T20 Week 3 – 1st XI go down at Goldenacre

Tuesday 28th May

Heriot’s CC 164 for 3 (20 overs) ; Stewart’s Melville CC 137 for 8 (20 overs). Heriot’s won by 27 runs.

Ben Wilkinson bowls to Peter Ross

Heriot’s won the toss and chose to bat. Their openers South African Elnathan Meiri and occasional Eastern Knights player Peter Ross made their attacking intentions clear from the start scoring at ten runs an over throughout their thirteen overs together eventually hitting 5 sixes and 13 fours between them. The onslaught only ceased when Kyle McCallum, the seventh bowler tried bowled Meiri.

Thereafter Heriot’s continued to gather runs at a more pedestrian pace against both Kyle and Callum Steel adding just 34 more in the final seven overs so that restricting the final score of 164 looked like some sort of achievement and while demanding not completely beyond a team batting second on a good pitch.

In reply Stew Mel made steady progress but never matched the required run rate and after ten overs at 58 for 3 had lost our top three batsmen and still required 97 to win. Ben Wilkinson (17), Patrick Ritchie (22), Hayden Sweet (20) and Chris Hill (14) with some enterprising batting all scored at a run a ball or better so that a final total of 137 was reached without achieving the couple of really big overs that would have been required to snatch a victory. We hit two sixes and ten fours as against Heriot’s five and thirteen.

On Saturday the two sides meet again in the league at Inverleith.

View scorecard https://www.stewartsmelvillecricket.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/2019-05-28-HERIOTS-STEWMEL-match-scorecard-1.pdf

Disappointing Saturday for 1st XI

Saturday 25th May

Stewart’s Melville CC 103 all out (37 overs); Arbroath 104 for 2 (17.2 overs)

After the exhilaration of Thursday’s evening T20 win at Myreside the 1st XI slumped to a defeat that was matched by the dismal weather – as the umpires walked to the square to take up their positions at the start of the match light rain began to fall and did so throughout the match without a break. The umpires were only of a mind that the weather was sufficiently poor to take the players from the field when Arbroath, batting second, were 13 runs from the win and still just short of the twenty overs required to avoid a no result. After a break of about twenty minutes the umpires determined that the rain had relented sufficiently to take the players back onto the field and reach the inevitable outcome.

Andrew Tetley

As for the cricket itself captain Steven Parker won the toss before the rain arrived and elected to bat in circumstances where opening bat Kris Steel had been delayed by road closures in Edinburgh after a completing his day’s duties at Myreside. In the event Steven Parker opening in place of Steel and no 3 Ben Wilkinson one of our more successful batsmen this year were both out with the score in single figures. Wickets continued to fall at regular intervals so that we were six down for 44 in the seventeenth over with opening bowler Euan Small taking 5 for 19 in his ten overs. With Shaylen Pillay on 27 and batting securely hope remained until he was bowled off stump by Daniel Salmond, nephew of former Scotland captain George, by a ball that passed the outside his bat and flipped in to take the off stump, 69 for 8. A minor recovery led by Kris Steel and Andrew Tetley took our final score to 103 but it would take early wickets when Arbroath batted to get into a contest. Former Scotland players Matthew Parker and Marc Petrie opened the batting for Arbroath and together with no 3, South African Hayden Laing, set about trying to force an early win as the rain continued to drift in. That was achieved comfortably apart from the umpires intervention when the win was in sight.

Looking for positives we had the introduction of 15 year old pace bowler James Gordon for his first senior match at this level and Andrew Tetley made a 1st XI return after last year’s illness. Also, thanks to today’s ball sponsor, Mark Coyle, all the way from Australia !

The season goes on and on Tuesday evening we play Heriot’s at Goldenacre in week 3 of the T20 Masterton Trophy. Next Saturday’s league match sees Heriot’s coming to Inverleith, 1pm start.

View scorecardhttps://www.stewartsmelvillecricket.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/25.05.19-Scorecard-Arbroath-v-SMCC-2.pdf

1st XI’s rare win at Myreside

Thursday 23rd May

Stewart’s Melville CC 103 for 9 (20 overs); Watsonians CC 94 for 8 (20 overs)

The 1st XI achieved a rare victory against Watsonians in tonight’s T20 Masterton Trophy match in a closely contested match dominated by bowlers on a pitch that looked ideal for batting on.

Watsonians won the toss and chose to bowl first. Only Kris Steel, Shaylen Pillay and Hayden Sweet looked comfortable against Sonians attack or indeed lasted more than a few balls. Steel batting at no 2 scored 18 on a wicket he prepares in his daytime job and was followed by Shaylen Pillay who rarely missed the opportunity of taking a run in a well compiled innings of 40 and was supported Hayden Sweet with 22 who was dismissed last ball of the 18th over. In the chase for runs in the final two overs against the quality bowling of Malusi Siboto and Josh Stinson eight runs were added with the loss of a further four wickets. A total of 103 was less than maybe hoped for but in the event Watsonians never quite looked in control of the situation losing wickets in clusters as all five Stew Mel bowlers stepped in with wickets. Ultimately 21 was required off the last two overs with the 19th being bowled by Shaylen who bowled three dot balls in succession with only four runs coming off his last three balls. This effectively put the game out of reach with only seven runs coming off the last over bowled by Ben Wilkinson. Our three slow bowlers Sam Tait, Kyle McCallum and Hayden Sweet would all feel pleased with their efforts collecting six wickets between them at about only four an over. In the end a nine run win seemed thoroughly deserved.

The Watsonian professional Malusi Siboto has played with our man Shaylen in Johannesburg. He looked decidedly quick in his four alloted overs taking 4 for 14 but in the Watsonian innings Shaylen answered by conceding only three scoring shots off his first three overs and taking the important wicket of Michael Carson bowled for 3 in an impressive spell of bowling.

Scoreline: Stew Mel 103-9; S Pillay 40, H Sweet 21, K Steel 18. Watsonians 94-8; A Chalmers 36 no, Z Place 20; S Tait 2 for 15, H Sweet 2 for 17, K McCallum 2 for 18. At Myreside.