Glenrothes 2 nd XI vs Leith Beige 2 nd XI

Glenrothes 2nds played their first home game of the season on Saturday. They entertained Leith Beige 2 nd XI at the town park. Beige’s skipper Mclean called correctly to win the toss and leave home skipper Craig Gould to break the news to his team , that for the second week running they would be batting first.

Glens were strengthened by the return Willie Morrison and Brad Combrink who were both called up to the 1 st XI last week, and also by the addition of Iain Georgeson playing his first game of the season. Morrison and Geoff Sampson were the opening pairing selected by Gould and they wasted no time in proving him right as they set about the Beige opening attack of Watt and Olden. By the 10 th over the score was an impressive 62. Although the rate dropped slightly the pair continued to bat very well until the 19 th over when Sampson (43) fell to a brave catch in the covers, with the score on 87, after he had smacked a full blooded shot towards the Beige fielder. John Bell joined Willie at the crease and the pair batted away at a slower rate than the opening partnership had done, but the score progressed nonetheless until the 30 th over when Morrison skied a slower ball and was caught for a fine 56, and the Glens were now 115 for 2.

Brad Combrink was in at number , but he didn’t hang around long as he was dispatched for the first duck of the day. Nigel Duthie came to join Bell and soon had the fielding side panicking with a couple of lovely off drives to the boundary. Bell went for 23 with the score on 143, and Duthie went one run later for 13. The pairing at the crease was now Georgeson and Dave Snook, and both looked in fine form as they plundered a several boundaries between them. Georgeson went for 19 just as he was looking confident and skipper Gould came to the crease the Glenrothes innings on 164. Gould went a short while later for 6 and Snook followed not long after for 13 with the score at 183 for 8. Mearns and Gibbs came and went without troubling the scorers, leaving Chris Yarwood stranded on 1 not out and the Glenrothes Innings at a close on 185 , one ball short of their allotted overs. This was a vast improvement on last weeks attempt.

Glenrothes opened their bowling with the same attack as the previous week of Snook and Bell and only 10 men on the field, as Sampson had to go away for business reasons – Gould deputized behind the stumps. In Snook’s 5 th over it looked as though the first wicket had fallen when , for the second week running, Dave had a batsman trapped with a seemingly cast iron LBW , but to everyone’s amazement the Beige umpire’s finger stayed firmly by his side. Mathur the batsman who survived this call was to go on and make his century, so Glens had every right to feel aggrieved. Bell took care of the other opener , with a faster ball that ripped out the middle stump. This brought Beige’s skipper McLean to the crease with the score on 32, and there wasn’t to be another wicket until the score reached 122 and Mathur had scored exactly 100.

Geoff Sampson re-appeared in the 19th over and Ross Mearns who had came onto ball his leggies enticed Mathur to go for broke and he launched one towards the boundary. Out there was Combrink who had put down an earlier chance to dismiss the same batsman, this time he made no mistake. Georgeson, came on from the top end and after a dodgy start settled into a nice rhythm . Ian ended up claiming two wickets courtesy of a catch from Duthie and a fine clean bowled. Dave Snook came back on , and at this stage without their opener Mathur, Beige were struggling. Snook claimed a wicket with an LBW that was given and at this stage Beige were now 149 for 5. With 9 overs remaining Gould brought Combrink on from the top end and took the responsibility himself from the bottom end. This pairing reaped immediate dividends with Gould claiming wicket number 6 in his first over as Yarwood took a fine catch on the leg side. A further wicket from Gould when Snook did well to hold a catch right on his toes and a caught and bowled from Combrink, left Beige on 181 for 8 going into the last over. Gould bowled the last over and 2 singles mingled with 3 dot balls meant that Beige needed three runs to win the match from the last ball. Gould bowled and Beige managed to squeeze two runs to tie the match on 185 for 8.

Glenrothes needed a performance after last week and they gave one , and should rightly feel aggrieved at only drawing the game.

It is back to Edinburgh next week for the 2nds as they travel to Cavalry park to take on Marchmont.

Click here for Saturdays scorecard