Tight Finish to Deny Glen's 1st Victory

Glenrothes Cricket Club 1st XI travelled to the Capital to take on Grange 2nd XI at the home of the Scottish National Team.

Skipper Hopcroft lost the toss and Glenrothes were asked to have a bowl on a wicket that looked as though it would assist bat and ball.

Opening bowlers Farooq and Georgeson, bowled extremely well and kept runs to a minimum with Farooq taking 2 early wickets Grange were on the back foot. However the experienced Aussie, Coles, came to the wicket and steadied things for the home side. Lewis got the dangerous Hoffman before 2 excellent pieces of fielding from Greaves and Braid forced 2 Grange run-outs. Greaves was brought into the attack with his "leggies", however things didnt exactly go to plan except for the surprise wicket ball which was a rank full toss which hit the base of the stump. Khan returned to the attack after drinks and removed the dangerous Coles for 80. The run rate slowed towards the end of the innings with Khan taking an excellent 4 wickets, and Georgeson not getting the reward his tight bowling deserved with 8 overs, 1 wicket for 16 runs.

In reply Hopcroft and Rowley made a cautious start against some excellent opening bowling from Grange. The score had crept to 22 in the 11th over when Rowley was caught and bowled for 9. Greaves came to the crease and signalled his intentions early with some excellent strokes. A further 10 overs passed, with the score increasing to 59 when Hopcroft had a faint edge caught by the wicket keeper having scored a patient 29 runs. Lewis (11) followed by some lusty blows by Khan (16) including one six which ended up in the rugby ground next door failed to consolodate. This continued with Glenrothes going from 105 for 3 to 127 for 7 in the space of 7 overs. Mearns supported Greaves well and they put on 47 runs for the 8th wicket before Mearns luck ran out at the end.

The Glenrothes innings closed with the score on 177, agonisingly 13 runs short of victory with 8 balls left.

A good 9 points were gained in defeat, however the 20 points for victory would have been enjoyed somewhat more. Next week sees a return to the Capital with a visit to Grange Loan to face Carlton 2nd XI.