The Fife Under 16s team played their first competitive match of the summer last night, travelling to Doo'cot Park in Perth to play Perthshire U16s in a T20.

Fife skipper Chris won the toss and invited Perthshire to bat first.

Reuben made an immediate breakthrough, bowling three cracking leg cutters in a row to have Lauchie bowled third ball of the match, and this was soon followed by Fletcher to see Hugo caught behind by Muhammad off a full-toss top-edge in the second over.

At 3 for 2, confidence was high for Fife, but home skipper Fraser soon changed the mood as he started to strike the ball hard around the park.

With great support from young opener George, coupled with some lax fielding and a dropped catch off Fraser by Ben, the scoreboard rattled along.

A formidable score looked likely to be set as their century partnership came and went, but 126 for 2 in the 15th over soon became 132 for 4 as first Peter had Fraser (68 from 47 balls) caught by Reuben at mid-off then Kieran trapped George (37 from 40 balls) LBW.

Their batting had been characterised by smart shot placement and hard running, and this was to continue with new batters Robert (13*) and Aaban (24*) who batted with such a tempo they soon at the Fife fielders panicking into numerous mistakes.

Perthshire ended on 174 for 4 from their 20 overs, with Fife knowing they would have to bat to potential and repeat the home-sides approach.

Opening bowler Callum's radar was off in his spell, with a number of wides. Nikhil soon got the batting runs moving too with a lovely cover drive for four, but was unluckily bowled two balls later to a drag on which stayed slightly low.

Chris soon joined him back in the pavilion, as Lucy was rewarded with her consistent line and length bowling with a well taken catch by George at square leg.

It was to be yet another needless Fife mistake for the next wicket, as a calling mix-up saw Reuben run out in the fifth over with the score on 37 for 3.

With Muhammad and Kieran now together at the crease, batting got tricky - some good bowling but more so from the darkening skies which made seeing the ball difficult.

Having taken the score on to 62 with one ball to go in the ninth over, the dark skies very quickly became heavy rain so the covers came on and the players went off.

Great credit to everyone for being willing to get the game started again soon after, though just 10 runs came off the next two overs before the rain came again. Muhammed (32* from 32 balls) and Kieran (9* from 17 balls) left not out.

Fife ended on 76 for 3 from the 11 overs faced, effectively a loss by 13 runs under DLS method. Though in reality, it was a game absolutely dominated by Perthshire who were very deserving winners.

A huge thanks to Perth Doo'cot for hosting and to their fellow players from Meigle (can't tag either team) also. We know that the Fife players will have learned a lot from the experience, and hope everyone had a fun time.

Team Representatives