Defeat in opening fixture at Freuchie

Glenrothes opened their 2021 season with the short trip to Freuchie for a friendly on Sunday 15 May.

Skipper Jay Lewis "negotiated" a 40 overs-a-side game, and will have been disappointed in losing the toss and being invited to bowl first. Mostly because the bowling ends of the wicket was still a bit soft so he and fellow opening bowler Jordan Smith struggled to get grip in their delivery strides.

With most bowlers struggling to find any rhythm and fielding looking early-season rusty, the Freuchie openers Hastie and Glasgow batted with confidence to reach a century partnership in just the 17th over.

Just three overs later, Glasgow retired having reached his half century. Hastie was soon to follow, not in retiring after reaching his 50 but being bowled soon after by the returning Lewis.

Most other Freuchie batters were able to make contributions also, with Wiseman scoring 39 before being bowled from the lack of pace of Joe Burton - with Gibson following shortly after with a swish he'd rather forget.

Steven Donaldson took an excellent caught and bowled to dismiss the dismayed Duncan, and Chris Marshman was rewarded with a wicket also after causing some problems with his extra pace. Freuchie ending on 234 from their 40 overs.

Glenrothes opened with debutant Ani Apparaju and Burton, facing up against former Glens player Mearns. It was Mearns who won the battle though with Apparaju coming down the wicket to attack the extra slow bowling but only ended up being hit on the pads and pinged LBW.

Young Gladiator Karthik Copisetty was next in, great to see the young batter having the confidence to go in high up the order. The slow balls generally kept low when pushed down legside against Copisetty who couldn't quite his pull shots going, and left those on the off-side carefully. But he wasn't to last too long as he was eventually bowled by Mearns.

Wickets continued to fall, with opening bowler Gibson bowling tightly and capturing the wicket of Burton, and first change Hastie bowling outswingers which the some could not resist chasing, like Lewis caught in the gully area. With Culleton adjudged LBW having been hit in the box and young Gladiator Anas Taveer giving out LBW also but off an inside edge, Glenrothes knew it just wasn't to be their day.

At 45 for 9 wickets in the 17th over, it was last pair Marshman and Smith who went about bringing respectability to the score. Both batted confidently, keeping the scoreboard ticking over with good running and boundary hitting.

The returning Hastie was to seal the victory for Freuchie though, bowling Smith for 20 with Marshman left on 31 not out and Glenrothes bowled out for 103 in the 27th over.

Many thanks to Freuchie for hosting the game, great to finally be out and playing cricket again!

___________

Interested in winning a cricket bat? Or some cash? Whilst at the same time as supporting our club fundraising? And not just that but supporting other charitable causes also.... Then take part in our club scratch card competition which is possible thanks to the amazing generosity of Duck and Run Cricket.

See our news article for further information.