quickly. Matthew Batchelor picked up a well deserved brace, before Joe Pilny was brought on the for the last over (I’m not saying the captain had made a miscalculation in terms of bowlers’ overs, but I’m not not saying it either). Had ’Muir’s fielding not briefly failed them, Joe could have ended up with 3 wickets, but had to be satisfied to 1, as we kept the visitors to 172.

Any nervousness the 3s might have had about chasing that total was quickly dispelled as George Dickson and Adam Cornick put on an opening stand of over 100, before Adam finally departed for 81. George Dickson rolled back the years with a studied knock, and even delighted the home support with a couple of scoring shots on the off side. He found himself stranded on 46* as number 4 Pete Connolly, informed that George was sitting 4 off his 50, gave a shrug so pronounced it was audible, and hit the winning runs. A great team performance from the Kids and Stiffs that saw them cement their 2nd place position in the league.

And finally, the day came… the Seconds won their first game of the season with a resounding victory over Holy Cross 2. Winning the toss and electing to field, the 2s saw everything click into place. In a season where they’ve conspired to lose matches in a variety of different ways, they bowled tightly, took wickets with regularity and saw everything that go to hand stick. Jamie Good and Colin Siller were probably the pick of the bowlers, but they were ably supported by everyone who took the ball, including Rudolf D’Souza and the returning Alex “Stevo” Stevenson, playing his first game of the season.

In previous weeks the hosts’ total of 69 might have provoked some jitters, but the 2s went about their business calmly, losing only one wicket in pursuit of the total.

The search for the elusive 60 point weekend goes on, but The Great Escape might be on the cards.