Glenrothes v Marchmont 

Glenrothes Cricket Club’s 1stXI made it six out of six home wins in East League Division One when they comfortably defeated Edinburgh side Marchmont at the Town Park on Saturday.

In front of a larger crowd than usual, the visitors won the toss and asked Glenrothes to bat first on a softer wicket than of late due to the heavy rain that had fallen at the tail-end of the week.

Batting first for only the second time in ten matches this season, the first being in the opening match of the season back in April, openers Greig Hopcroft and Tiro Madiseng were on the defensive against Marchmonts new ball pairing of Will Collier and Ewan Granger as they took time to play themselves in on another tricky pitch and after 10 overs the score was 15 without loss.

With 13 runs coming from the next over, both batsmen started to play a few more attacking strokes but not long after the fifty came up, Glenrothes were dealt a major blow when both batsmen were dismissed in successive overs with the score on 57 – Madiseng caught off David Sardesai for 17 and Hopcroft, missing out on fifty again when he was bowled by Ewan Granger for 39.

Marchmont’s hopes of taking the scalp of the league leaders was enhanced when they removed the Glenrothes middle order, who were all out caught from the bowling of Granger and Steve Mathers respectively, the hosts were in a bit of bother at 96 for 5 in the 30 th over.

The ever reliable Ben Honeyman, who came in at number three and had been watching all this from the non-strikers end, was now joined at the crease by veteran Andy Galloway, who was making only his second appearance of the season. The pair quickly built up a good understanding running between the wickets and this, together with the odd boundary, saw them take Glenrothes out of trouble as they added 62 runs for the sixth wicket until Honeyman was caught behind in the 42 nd over for a fine 41.

With overs running out but with wickets in hand, the batsmen took chances trying to push the score on quickly and inevitably, Marchmont gained success as the innings neared completion.

Galloway (34) was seventh out at 168, Cammy Ross was the eighth at 197 and home skipper Mike Donaldson, who contributed 30 from 34 balls with three lusty blows for six, was the final wicket to fall when he was out to the penultimate ball of the innings which ended at 207 for 9. Pick of the Marchmont bowling was Neil Granger with 3 for 25.

With no team scoring more than 150 on the Town Park wicket so far this season, Marchmont were up against it, although Glenrothes were missing three strike bowlers and had to go with change bowler Donaldson partnering Darren Lewis with the new ball. Fortunately, for Glenrothes, Donaldson struck early enticing false strokes from Chetty and danger man Aaron Sardesai to leave the capital side in trouble at 3 for 2.

South African pace ace Tiro Madiseng and Greig Hopcroft took over bowling in tandem with the latter having immediate success in his first over when he clean bowled visiting skipper Will Collier and was then awarded an lbw in his fourth as the score reached 32 for 4.

Ian Dale and 2ndXI skipper Craig Gould, an eleventh hour call-up, were introduced at the halfway stage of the innings and between them, with a fine run out from Mike Sampson added for good measure, they accounted for the remainder of the Marchmont batsmen as wickets fell at regular intervals. Gould’s excellent contribution was 3 for 13, with Dale 2 for 18 (including top scorer Scott MacGregor for 21), Hopcroft 2 for 15 and Donaldson 2 for 5 the remaining wicket takers.

This victory maintains Glenrothes’ lead at the top of the league with a record of played 10, won 8, lost 2. On Saturday coming, the team are back on their travels over the Forth when they head for Livingston and hopefully, aided with the return of some key bowlers, will return home with another 20 points and a step closer to joining the elite 30 clubs that make up the National League. 

Click here for Saturdays scorecard