1st XI v Fettes

Our captain, G. Innes Ker (please note the use of surnames M.O.) won the toss and put Fettes in to bat on a good wicket that seldom sees much bounce.  F. Rogers opened the bowling with his in-swinging bananas and made an early breakthrough when their number two was caught at silly mid-off in the first over. The captain bowled from the other end but struggled to find his line or length and didn’t force the batsmen to play the ball enough. F. Rogers then earned his second wicket when he bowled their opener with a superb in-swinging delivery which left Fettes on 16 runs for 2 wickets.

D. Forsyth took the ball from the captain after six overs while H. Roberts took over from Rogers. It is an unusual year for the 1^st XI as there are four bowlers in the team who can move the ball three-quarters of a yard: D. Forsyth and D. Donaldson swing it away prodigiously while F. Rogers swings it in sharply; H. Roberts can turn it almost square. Unfortunately all but one of these boys struggled to control the movement of the ball and far too many wide balls were gifted to Fettes

H. Roberts, and D. Forsyth did collect a wicket each but they should have taken control of the match to a greater extent. C and F Rogers bowled tidily enough. Caspar took two good wickets in his four overs. Fred tied Fettes down and D. Forsyth returned to the attack for an excellent two over spell that netted him three wickets. D. Donaldson fielded the ball off his own bowling to engineer an excellent run-out which left Fettes on 72 all out. A very reachable target, as long as we stayed in.

We didn’t.

G. Innes Ker and T. Stodart got off to an excellent start and looked very solid, the low bounce of the ball seeming to suit GIK in particular. All they had to do was stay on the front foot. They quickly accrued 30 runs but then disaster struck when two spinners joined the bowling attack. The boy from my end was very good indeed and (skip the technical bit here if not a bowling fan) had a full repertoire of off, leg and top spin as well as some canny changes of flight and pace. A flatter, faster off spin did for Stods and he was trapped LBW. Eight runs later in GIK went back (!) to a ball that didn’t bounce much and was also out LBW.

Three further wickets fell for eight runs: O. Farr, bowled; D. Donaldson, L.B.W. and F. Rogers, bowled. With D. Forsyth and W. Plowden at the crease we struggled to fifty-four but then three wickets fell for one run. Eventually, with no batsmen still to come, we needed thirteen runs to secure victory. A few wides were bowled, A few balls were hit. And a few runs were taken. As the score crept to sixty-five and beyond, Hope peeked out. Too soon as it transpired as T. Wright swung wildly at a ball, got a top edge and was caught, leaving Belhaven Hill six, miserly, runs short of victory.

There are many lessons (as always) to be learned from the match, but two need to be highlighted:

·         Protect your wicket more convincingly

Batting                                                                             Bowling

Tom S	6	LBW
George IK	16	LBW
Ollie	6	Bowled
Douglas	1	LBW
Fred	1	Bowled
Will	4	Caught
Dougal	0	Bowled
Geordie	3	Bowled
Caspar	1	Caught
Tom	3	Caught
Henry	1	Not Out
Extras	25

	Overs	Maidens	Wides	NBs	Runs	Wkts
Fred	6	0	0	0	11	2
George	3	1	2	0	7	0
Dougal	6	0	6	0	17	4
Henry	5	1	5	2	20	1
Caspar	4	1	0	1	9	2
Douglas	2	1	0	0	6	0

Fettes:        72 all out (25 overs).

Belhaven:   67 all out (23.5 overs)

Result

Man of the match: Despite too many wides, four wickets is impressive so the award goes to Dougal.