RHC LIONS

NEWS

2’s Triumph Over Stubborn Steny

Saturday didn’t look like a day for cricket at all as the rain lashed down in Edinburgh. Things however where a bit brighter in Stenhousemuir and thanks to some good work by the Stenhousemuir boys the wicket was made playable.

Steny opted to field first and, as usual, Hoffy started to dispatch the opening bowlers around the ground.

The deck was a bit green in places and a few damp patches made the bounce a bit indifferent for the batsmen to deal with. Az was undone early and was caught at gully for 5.

Sean made himself a quick fire 25 before being bowled as he played all around a straight one.

With Tyson and Steven Burnett at the crease things started to pick up pace as quick singles and some nice lofty shots from Tyson kept the run rate ticking over.

Tyson moved quickly onto 24 when he was stumped after chasing the spinners delivery. A shame really as he was looking in great form with the bat and was looking like he was going to cruise to 50.

In strode skipper West. The new partnership of Burnett and West also looked solid.

Some quick singles kept the runs ticking over but the need to consolidate as Steny had their tails up as wickets had fallen regularly.

Steven fell to the same trap as Tyson although whether he was ct or stumped is still up for debate.

Westy was soaking up the pressure from the bowlers and looked like he was there for the long haul.

Tim at the other end was of course itching to hit the bad ball and was making some good headway with this and reached 14 before being undone by a ball that skidded its way through onto the sticks. BP was unable to replicate his heroics against Preston village as he received a similar ball to Tim and was out for a 2nd ball duck.

Having dropped down the order a bit in order to try and rest his leg, Gus made his way out to join the battling Westy.

The pair soon settled against the Steny bowling and started to steady the ship. Gus played himself in with some delicate shots into the gaps early on. Some powerful hitting later on in his innings made for some excellent viewing.Gus batted excellently and deserved every run he made as he made his way to his first 50 for the club.

He was eventually undone by the penultimate ball of the innings as the pair pushed for runs. Gus bowled by Bayes for 53 left the dynamic duo with a partnership of 96.

This meant Giggsy had the honour of facing the last delivery on his return after a lengthy period out through injury. A big swing but the only thing the ball connected with was his pads, fortunately for him, it was going down leg side!

With the 50 overs up Westy’s marathon innings was complete on 45 not out. An important innings as at one point the Lions where 60 odd for 6.

An excellent show off patience from the skipper as he backed up Gus to help the 2’s reach 185 for 7.

After an excellent tea, and a bit of a rain shower the Stenhousemuir batsmen where eventually coaxed out from their changing room with the challenge of reaching 185 runs on a bit of dodgy wicket against the best bowling attack in the league.

With Az and Bammo opening the attack the new ball was doing all sorts and it wasn't long before Az got the break through. A second wicket feel not long after leaving the home side 2 for 11 and a mamooth task ahead.

Opener Dirom was refusing to go anywhere and was trying all sorts to upset the bowling attack but the Lions rised above it. Although playing the right game by getting his head down and keeping up an end he got himself bogged down leaving his batting partners the task of trying to score the runs.

This wasn't to be though as Az and Bammo had bowled excellenlty and got us off to a great start. Bammo was really unlucky not to get a wicket and really deserved more than his figures suggested.

Tim and BP then took the ball and got stuck right into them. Tim was bowling some great lines at one end as BP took 2 wickets in 2 overs to get the Lions back on top at the other. Signs that it was Gus' day after he took one of the most bizzare catches we've seen this season.

With their spells bowled out and Dirom still refusing to be undone and still trying to match Westy for square cuts it was time to bring Giggsy back into the fold after his spell out with injury. After removing the threat of Jamison who'd managed to send Gus to the boundary Giggsy eventually got Dirom.

At last he'd hit that square cut! Unfortunately for him it was straight at Tim in the gully and he was out on 49. A lengthy innings that maybe would have won the game had he not been so concerned about what the Lions where doing!

It was to be Gus' day though as he wrapped things up with a nice little 3 for 23. Easily winning the man of the match award. Lets hope he builds on that and keeps performing at this level for the rest of the season.

Overall though another great team performance proving that we don't have to rely on one man to do the job for us. A great sign for the future of the club.