Glenrothes Cricket Club – 1stXI Match Report

Glenrothes 1stXI v Grange 2ndXI  

Saturday saw new leaders of East League Division One after front runners Fauldhouse lost and were replaced by Glenrothes, who went top after they recorded a fine five wicket home victory over reigning champions Grange 2 nd XI at the Town Park.

On another glorious sunny afternoon, Grange won the toss and elected to bat first on dry and dusty wicket that looked to offer something to the bowlers.

Having the pleasure of playing most of their games on the ground used for the majority of Scotlands home matches, the Grange top order struggled to adapt to the pitch and, it has to be said, to some very good bowling by the hosts.

So much so, that when opening bowler Malcolm Neil had finished bowling his allotted 10 overs straight through in one spell, Grange were struggling at 30 for 3. Neil, who took two wickets for only 12 runs with the aid of catches by Andy Muir and Iain Georgeson, the latter having to retire from bowling after only 7 balls with a hamstring twinge, was well supported by Darren Bremner who claimed the other wicket to fall.

John Gray and Grant Cooper staged a fight back for Grange adding 41 for the fourth wicket until Tiro Madiseng, who had up until that point been disappointing with the ball, produced a cracker to york Gray in the 32 nd over with the score on 63. Glens leading wicket taker Madiseng struck again in his next over and Grange were in further trouble when skipper Mike Donaldson eventually got through Cooper’s defences in the 35 th over and bowled him for 30. Donaldson’s next over saw the 7 th wicket fall at 72 with Gav Henderson taking a good diving catch at point and although he didn’t take any more wickets, Donaldson finished his 10 over spell conceding only 13 runs.

Bremner (2 for 20) returned to the bowling to finish his 10 overs and got his second wicket of the day in his penultimate over with the score on 95 and spinner Ian Dale clean bowled visiting skipper Dave Creasey next over. A late flurry from Dougie Philip (18) saw a further 20 runs added for the final wicket until the innings came to a close in the 50 th and final over with the score on 123 when a good throw to keeper Geoff Sampson from Ben Honeyman saw Philip run out. Glens were well swerved by all their bowlers and the display in the field was top drawer.

Glenrothes suffered an early setback when Tiro Madiseng was bowled for a duck in the second over and then Greig Hopcroft (13) was caught behind point in the 7 th over when he looked set. Ben Honeyman and Ian Dale took the score on from 23 to 67 until Dale, who looked a bit out of sorts, was bowled for 16 in the 18 th over. Although Darren Bremner went with the score on 84, Glenrothes had plenty of overs to reach their target and the hundred soon came up in the 29 th over with another Honeyman boundary and in doing so, he reached a maiden half century for the club. Unfortunately, his excellent innings came to an end soon after when a mix-up between the wickets saw him run out by a direct hit for a priceless 50 (92 balls, 7 fours). Malcolm Neil and Mike Donaldson quickly knocked off the remaining runs required, with the former making 26 not out from 27 balls to see Glenrothes home by five wickets with 16 overs to spare. Pick of the Grange attack was Adrian Scott with 2 for 35.

This was an excellent all-round team performance from the 1 ST team and they will need to maintain that level when they face another trip to Edinburgh this Saturday for a game against Holy Cross.

Click here for Saturdays scorecard