Glenrothes XI v Strathmore XI (a)
A mixture of firsts and seconds travelled to Forfar on Saturday for a friendly against a Strathmore XI and they gained, not only a win, but some much needed match practice prior to the start of their respective East League campaigns which commence this Saturday.
Glenrothes, with South African Tiro Madiseng making his debut for the club, lost the toss and were asked to bat first by their hosts.
Despite losing an early wicket, vice captain Greig Hopcroft and Madiseng adapted well to the conditions and despite one or two scares (and a break for the former to change a broken bat) both went on to complete excellent half centuries with Hopcroft making 52 and Madiseng 83.
From a strong position of 166 for 4 after 32 overs, Glenrothes suffered a collapse as the remaining batsmen tried to push the score to 200, but on a wicket that batsman had to play themselves in on, the final total of 190 all out in the 40 th over was a good effort.
Strathmore used 6 bowlers with C McDonald 3 for 28 and G Prentice 3 for 24 having the best returns.
After an excellent lunch of pizza and chips followed by ice cream and cakes, a slightly heavier 11 Glens took the field with the new ball pairing of Darren Lewis and Malcolm Neil opening the bowling. Lewis, managed to find the edge of home skipper Hewitson Jnr’s bat but Madiseng at second slip couldn’t hold on to it and the chance went. Hewitson decided to take the bowling on from this point and in no time the score had reached 60.
The match then turned in favour of Glenrothes when Madiseng was introduced to the attack for his first spell of bowling in Scottish conditions before competitive league cricket. His fellow team mates were keen to see how he would adapt to bowling on a slower pitch with less bounce than he had been used to, and they were not disappointed as he turned in an aggressive 8 over spell taking 5 wickets for 9 runs in the process and the hosts struggling at 84 for 6. During this, Neil was finally rewarded for his efforts bowling into the wind when he had Hewitson caught for a fine 45.
The remaining wickets to fall in the Strathmore reply were shared by Mike Donaldson and Ian Dale as the home side were eventually all out for 130 in the 33 rd over with M Gourlay the last man out for a hard hitting 36.
Hopefully, those involved in the match at Forfar will benefit this Saturday when both the 1 st and 2 nd XI are on their travels to Fauldhouse and Kirk Brae respectively.
Click here for Saturdays scorecard |
