Glenrothes Cricket Club – 1st XI Match Report
Holy Cross v Glenrothes
The top three sides in East League Division One all lost on Saturday, including Glenrothes who went down by 17 runs against Holy Cross in the capital.
Glens luck with the toss continued and, having won all their games this season batting second, they decided to continue with that theory by inserting their hosts.
Holy Cross made a cautious start against the bowling of Darren Bremner and Malcolm Neil, the former bowling his first 6 overs for only four runs, which incidentally, came from a boundary. With pressure mounting on the batsmen, Neil eventually made the breakthrough in the 8 th over with the score on 8 and soon after Holy Cross were in further trouble when two wickets fell in successive overs. First, confusion in the 14 th over saw one of the league’s leading run scorers Charlie Ellis run out and then next over, with only one further run added, Tiro Madiseng got one through the batsman to bowl him and Holy Cross were 23 for 3.
Home skipper Keith Fraser took a liking to the bowling of Darren Lewis with three fours in five balls but Lewis got some of the luck that has deserted him so far this season when, going for a fourth boundary, Fraser’s attempted pull shot was played onto his own stumps. With his tail up, Lewis produced a good ball that nipped back to bowl Jon Bates and when Madiseng picked up his second wicket of the day with the aid of the now safe hands of Andy Muir, Holy Cross had lost their top six batsmen with only 50 on the board and the 21 st over being bowled.
Bremner was brought back into the attack to replace Madiseng to hopefully mop up the tail, and although he was once again miserly in conceding only 2 runs from his second spell of four overs, he was unable to get a figure in the wickets column but it wasn’t for the sake of trying.
Unfortunately, at the other end, the usually reliable Mike Donaldson was removed from the attack after three poor overs that enabled R Cartwright and A Cydzik to gain confidence and play their shots. Batting sensibly, the pair shared what proved to be the highest stand of the day, adding 47 runs for the 7 th wicket at a crucial point in the match.
The partnership was eventually broken by Greig Hopcroft who accounted for both batsmen in consecutive overs. Neil returned to the bowling and finished with a wicket in his 10 th and final over but just when Glenrothes thought they were back in control with the score on 108 for 9, Robin Worsnop and number 11 Biswas added a further painful 27 runs for the last wicket until Worsnop, who had earlier had the good fortune of being bowled without the bails falling, was deceived and bowled the conventional way by a Lewis slower ball. Holy Cross finished on 135 all out in the 46 th over with Lewis returning figures of 3 for 36 and Neil, Madiseng and Hopcroft taking two wickets each.
Glenrothes had to raise their game following the disappointment of the previous hour or so, but things didn’t improve when Madiseng and Ben Honeyman were both back in the pavilion with only 9 runs on the board. Hopcroft and Ian Dale fought back well against fine bowling from Worsnop and Millington with the aggressive Hopcroft in particular looking in good nick. The pair took the score to 34 until Dale was out caught at mid-on but new batsman Ally Sim provided further support to Hopcroft and they got the score up to 61 until Hopcroft was caught at slip for 39 in the 21 st over.
Sim continued to occupy the crease but saw Neil caught with the score on 80 and after adding 15 with Lewis, he offered a return catch from the bowling of C Smith and was out for 17. Smith was on a hat-trick removing Glens skipper Donaldson first ball plumb lbw but Bremner avoided being the third victim.
Glenrothes were struggling at 95 for 7 at this stage and much depended on the experienced left handed Bremner to help the remaining batsmen get through to the end but unfortunately, although he made 14 not out, there were just too many runs required despite the valiant efforts of Lewis, Muir and Brian Morris who succumbed on the way to a final total of 118 all out in the 35 th over. S Biswas 3 for 25 and C Smith 3 for 17 did most of the damage to the visitors who deserved credit for setting and defending their total, on what was a good wicket, although most of the Glenrothes batsmen have only themselves to blame for poor shot selection.
Despite this defeat, which hopefully will re-focus the side, Glenrothes remain top of the league although they will have to get back to the standards they are capable of when they entertain an improving Murrayfield DAFS side at the Town Park this Saturday.
Click here for Saturdays scorecard |
