Glens dragged into relegation dogfight after home defeat

Once again the GCC unavailable list meant the Craig Gould had an understrength team and only had 4 recognised bowlers at his disposal.

Gould won the toss and put Leith into bat, and straight away within 3 overs his gameplan suffered a devastating double blow.

Leith opener Ingram came out the blocks blasting away and 2 balls into the third over Leith were already on 31, when opening bowler Hutchison pulled his hamstring and had to come off. Gould himself completed the 3rd over. At the other end Gavin Henderson wasn't faring much better having gone for 16 in his 1st 2 overs, Glens needed to halt the run rate and surprisingly, after last weeks pile of pants that he bowled, it was Skipper Gould who managed it, being very economical during his spell.

Henderson made the breakthrough clean bowling Ingram in the 6th over for a quickfire 35.Gould struck next trapping Spence LBW in the 15h over with eths core on 75. Henderson finished his spell with a wicket with his last ball, catching Ahmed LBW.

With Hutch out of action, Young Daniel Graveling was the last recognised bowler Glens had available and he came onto bowl from the top end. Daniel was bowling with great pace but this meant any edges were liable to run to the boundary on the small pitch. He got his reward when the impressive Lestrelle pulled one to deep square leg into the waiting hands of Gould.

Gould finished his spell in the 19th over with fine figures of 8 overs 1 for 13. The skipper opted to bring 62yo Roger Gibbs on to bowl after his brief cameo last week. Graveling claimed his second scalp when Leith Skipper Secker literally jumped out of the way from a deliver aimed at his toes.

Chairman and new father Eddie Gibbs was given the task of bowling for the first time this year and claimed the scalp of Mann with a delivery that kept low. Gibbs the elder ( Roger) finished things off with 2 wickets in his final over, Hutchison taking one catch and Roger clean bowling Jamieson, and Leith ended up on 203 for 8 after 40 overs.

Glens fielding although good in general, suffered from some basic errors from the more experienced cricketers in the team. As with last week, club rookies, Ian Green , Joe Burton and especially Daniel Wood were impressive in the field.

Glens set about the run chase with Nigel Duthie and Chris Yarwood the opening pair. Chris went for 6 clean bowled early door and this brought Henderson to the crease. Slolwy but surely Gav and Nige pushed ths core along with a micture of singles and boundaries, including 2 big 6s from Henderson.
The partnership lasted until the 15th over with the score on 69 when a bad call from Duthie led to Henderson being run out for a fine 21.

Edie Gibbs came and went without troubling the scorers with Daniel Graveling coming in at 5. Daniel looked confident and had moved onto 11 when a smart delivery cut back and he was gone LBW. Joe Burton did an Eddie and left with a duck, bring Hutchison to the crease.

Nige and Alan settled into a relaxed looking partnership until another mix up meant Nigel was on his way back to the pavilion having been run out when Hutch deigned no single was on and stood his ground. Nigel had amassed 37 runs ( with most of them in singles!!!!)

Gould was next up, looking to add to his fine knock from last week and looked in confident mood, quickly moving onto 10, before an inswinging deliver caught him on his back foot and took middle stump.

Daniel Wood and Ian Green were 9 and 10 batsmen beside Hutch and both looked calm and composed enough but unfortunately didn't last long with Wood clean bowled for 2 and Green caught close in for Glens 3rd duck of the day.

Roger Gibbs came in at 11 with Glens on 131 and rolled back the years quickly moving to 7 before the innings ended when Hutch holed out to extra cover.

The lack of experienced bowlers hit Glens hard, and this combined with errors in the field meant Leith had the upper hand during their innings.

With two of the main wickets that fell being of their own making, it certainly wasn't Glens day. 8 bonus points were gained but there is now a real possibility the 3s could join the 4s in div 9 next year unless a couple of wins can be attained.

Initial outlook for next week, when the 3s travel to top 3 side Kirk Brae is that availability is better than it has been, but that remains to be seen come next Saturday.