Glenrothes 2 nd XI vs Dalgety Bay

Glenrothes 2nds were back at the Town Park for their Fife Derby match against bottom club Dalgety Bay. Gould won the toss and put Dalgety into bat.

Opening bowler Dave Snook had severe trouble with his deliveries in the first over, bowling every one of his six balls as full tosses !! Snook only lasted 3 overs before consulting with his skipper and being replaced by Darren Lewis. Alan Hutchison , from the top end however was bowling superbly well, making it very difficult for the Bay batsmen to score. With Darren Lewis pinning them down from the other end, Dalgety were restricted to only 24 runs by the end of the 11 th over, and in the 12 th over Hutchison made the breakthrough, clean bowling opener Pearson (16) with a well executed full toss. Lewis replied by taking the number 2 batsman Bielski for 6 with a peach of a disguised ‘back of the hand’ slower delivery ! Glens then took two more wickets in quick succession to leave Bay struggling on 28 for 4 – Hutchison and Lewis claiming another wicket each, the former thanks to a fine running catch by Robert Swan.

Forbes and Thompson took up the challenge for Dalgety, and after seeing off the allotted 9 overs from Hutchison, and with Lewis taking a rest after bowling 7 on the spin, they set about the change bowlers Kadanaik and Gould and took the score upto 75. Glens’ skipper Gould changed his attack again and brought Snook back on, but down the hill, and Dave instantly made up for his earlier spell by taking the wicket of Thompson (20) by way of LBW. Lewis came back to finish his 9 overs off, before being replaced by Combrink, and it was to be a decisive change. Combrink took the prized scalp of Forbes who had scored a fine 41 out of 101 , he then claimed another wicket when Robert Swan held another catch. Dave Snook took another wicket with his second successful LBW appeal of the game before Combrink wrapped the game up with another 2 wickets, one ripping the middle stump out of the ground and the final wicket thanks to a catch by Tam Kimmet . Dalgety Bay finished on 112 from 38.4 overs – pick of Glen bowling was Combrink with 4 for 17, Hutchison 2 for 10, Lewis 2 for 14 and Snook 2 for 27.

Glenrothes opened with vice captain Willie Morrison and Darren Lewis, and the pairing seemed to be coping fine and had move the score onto 20 before Lewis fell LBW to Forbes for 16. Brad Combrink went in at number 3, and the score was at 26 when Morrison fell to a cruel delivery that stayed very low. Craig Gould came in at number 4 and he and Combrink set about the Dalgety Bay bowling, Combrink smashing a glorious six over fine leg and Gould cracking an unstoppable 4 the same way. Both batsmen appeared in control, when Gould cracked an off drive straight towards the fielder at mid-off, and to everyone’s amazement, especially the fielder’s, he caught the ball – without using his hands - and Gould was dismissed for 8 !

Manju Kadanaik joined Combrink at the crease and it was a case of game over from then on in. Both players finding the boundary with ease and the winning runs came from Kadanaik off the last ball of the 28 th over, as Glenrothes claimed the victory on 115 for 3. Combrink scoring a fine 56 not out and Kadanaik supporting him well on 20.

This was a much needed win for Glenrothes and sets them up nicely for the short trip to Falkland next week, where a second victory on the trot would probably see Glens jump into the top half of the table.

Click here for Saturdays scorecard