Glenrothes 2nd XI v Kismet (a)

Glenrothes 2nds made the short hop to Dunfermline’s new facility at Dulloch Park to take on Fife rivals Kismet. Kismet have managed promotion on 4 consectutives seasons since joining the East League, so Glen knew they would be in for a competitive game. Glenrothes were also fielding a weakened team due to call offs and call ups to the 1 st eleven and even had 11year old Craig Muir in their starting line up.

Kismet won the toss and elected to bat. Glens opened their attack with Dave Snook and Alan Hutchison in the absence of John Bell and both openers were to give the opening batsmen of Ali and Mahmood a lot of trouble. Snook had Mahmood dropped twice and a very good appeal for LBW refused against him all in one over !! Hutchison made the breakthrough with the wicket of Kismet skipper Ashgar Ali for 8 when Gould took a catch at wicket keeper. This brought together Saeed with Mahmood and signalled the start of an onslaught against the Glenrothes bowlers. Gould rested Snook after 6 overs and brought on Manju Kadanaik. With Mahmood picking his shots off middle stump and nearing his 50 , Hutchison found the delivery to send him packing. The ball swung at the last minute and Mahmood got an edge to it sending it behind but wide, Gould dived full length to his right and the ball stuck in his gloves for a fine catch. Hutchison finished his spell with a very creditable 9 overs 2 for 25. Manju at the other end was having trouble with his swinging deliveries in the windy conditions, and wides were the main scoring medium from his bowling !!! Vice Captain Willie Morrison replaced Hutchison from the pavilion end. Gould swapped the wickie pads with Hutchison , in order to enable the skipper to bowl. He replaced Kadanaik after 5 overs and went on to bowl his best spell in years. The Kismet score was creeping up, in main due to some fine batting from Ajaz , when Gould struck in the space of 4 balls he took Saeed for 28 with a well executed slower delivery, in the next over he accounted for Ali with an easy catch off his own bowling, next ball he took out the leg stump of Mujeeb to set up a hat-trick ball. The hat-trick didn’t come off however and Gould finished his spell with 3 for 26 from 9 overs. Henderson had replaced Morrison for a few overs at the top end and had been given the ‘treatment’ by the Kismet batsmen, despite bowling well, and Gould brought back Snook and Morrison to round off the last few overs and they didn’t disappoint. Morrison took out the top scorer Ajaz for 53, with Hutchison claiming a catch behind. Gav Henderson eventually held a ball after two dropped catches earlier to enable Morrison to take his second victim, and finally Snook got his reward for some very fine bowling when Naseem slogged him to wide of mid-on and Gould came sprinting in from deep to hold a fine catch. Kismet finished their innings on 198 for 8 from 45 overs.

With Glens minus their normal number 2,3 and 4 batsmen, Gould elected to open with Morrison and Nigel Duthie, and the pair found runs very hard to come by. By the 14 th over Glenrothes were only on 16 runs when disaster struck. Duthie , trying to pull one, edged the ball into his face. It was obvious that there had been some serious damage and with blood pouring from a nose injury, and the rain starting the player all made their way off the field. After viewing the injury it was decided to get Nigel to hospital for treatment, and he retired hurt for 6. After the rain shower, the teams re-emerged with Snook replacing Duthie. Dave didn’t last any time at all and was out for a golden duck. Manju joined Morrison and the score moved onto 25 when Morrison fell for 8. Skipper Gould (10) came in and pushed the score onto 36, before having a rush of blood to the head and throwing away his wicket. Big hitting Robert Swan came in and swung the bat for 3 deliveries, scoring 6 then being caught. Chris Yarwood came and went for 1 as the Glenrothes innings went into freefall at 44 for5.

Hutchison stuck around a bit longer for 2 before departing, then Eddie Gibbs joined Manju at the crease. Manju fell for 11 when he was caught, and Gav Henderson entered the fray at number 10 , only to become the second Glens duck of the day. Young Craig Muir came in to give some support to Gibbs, and Eddie went on to score his best effort yet for the Glens, amassing an impressive 17 not out by the time the match ended when young Craig was dismissed by way of a stumping ( for the second time it has to be said, due to a very sporting Kismet skipper Ali).

The innings ended on 70 for 9, and another disappointing batting performance from Glenrothes. Glens managed to attain 5 points and now go into another Fife derby this weekend against Dalgety Bay , desperately needing a confidence boosting victory.

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