3rds Unbeaten Run Shattered

The thirds entertained SMRH 4s on Saturday at Gilvenbank,and as in the same fixture earlier this year the two skippers agreed on a reduced over match with forecasts predicting rain in the early afternoon.

Skipper Craig Gould won the toss and, despite having a weaker than normal bowling attack, elected to field first.

A much changed SMRH side made their intentions clear from the start attacking the opening pair of Darren Lewis and Dave Snook. Gould replaced Snook after his first 3 overs with Keith Graveling as the SMRH runs piled up. Keith struck in his second over accounting for Bell for 27 with the aid of a fine catch by Ally King. Daz struck next over when Ross Mearns took a catch of the the number 3 batsman. Stew mel were now 65 for 2 from 11 overs. Opener Taylor, now joined by Shearer were flashing the bat and had taken the score to 93 in the 16th over when Rossco put one onto the foot of Taylor right in front of the stumps. The wickets started to tumble a bit more regularly now with Keith claiming a second victim courtesy of Ally yet again, and Nathan Salt took 2 catches from Ross's bowling at Gulley as SMRH powered onwards. They were now 143 for 6 from 23 overs.
Number 7 Rigby was amassing a big score as he swung hard at anything in his arc. Skipper Gould took the 7th wicket when Andy McAulay took the catch down leg.
Gave Howe was on at the bottom end for the final 3 overs with Holly Wilkinson taking the last 2 from the top end. Rigby punished any bad ball brutally , but both Gav and Holly put in some really good balls.
The SMRH innings came to an end on 207 for 7 after their 30 overs.

Glens opened with Regular Eddie Gibbs and Darren Lewis, both very capable batsmen, but Daz was clean bowled in the second over for 1 , bringing 4th XI skipper and top run scorer in Div 9 , Ross Mearns to the crease. Ross lasted 3 balls before playing onto his own stumps with a thin inside edge.
Back from his holidays, Andy McAulay came in at 4 and was looking calm and assured as ever alongside Gibbs, but both were finding it hard to score and Andy was adjudged to have edged one to the wickie, who caught it at the second attempt and Andy was gone for 6.
Gav Howe at 5 did not trouble the scorers and this brought Holly to the crease at number 6 with the Glens in trouble at 23 for 4.
Holly took a while to adjust to the bowling but settled down and was coping with everything SMRH could throw at her, even hitting a find boundary through gulley.
At the other end Eddie was holding his end up well, but with the score on 42, Holly was clean bowled. Youngster Nathan Salt was next up to join Gibbs, but Eddie wasn't there long as he put one in the air and was caught by the wicket keeper.
Gouldy came out to partner Nathan and the pair put on 23, with Gould finding the boundary a couple of times, before Nathan was bowled for 3, but that belies how well he had batted.
Keith Graveling joined his skipper and the pair upped the run rate which had already increased to a near improbable rate.
The double G team put on 28 and pushed the Glens score onto 99 before Gould was caught after he top edged to mid on for 33.
Ally King was in at number 10 and along with Keith they pushed the score on again to 110 and a 3rd batting point when Keith was caught behind by Thompson the juggling wicket keeper for a cameo 21 including 2 huge 6s.
Dave Snook was last up and with Ally swinging the bat wildly it was obvious the inning was nearly over , and so it proved with the score on 114 when Ally was clean bowled.

A poor day at the office for Glenrothes, in a week when the whole club was hit with very poor availability.
A sad way to surrender their unbeaten record , but SMRH proved too strong on the day. Special mention to all of the regular 4th XI players who stepped up to help out the 3s today.

Next up for the 3s is a trip to the capital to play Holy Cross at the place every cricketer wants to play ( NOT) The Meadows.