3s Victorious Again

Glenrothes 3rds hosted Watsonians 4s on Saturday, with a previously agreed later start due to many of the Capital side having to play schools cricket in the morning.

Skippers Craig Gould and Alan Borthwick agreed to cut the match to a 35 overs per innings to compensate for the later start time.

Watsonians won the toss and Borthwick elected to bat first.

With a number of youngsters in their team, Borthwick opened himself alongside Dixon, 2 of the 3 senior players, to try and see off a few overs and get the score ticking along.

Glens Openers Daniel Graveling and Andy McAulay had other ideas though and it was Andy who struck in the 4th over trapping Borthwick LBW for 3.

Daniel got in on the act the very next over doing the same thing to youngster M.Brian. Andy then clean bowled Milligan for 4 in the 8th over, with the score on 19 ( courtesy , mainly from a handful of wides by Andy).

Andy had been feeling his thigh tightening on his delivery stride so Gould replaced him with another oldie, Iain Georgeson.

Daniel bowled his allotted 7 overs getting another wicket by demolishing the stumps of youngster Deane.

Watsonians 3rd senior player T.Brian came and went in one ball when he decided to take a quick single, with the ball already in Brett Wardles hand, who threw into Gould, who had time to collect the poorly thrown ball turn around and see Brian stuck in the middle after being sent back by Dixon.

Plug then got in on the act bowling Macleod ( this was 3 balls after he had already bowled him, but was called for a no ball when he dislodged the bails at the bowlers end during his delivery - this is a no ball in test cricket but not at this level, but justice was done anyway)

Libin Thomas was brought on from the pavilion end when Daniel had bowled out and immediately put his spin to good work with a wicket maiden in his first over. Libin's next wicket was courtesy of one of the most bizarre catches , Libin bowled what was going to be a wide, the batsmen stretched out got a thin edge to it , the ball hit Gould's wrist as he dived right , it bounced onto his chest rolled down and the skipper's quick thinking trapped the ball inbetween his thighs. With Gould lying on his back with his legs raised, he appealed to the umpire for the catch , explaining the ball had not grounded and the finger went up !!!

Libin finished with the final two wickets in a fine display , varying his deliveries and bamboozling the young tai lenders.

Watsonians finished all out for 35 in 19 over, with only opener Dixon remaining unbeaten on 6.

There wasn't much to do in the field, but what there was to do was handled well by Ian Green and Eddie Gibbs, along with Awais Ali and Muhammed Talha who both showed good strong arms from the deep.

All the Glens bowlers performed well - Daniel 2 for 15 from 7, Andy 2 for 9 from 4, Plug 1 for 5 from 5 and the pick of the bunch, Libin 3 overs 4 for 5.

After a quick break for drinks, Andy McAulay(11) and Callum Stewart(20) came out and knocked off 38 runs in 4.4 overs.

A harsh lesson for the young Edinburgh side, but they showed in glimpses they will be good cricketers in years to come, that is if they stay in shape as the Glenrothes guys on teas could not get the choccy biscuits and cakes out quick enough as 8 pairs of ravenous hands kept emptying the trays.

All credit to Watsonians for travelling through and fulfilling the fixture when it would have been the easy option to concede - a good bunch of lads, young and old.