NEWS

3rd XI v DUNBAR

A typically wet first Saturday morning of the season, gave way to a bright and blustery day, as RHC’s thirds made their way to Dunbar for the league opener. Not particularly in expectation, but certainly with more than a little hope.

The site of an astroturf pitch meant hasty changes to the spike arrangements on several sets of footwear, and the sound of two wind turbines on the edge of the (short) boundary made the addition of earplugs to the kitbags a future necessity.

Dunbar won the toss and put us in, a decision that looked poor in a first over in which Will Blackett bludgeoned 3 fours. Vance was to take his revenge with the first ball of the third over, however, Blackett went for one too many big shots and was caught. One bye later and Vance produced the ball of the day to skittle Ally Urquhart and trouble was looming. It got deeper next over as Fraggle West was cleaned up, having a mow, by Hill, and just like that it was 17 for 3. JK, and debutant Paul Wright, then played a patient, can’t get the ball of the square half hour of rebuilding.

The introduction of the Dunbar “spinners” soon undid the good work, a flighted “hand grenade” confusing Wright and hitting the sticks. Captain Moore arrived at the crease to wreck his own brand of havoc, he lasted 11 balls, smacking 15 before holing out in the deep (where else). Macca smacked a huge six before, JK’s epic vigil ended when he was trapped plumb in front. Macca was then bowled heaving across the line, and the score was a paltry 61 for 7. Enter the Jones, pariing up with young Fraser Niccol to show exactly how it should be done. A combination of slapped boundaries and good running added 53 before the running got too much. Jonesy run out going for a second, it had to be a direct hit, and was.

Chappers was promoted to ten, and his first actio nsaw Fraser run out. Ball clipped to mid- wicket and the call was “Wait!”. This was obviously interpreted as “Yes”, as by the time “No!” was called, the youngster was half way down the track and he had no chance of getting back. In a flashback to Broomhall last year, Ringles and Chappers hung around for a while, but unable to pierce the field, Chappers was cleaned up as frustration set in and he elected to admire the cloud formation to a straight one, RHC all out for 124.

After a decent tea, we took the field feeling we had a defensible total, but the Dunbar tactic was soon to become clear. Step away, make some room and hit it. Worlers was dropped by Blackett in the second over, he then flat batted one over his head in the next over before finally holing out in the fourth, Macca the bowler. 9 for 1 became 29 for 2 as Greco smacked a slower ball straight to Jones at mid-on. The youngster Charlton played some lovely shots before becoming the victim of a shooter, the step away being his undoing as the ball hit middle about two inches up.

Dunbar were leaking wickets but the scoring rate was always above the required, and it became clear we needed to bowl them out in a hurry. Ringles cleaned up Callow to make it 67 for 4, but McNiven and now Vance continued to hit cleanly. Fraggle suffering in particular as he struggled for line and length. It was at this stage the game decended into farce McNiven, taking guard out of his ground, stepped forward into a shortish one from Fraggle, and was hit in the midriff. The ball dropped down, McNiven wandered as if “gardening”. Will swept in from midwicket, picked up the ball and threw down the stumps. Turning to the umpire to confirm the run out, there was a shrug of the shoulders and some mutterings of “dead ball”. We were fairly incredulous, but, just as it looked like the game was about to resume, the batsman left the field. Dunbar seemed aggrieved by this, Vance in particular taking it to the bowlers. There was time for Fraser Niccol to have Anderton stumped and for Macca to force Vance to hole out to Mooro, but by this stage it was just two to win. Foggitt finally hitting the winning runs. So a 3 wicket defeat to start the year. Some good work in the field and with the bowl, plenty of work to be done with the bat.

RHC 3's

Extras 15
Total all out 124 from 38.1overs

S Vance 6 3 17 2
D Hill 6 0 13 1
E Foggitt 8 3 7 2
S Callow 6 0 32 1
R Charlton 6 0 34 0
R Miller 5.1 1 13 1
C Greco 1 0 1 0

Dunbar

Extras 10
Total for 7 wkts 127 from 23.5 overs

P Chapman 6 1 22 2
A McConnochie 6.5 0 27 2
R Ingles 3 0 15 1
F West 3 0 25 0
A Moore 3 0 18 0
F Niccol 2 0 24 1

Other Results:

Last week
Kirk Brae 2 210a.o. (20) Leith 3 59a.o. (7)

This week
Kismet 2 v Clacks 2 – off
Dunfermline 3 v Kirk Brae 2 - off
Broomhall 2 86 a.o. (4) Carlton 4 87-3 (20)
Leith 3 125a.o. (8) Edinburgh South 2 128-8 (20)
Morton 2 167-6 (20) Druimmond/Trinity 2 95a.o. (6)