Carlton 138 for nine (20 overs); Stewart’s Melville 139 for 4 (19.4 overs)

The 1st XI produced one of their best batting performances of the season last night to secure a six wicket win against Carlton with three balls remaining of their 20 overs.

Having won the toss captain Steven Parker elected to bowl first and the tactic seemed to have worked when seven Carlton wickets were taken for inside 14 overs for 81 runs conceded. One of Carlton recognised strengths is their ability to bat deep so it was frustrating but no surprise that Peter Neame and ‘Cheeky’ Gosain added 52 runs for the eighth wicket and achieved a final score of 138 which seems about par for the side batting first in the competition. Slow bowlers Greg Ruthven with 3 for 20 and Hayden Sweet with 2 for 23 were our leading bowlers as so often in this competition.

Carlton have two of the quickest club bowlers in the Scottish game in professional Corne Dry and Scottish internationalist Ali Evans yet often choose not to bowl them together mixing up their bowlers throughout. Michael Miller went early to a superb catch on the boundary by former Scotland rugby full-back Hugo Southwell (picked the wrong fielder there) and Shaylen Pillay after an early flurry of runs fell to Ali Evans first ball of the innings in the fifth over having replaced Dry at the pavilion end. Thereafter Kris Steel and Ben Wilkinson consolidated things so that after 10 overs we were 49 for 2. From that point onwards both players raised the tempo scoring freely against all bowlers in a partnership of 80 runs when Dry back for his third over bowled Kris Steel with score on 98. Hayden Sweet joined Ben Wilkinson at the crease and together they carried on with the run before Ben was run out attempting a third run at 119 in the eighteenth over. Hayden Sweet continued in aggressive style and the scores were tied second ball of the last over with a massive six with the winning run being scored two balls later.

A huge win for the club which brings a semi-final on Thursday evening against Corstorphine at Barnton.

Scoreline: Carlton 138 for 9 (P Neame 45, C Dry 20; G Ruthven 3 for 20, H Sweet 2 for 23.) SMCC 139 for 4 (B Wilkinson 46, K Steel 30, H Sweet 26 no, S Pillay 15; S Gupta 1 for 16 (2 overs), C Dry 1 for 23 (4 overs), A Evans 1 for 19 (4 overs).)

View scorecard https://www.stewartsmelvillecricket.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Carlton-v-SMCC-15-07-19-v3.pdf

Photo – Shaylen Pillay bowls Kyle Macpherson.

Saturday 6th July

Carlton CC 235 for 9 (50 overs); Stewart’s Melville CC 170 all out (44.1 overs). Lost by 65 runs. Ball sponsor: Ross Wilkinson

The 1st XI suffered their first home league defeat of the season losing to Carlton by 65 runs. In terms of some recent results against Carlton this represented some improvement tinged with some disappointing aspects.

Carlton won the toss and elected to bat on a day when the Saturday weather was the best since our friendly match at Stirling in April. Before the match Stew Mel suffered a blow when in form opening bat Kyle McCallum was forced into a late call off due to a bug and was replaced by Euan Campbell who was due to play in the 2nds.

That Carlton scored 235 was in large measure attributable to some sloppy bowling and fielding – 40 extras being conceded (Carlton’s top scorer !) including 32 wides from 15 balls called by the umpires. On this occasion all the bowlers were guilty to a degree. On the positive side wickets were taken regularly and while four batsmen got into the thirties none went on to a big score. Shaylen Pillay was pick of our bowlers with two for 15 runs off his ten overs bowled straight off. Hayden Sweet took three wickets with his off spin but conceded 61 runs in his ten overs.

The Stew Mel reply matched Carlton’s for 24 overs, 83 for 3 against Carlton’s 78 for 3, Michael Miller (24) and Ben Wilkinson (15) being second and third out to identical shots caught at mid off by Raza bowled by Scotland pace bowler Ali Evans. In the next over Hayden Sweet was run out by the proverbial mile and Patrick Ritchie was out lbw first ball and although decent contributions with the bat came from Shaylen Pillay (21), Steven Parker (30), Greg Ruthven (25) and Andrew Wallace (21) we never threatened Carlton’s total.

In other matches on Saturday there were wins for Stoneywood Dyce over Watsonians and Arbroath over league leaders Forfarshire by 1 run results which demote us to ninth place in the league but still two wins ahead of Aberdeenshire. Next Saturday we have an important match away to Stoneywood Dyce but holidays and family commitments seem likely to reduce availability.