Edinburgh University Staff Cricket Club

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Dunf2XI end winning run

Stephen Malkin, 22 June 2010 08:49

We turned up at peffermill on a lovely sunny day to play on the east pitch for the first time this season.

We lost the toss, got put into bat with Steve and Vijay opening the batting putting on 39 for the first wicket before Vijay was bowled for 21. Ranald came and went for a quick 7. Richard joined Steve at the crease and was looking to get set for a big score. We had drinks, Richard and Steve were looking to up the tempo, Richard played a lovely pull shot for 4 but then mis-judged the line to be plumb LBW for 16. Steve soon followed Richard to the pavilion when he was dismissed LBW for 37 (although the skipper insists he got an inside edge!!) Alan and Jeremy were then left to re-build, hitting some lusty blows and upping the run-rate but neither could convert their good starts to a big score, both being bowled by the same bowler for 13 and 11 respectively. This brought in Sethu and Srikanth to try and get a respectable total with 15 overs remaining. Sethu was running with the aid of a zimmer frame as his continued his recovery from his knee injury and played some lovely shots before being bowled for 18. Amjad then joined Srikanth at the crease. Amjad was his usual self, mixing his elegant cut strokes with his chaotic running, however he was not a fault for his runout (a first for everything!!) when Srikanth played a lovely drive only for the ball to hit the bowlers boot and ricochet off the non strikers stumps with Amjad out of the crease. Mikhail then came in to join Srikanth who was modelling a new haircut as he was fed up of looking like a girl and this obviously worked as he hit a massive six and some brutal boundary shots before being caught near the boundary for a quick and well made 29. Last batsman Kevin joined Mikhail to muster as many runs as possible off the last couple of overs, Mikhail hit a couple of sweet boundary shots, before Kevin was bowled in the last over for 2, leaving staff with a total of 191 to defend.

We ate tea, Amjad was explaining to Srikanth how to drive the ball wide of the bowler as not to repeat the freakish runout again.........

Srikanth and Amjad opened the bowling, Srikanth got a wicket with his 3rd delivery when the batsman inside edged onto the stumps for a perfect start. Amjad bowled tight at the other end yielding 4 runs from his first 4 overs. Meanwhile Srikanth was far from perfect as he delivered a series of wides (very wide) deliveries that Richard fielding at first slip assisted Kevin in stopping! This combined with a series of filthy full tosses meant Dunfermline were starting to race along. Mikhail came on for Srikanth in a bid to stem the runs, however he looked out of sorts struggling for any rhythm. Vijay came on for Amjad and Richard for Mikhail in an attempt to slow the ball down. The opening bat was insistent on trying to hit Richard out of the park every ball and whilst he hit a some lusty blows it was only a matter of time before Kevin had him stumped. But the damage was already done as the 2nd wicket partnership for Dunfermline was 108 off just 17 overs leaving staff needing some quick wickets. Meanwhile their number 3 bat Miller was constructing a sensible innings at the other end and with plenty of overs in hand the game was well in their control. Dunfermline kept the score board ticking over, Vijay kept testing the batsman and was finally rewarded with 2 wickets off his last two balls dismissing the no 3 for a well made 60 and removing the number 6 for a golden duck. These wickets were a little too late as 20 runs were needed with 6 wickets in hand. Jeremy came on with his first bowl for a year and was unlucky not to have a wicket when a catch was put down. Srikanth and Amjad then came back on in a last desperate attempt to get 6 wickets! This was to be too much and although Srikanth picked up 2 more wickets, Dunfermline eased home with 4 wickets to spare and 14 overs in hand.

In the end a disappointing result for staff who were never in the hunt, too many of our batsman made starts but could not go on to get a big score and with the exception of Amjad and our man of the match Vijay our bowling performance was poor.

EUSCC Batting

Steve M, LBW 37
Vijay, bowled 21
Ranald, bowled 7
Richard, LBW 16
Alan, bowled 13
Jeremy, bowled 11
Sethu, bowled 18
Srikanth, caught 29
Amjad, run out 11
Mikhail, not out 12
Kevin, bowled 2

extras, 14 (1b 9lb 3w 1nb)

Total 191

EUSCC Bowling (O-M-R-W)

Srikanth, 9-0-68-3
Amajd, 8-1-22-0
Mikhail, 2-0-16-0
Vijay, 10-1-36-2
Richard, 5-0-31-1
Jeremy, 2-0-8-0

extras, 26 (8b 3lb 14w 1nb)

Dunfermline 192 for 6 (36 overs)