2006 NEWS |
NEWS HEADLINES AT 24 DECEMBER 2006 |
Merry Xmas |
The only happy Pom in Perth? |
New Club Shirts and Wool Caps in Stock |
Sunday Open Nets are Back |
40 Not Out... |
AGM Highlights |
Previous 2006 News |
2005 news stories and general lunacy can be found at 2005 News Archive. Go to our Sitemap for previous years News.
Merry Christmas to all of the Mufs family, home and abroad. And here's to a cracking New Year.
News has reached us that Mufs Legend, Andy Knight has scored his first half-century since moving down under. Well done Liberty !
Picture (courtesy of Claypole International Photographics) of Knighty at his new home ground above; and the Knights with Zorba below in April (... note a slight touch of the Merv Hughes with that emerging Rogers' tache!)
Update - we'll bring some stock to sell at the Open nets on Sun 7th but better to let's us know in advance! No cash/cheque - no sale though !!
The perfect gift for Christmas surely... we have taken delivery of some more new Club Shirts (embroidered with Club Logo and Murrayfield Hotel sponsor logo) and also some traditional style wooly caps (navy blue and embroidered with club logo).
Orders to Ian Shiels at 07730 074174 or ian_shiels@hotmail.com.
The Sunday Open Nets - held at the Edinburgh Academy Junior School Sports Hall (off Arboretum Road)- will return on Sunday January 7th from 4pm to 6pm. Fee to be determined but around £3-£4. Thanks to the guys at Boroughmuir CC for getting these going again.
To celebrate passing 40, Mr Belly will be found in the newly refurbished Berts Bar next Saturday 25th November, so a good excuse for a Mufs Gathering.
Brief highights of AGM... will post minutes with full details when we get them from El Sec. In terms of changes to main Club Officials... Willie becomes Honorary Life Member; Gowtham Rai replaces Rich who stood down as Ones Vice Captain; Paul Hubbard returns to the Mufs Treasury, Nick Hill replaces Keith as Player Rep (Keith stays on as Midweek Captain). Club Subs and match fees remain unchanged.
ESCA AGM highlights have been posted by Iain Martin on the Mufs Discussion Board . As mentioned in his post then anyone wishing to go on the Umpires Course should contact Iain.
The venue for the MDCC AGM on Wed 8 Nov is now the Ellersly House Hotel in Murrayfield, on Ellersly Rd - just round the corner from the Murrayfield Hotel. Click the following link for directions More details at the Discussion Board.
We have an order away to buy some shirts which we will then be getting embroidered with new shirt sponsor logo (the MH) and club badge. Also we have ordered some traditional wool caps which we will get badged up too. The shirts are from the more inexpensive end of the market- however, if you want some super-duper, extra comfy, sweat reducing etc etc etc shirt and want this embroidered then by all means purchase it yourself (and any other garment you would like embroidered - the mind boggles at the possibilities) and we will add this to the batch we will get embroidered - we will simply charge you for the embroidery costs. But get your skates on as we would want to get this done this side of Xmas (there's a thought eh for that special Xmas gift ...). So let me know at ian_shiels@hotmail.com or at 07730 074174. Also if you want to pre-reserve a cap or shirt then let me know too
We, as do all other clubs, have received an invite to partcipate in the Cricket Media Super Sixes Tournament 2007. Held on Friday nights from Jan 12 to March 2007 if one progresses right through the tournament, which is likely to be pretty competitive. We would play a minimum of 4 matches in total at least over 2 nights. Prize money at stake too. There will need to be a "match fee" charge to cover costs. If interested (and we need to know we have enough interested players before entering) let me know please at ian_shiels@hotmail.com. We will also start a thread on the message board about it so you can post up interest there to. Follow this link to the New Mufs Message board .
Indoor Cricket part 2... following our latest committee meeting we have decided that in the absence of any others organising the Sunday Open Nets now that Gus McClean is otherwise engaged, then the Mufs will consider stepping into the breach. Watch this space....
Congratulations to Andy and the Threes for winning the Division 7 Fair Play Award - as voted by other teams in the division. Fuller details of other division award winners can be seen at the ESCA Message Board.
As you may have noticed the website is in its winter semi-dormancy (!) but other news and features can be found at our very own Mufs Discussion Forum too - including the latest on AGM and Club Officials.
The Murrayfield-DAFS CC AGM will be held on Wed 8th November at the Murrayfield Hotel. Please send any motions to our Secretary, Iain Martin by Tuesday 24th October including any applications/proposals to stand for any of the Committee and captaincy/vice-captaincy positions.
Messages from Iain Martin...
The ESCA Annual Awards Dinner is at Muirhouse on Friday 6th October at the Muirhouse clubhouse again. Come and sample Frank's posh cooking! Guest speaker: Tim Bunker. 5 course dinner £22. Partners welcome.
Contact Iain Martin immediately if you want to come along
This will be held on Tuesday 14th November, at the Inverleith clubhouse (SMRH CC).
Does anyone in our club wish to propose any motions for our club committee to consider. Motions must be submitted to ESCA by 10 Oct as described above via the Club (Secretary) [ie Iain]. If you have any ideas please forward them to IJM by 30 September to allow time for the Mufs committee to discuss them.
Thanks to Wardy and Cookie as the Twos and Threes 2006 Stats have been posted in the 2006 Statistics section to join the Ones stats.
The final on-field act of a long hard and successful in the main season is tomorrow (Sunday) when Mufs play at Manderston.
The Great Curry Vote finished with Kushis narrowly coming out on top 5-4 over the Khukhuri and Fri 15th was the most convenient for most it seems. So one shall book for then - indications of numbers coming would be good - text Shielsy at 07730 074174 please if you are coming.
Match Report Courtesy of Vesty, reproduced here as well as in Match Reports (and the discussion forum) and why not....
On Sunday 27th we made the long trek to the Isle of Arran to take on Sannox CC.
Despite some rain interuption, we managed to play the whole game. Batting first, Mufs started slowly but steadily, Ali 'Mr Miyagi' Amjid and Gowtham 'One-Eye' Rai taking 16 overs to put on 50 runs. Ali fell shortly after for 10 from 40 balls, for an opening partnership of 65 in exactly an hour. Monster then helped 'Bullseye' add a further 54 runs, before falling for 7 (30 balls) lbw to Brooks with the score on 121. Gowtham was bowled by Brooks for a magnificent 93 from just 90 balls in 93 mins featuring 11 x 4s and 4 x 6s. His 50 came up from 69 balls, so the next 43 runs were hit from just 21 deliveries!
Sasid and a very hungover ("tired" - web-ed) Shielsy made useful contributions of 13 and 19, and Phil Yelland finished on 20* hitting 2 x 4s and 1 x 6. The Mufs tail failed to get to grips with the wicket while going for quick runs, losing 4 wickets in the final 5 overs.
Mufs finished with an above-par score of 180 for 9 from their 40 overs. Top Sannox bowlers were J. May with 8-0-28-4 and A. Brooks 8-0-30-2.
Sannox's reply was hampered thanks to some tight bowling from the Mufs opening attack of Nasty and Vesty, with Vesty and Sasid combining to take the first wicket in just the 3rd over with a runout, and again to dismiss the other opener with a Sasid taking a good one-handed catch at the wicket from an edge. After 8 overs, Sannox were 10/2, and Shielsy and 'Jim Bowen' kept up the pressure with Belly getting the 3rd wicket, before the two spinners Adeel and Neil Yelland were introduced to bowl in tandem. Adeel had the most success, finishing with figures of 4-26, though Neil bowled equally well for 1-27. Ali and Monster took a wicket apiece.
A measure of the tightness of the Mufs bowling, and the aggression of our batting, is that Sannox only managed 1 maiden in 40 overs, whereas Mufs bowled 8 maidens in 31 overs. Mufs hit 18 x 4s and 5 x 6s in total, but Sannox only hit 5 boundaries.
Sannox were all out for 77 from 31.1 overs, Mufs winning by 103 runs.
Thanks to Sannox for their hospitality, and to travelling supporters Mrs Leopard and Mrs Monster.
And thanks to the chippy next to the Ferry.... as this crew would testify below...
Mufs batting
1 M. Ali Amjid ct & b 10F.O.W. - 1/65 2/121 3/122 4/155 5/155 6/158 7/164 8/165 9/171
Mufs bowling
K. Lawrence 4 3 3 0
M. Ward 4 1 7 1
I. Shiels 4 2 4 1
G. Rai 2 0 4 0
Adeel Raza 8 0 26 4
N. Yelland 8 1 27 1
M. Ali Amjid 2 1 1 1
A. Cook 0.1 0 0 1
Back to Top of Page
The final Saturday Mufs 1 Match Report and Statistics have been posted up now. Though there is a full set for Ones there's plenty of gaps for Twos and Threes. Any plugging of the gaps most welcome and I would hope we can do a bit better next year. Surely some of you can put fingers to keyboards to praise and take the pee out of your team mates - it doesn't have to be the Skippers that have to do it. They (we) have enough to do !
I'll write more [soon] as just back from Mufs trip to Arran to play Sannnox (a very enjoyable day out and a win with 93 for Gowtham and 4 wickets for Adeel)... but a glorious Saturday for Mufs as all three teams win. So safety reached by both Ones and Twos. Ones bowled Glens out for 123 with Keith taking 3 and Phil 4 wickets - then with Mufs tottering in reply a dogged 39 not from Phil and 28 not from Adam saw us home for loss of 7 wickets and cue for massive celebrations and a few tears of joy at Muirhouse. Cramond beat Fauldhouse by one wicket to send Fauldhouse down. Twos chased down Div 4 champions Carnegies's 200 in 40 overs (Nadeem and Sasi with half-centuries) and Threes successfully chased over 150 v Clacks - well done all.
We now have a new discussion/message board like the one on the ESCA website. So create yourself a membership and log-in. Follow this link to the New Mufs Message board . For sensible cricketing discussion and club business please - lovers of domestic appliances etc still have the Old Guestbook to play around with! Post up ideas for further categories on the new message board.
Mufs 3 beat Holy Cross 3 by 41 runs at the Gyle with a man of the match performance from Paul Leonard who scored a vital 38 and took 3 for 13 off 9. Mufs scored 155-9 off 45 (Stuart Coull also contributing with the bat with ??) and bowled out Cross for 114 - Jeremiah and Raza also starring as well as Paul with the ball (figures please!!).
With a few results (or cancellations) to be posted/published yet - here's a link again to Unoffical ESCA League Tables for Divisions 1,4 and 7 Tables .
Next Sunday (27th) we travel to the Isle of Arran to play Sannox - availabiity to Martin Ward on 07815 461627 please.
On Wed we are (were!) scheduled to play Old Contemptibles CC at the Meadows - though this is currently off as they doubt they can raise a team.
It didn't until too late as the Ones vital basement clash at Fauldhouse was called off, soon after Twos game at Muirhouse fell victim to the sogginess of pitches following yesterday's deluge - leaving both with crucial games next week to avoid relegation. Threes game v HX3 is ON at the Gyle.
Mufs trip to Comrie saw 2 games for the price of 1. Mufs defeated Comrie by 7 wickets in the first 40 over game with young leggie Adeel Raza taking 5-14 and Ian Oliphant 2-14 as Comrie were dismissed for 90. Brownio, Cookie, and the Donimator took a wicket apiece. Mufs cruised to 92-3 thanks to 27 from Vesty and 28 not by Arnav and 13 from Rob Bailey. In the second game (16 overs each) the tables were turned as Comrie's Sangster (71) and Cornwallis (55) displayed particular brutality to the less than accurate (I'm trying to be polite!) deliveries offered up to them. Mufs struck back with an astonishing late over from Adeel containing 4 wickets, including a hat-trick, as Comrie "slumped" to 146-6 off their 16 overs. Despite some short lived fireworks from Gowtham then an entertaining series of sixes from Arnav, Mufs ran out of steam and finished well short in the evening sunshine. But a day to remember for young Adeel. Mention also to young Cameron making his debut with a promising performance with the gloves.
Woe indeed as all three teams lost. Threes (153 ao) were beaten by Cask and Barrel (184-8), bright spots for Mufs was Nick Hill's unbeaten 50 and OMH re-discovering some form with 41 plus Anderson Jeremiah's 4-34. Twos lost against Westquarter and Redding. Mufs posted only 105 at Muirhouse with Matt hitting 39 and in reply we took 5 wickets before Westquarter won (Oscar Prabharkar 3-34).
One's faced old chums Holy Cross at the Arboretum seeking that vital win to drag oursleves out of the drop zone again. Agonisingly it wasn't to be but we took it so close. 11 runs short chasing 222, 15 balls left. Painful. We fielded poorly overall - and the overthrow runs we gifted away with optimistic shies at stumps and the costly fumbles should haunt us with such a close margin in the end. Charlie (72) and The Beard (64 not) did the damage with the bat. Tom was top Mufs bowler with 10-0-44-2, mention also to Rich's fine spell of 10-3-23-1 and a vital scalp of Charlie for the Beast.
Now to the chase, fuelled by tea-time assortment of pizzas and strawberries. Gowtham smashed Charlie for six off his first ball but perished three balls later trying to do it again - fine running catch by Mr Hill in the deep. Sicknote dug in to see off The Beard, and with job done then agonising chipped one straight back to Shammo for 11 to continue the Skipper's season-long torture with the bat in hand. Danny, who had agressively moved onto 41, departed soon after going for his shots. Rich (17) and Ash (30) took us past the ton and things were looking good as we were ahead of the rate. But Biswas sneaked one past the Beast's defences and now the game was evenly poised at 107-4. Then another body-blow, Ash looking in fine fettle pushes one back to Hill to depart for 30 with the score on 133. Not long after we were 139-6 as Phil drags a drive back onto his stumps for 16. Enter Tom and Westy - and again we pulled ourselves back into the game to reach 171 - but again body blows to our cause as they depart on 171 and 174 to Bonfield and Ellis respectively - Tom 12 and Chris 18. Scotty gives us hope again with some fine drives but is bowled by Robertson for 12. Last wicket pair now Sutha and Nasty. 188 on the board. 35 required off 30 balls. Can we pull it off? A flurry of boundaries and suddenly we have it down to 11 of 15 balls and HX are rattled. Sadly for us one big shot too many is attempted and Sutha is caught behind and/or stumped off Charlie and we have fallen short. Credit to the boys for getting us close - just a real shame we couldn't quite make it over the line - one batsman had to go on from the starts we all had made. We would trade that crushing CS Trophy win for a League win over Cross and looking back, two League games where maybe we didn't play as good as cricket as Cross overall in them but we could have won both.
So 10 points were salvaged. Fauldhouse lost too with 9 points at Watsonians and are just marginally ahead of us on percentage. Next week's clash at Fauldhouse assumes mammothly monstrous proportions in our battle to maintain top-flight status and a chance to pit our cricketing wits against Charlie and The Beard and Co next season.
Link to Unoffical ESCA League Tables for Divisions 1,4 and 7 Tables .
Today, Mufs head off into the hills of Perthshire to take on Comrie in a Sunday friendly.
A combined Stockbridge-Mufs XI took on Mufs at Muirhouse on Thursday. Stockie-Mufs took the honours in the end mainly due to Gowtham's rapid half-century and somewhat brutal treatment of his Saturday League bowling colleagues. 24 in one over extracted off poor Nasty. Owww. In reply Arnav batted well but was a utter disaster zone running between the wicket. Just ask poor Beasty. "He's done me up like a kipper, sir". Mufs finished about 10 short chasing 130-odd.
Mixed fortunes for the Club as Twos edged out Holy Cross 2s in a vital win at the Arboretum but Ones were trounced by Grange and Threes done for by Dunbar.
Arnav was the all round star for the Twos hitting 39 and taking 4 wickets. Mufs batted first and posted 206 ao. Other run getters were Andy Lacey with 36, Graham Watson 33 and Nadeem 28. Holy Cross posted 191 ao with Arnav taking 4-17, Nadeem 2-28, Sasid 1-17, Matt 1-24 and Jai 1-46.
Threes were beaten away at Dunbar. Dunbar scored 191-7 (S.Callow 95, M. James 27, O. Prabhakar 2-28 I. Martin 2-38) and by all accounts a dismal fielding performance. In reply Mufs reached only 107 ao (C. Gray 31 M. James 3-40, D. Dickinson 4-36)
Ones hit a Grange 2s team hitting top gear in their chase of Glenrothes and the League Title. Grange batted first and posted 227-8 (we did well to restrict them to that after they had passed 100 only one down) with Bryan Robinson hitting 63 and Darryl McCoy 44. We spilled a few chances and generally Mufs fielding was not of the requisite high standard on a slighty tricky outfield. Bowling figures: Keith 8-0-33-2; Norman Allan 10-1-35-1, Adam 10-1-53-1, Akshay a fine spell again of 10-1-22-1, Tom 8-0-34-2 (struck back really well after shipping plenty in first over), Sutha 2-0-20-0 and JNB 2-0-24-1 both suffered in the final stages willow-throwing. 227 would be a challenging total- could have been worse but could have been better if chances taken.
Another fine tea from Big Frank - but the humidity saw more than the usual pile of pies and cake left over (don't worry we ate them later!!). Then down to business. After a lovely crisp cut for 4 first ball Danny's Ones debut was cut short by Sullivan for 5, and Gowtham spanked a few beautifully but pulled one straight up and was gone for 22. OMH was bowled for 5 before Sicknote, having battled away to 12 and just looking though some form might return was harshy given out caught behind off a bump ball. 46 for 4 saw the ship start to sink in the face of accurate bowling from Grange. Ash 22 with JNB steadied us before Ash departed with score on 70, off what was suspiciously looking like a no-ball for the second week running.
Now we were simply chasing priceless points but having wagged reliably many times this year the tail refused to twitch this time as Grange blew our lower order away - Tom LBW for a duck, Adam shouldered arms for 6, Sutha unwisely hit out to be caught for 1, Keith tried to repeat the glory of last week a bit too early and was bowled for 2. Norman clubbed a boundary but fell soon after to see us fall 6 short of a priceless extra point on 94. Did we not learn the lesson of last year? With Fauldhouse winning off last ball with 9 down v HX and Cramond beating Marchmont, Mufs - close to going 4th or 5th just a couple of weeks back, now find themselves only above Marchmont and in trouble again. We must win two out the next three to dig ourselves out of this hole again. We have done it once - so no reason why we can't again.
Link to Unoffical ESCA League Tables for Divisions 1,4 and 7 Tables .
On Sunday Mufs travelled down to Bamburgh but the rain forced an early abandonment and a visit to pubs and chippies instead.
Botanics won the Terry Newcombe Trophy by 5 runs defeating Scottish and Newcastle Breweries CC at Roseburn. Bots posting 95 from 20 overs with Martin Pretorous 26 and Arfan 18. S&N were all out with 1 ball left on 90. M-O-M Arfan 4-26, Martin Pretorious 2-32 and Oscar Prabhakar 2-12. Well done chaps.
Meanwhile.... Mufs and Holy Cross met in a friendly game at Muirhouse on Thursday and fought out an honourable tie with scores level on 118 ! Once he had dismissed Charlie 3rd ball (we were all stunned into silence after Charlie had nicked it behind to the keeping and captaining Sasid) Nasty Keith then displayed a ruthless streak towards the youth of Holy Cross taking 3 wickets for 8 in all and two catches. Rumour has it that Keith will be appearing as the Child Catcher in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and other Xmas Panto Villain Roles are being lined up. Jeremiah also bowled well to take 2-10. As ever we rotated the bowling around, and the Cross tail wagged strongly to take them up to 118.
Out strode the combined belly-force of Matty and Sicknote to kick off Mufs reply. When Sicknote had been caught for 42 (runs at last, however ugly in the making!) and Matty (though wearied by a few too many scampered 2s and 3s) in fine fettle and score into the 80s, Mufs looked like cruising to victory . However, the runs dried up, the swishing and missing more frantic and before we knew it Mufs were needing 17 off 2 overs. Matt falls for 53 and it looks though the pendulum has swung Cross's way with Biswas taking 3 wickets. Sasid connects finally with a couple of hefty blows and at the final ball its 3 to win - 2 to tie. A shot from Sasid (16 not) into midwicket sees Mufs scamper the two needed for a thrilling tie and a fair result all round. Well played to the youngsters.
Link to Scorecard note
Not a good day at the office for Mufs on Saturday as all three teams lose but valuable points picked up by Ones and Twos.
Ones lost the toss and faced Heriots Ross (74) and More (131) in aggressive mode on a pitch that gave full value to shot making and an outfield that was tricky for the Mufs fielders at the best of times - we were lucky not to have ended up at the emergency dentist! Heriots ended up with 315 for 6 (Litster 57 not) with Ash, although wicket-less, the pick of Mufs bowlers with only 30 conceded off his 10 overs. Tom top wicket taker with 8-0-57-2, Keith with 10-1-63-1 and Sutha 5-0-35-1. Other bowlers used Rich 4-0-24-0, JNB 5-0-31-0, Adam 6-0-35-0 and Gowtham 2-0-28-0 (ouch).
Mufs started aggressively with Rich partnering Gowtham and 22 were plundered off the first 2 overs before Rich fell to Wallace for 7. Scotty was run out for 0 and Sutha CnB for 3 and the wheels had started to come off. Gowtham (38) and Ash pushed the score up to 67 before Gowtham was caught at deep square leg - having unfortunantly picked out the fielder beautifully. Ash and Sicknote nudged us up to 88 before Ash (28) was caught behind and Sicknote's nightmare trot continued when bowled for 6. When OMH (10), Tom (2) and JNB (0) had departed we were on the cusp of a real twatting at 104-9. Westy had damaged a finger keeping so was batting at 11 to join Nasty but as we know by now Mufs' batting order can quite often reverse itself quite merrily at times. The mission was to salvage as many points and as much pride as possible. Mission impossible to secure maximum batting points? Who needs Tom Cruise though.
Heriots helped us with our points chase by initially setting utterly ridiculous fields to Chris to start with - e.g. 5 slips (they were quite frankly taking the piss and showing no sporting respect - ok guys you have some talent but lose the cockyness and disrepect for your opponent eh?). Nasty (52 not) and Chris (50) batted splendidly to frustrate the home side, putting away the bad ball and rotating the strike superbly in a Club record breaking 128 10th wicket stand off 17.5 overs that also featured a comical double-overthrow 7, yes SEVEN ! When Chris was finally bowled we had posted a creditable 232 (not that bad for a "shite" team - to quote R More), and 9 handy points salvaged from this defeat.
Picture courtesy of Adam of the scores on the doors of that Stand.
Twos home game had been switched to the Gyle. News yet to reach webbie, but Preston Village scored 270 odd and Mufs 200 odd I believe.
Threes played Cramond 2 at Roseburn. Mufs were in considerable trouble before being rescued by Oscar Prabhakar with 39 to post 82 a.o (M. Rafiq 5-17, R. Singh 3-13). To quote Cookie "The best opening spell of bowling I've seen this season- we were quite pleased just to be able to nick some of them." Cramond reached their target for the loss of 5 wickets (Vickram 28, Shah 23) with Oscar Prabhakar taking 2-39 and Henry Collin 2-18.
Today Mufs host Dunfermline in a friendly at Roseburn.
Just received a new one from big Gowtham- if you haven't bared your soul yet then fill in the attached form and send them to us! Previous Player Profiles can be seen at this link to Profiles.
Botanics defeated Drew Norloch CC in a entertaining finish last night to advance into the final of the Terry Newcombe Trophy Final. This will take place this Thursday at Roseburn vs Scottish and Newcastle Breweries. C'mon and cheer the Botty lads in their quest for glory. Statistics can be found at this link to Botty Stats here.
Almighty piece of ineptitude at the Muirhouse Club as they have managed to fail to tell us until today (Tues) that the grounds are booked out solid for some sports tournament from Thurs to Sunday - international visitors/teams and all. So new venues have had to be found for the Twos League fixture v PV (now at the South Gyle ground) and the Sunday friendly against Dunfermline has now been switched to Roseburn. To say we are not happy with our hosts at Muirhouse is an understatement.
Thursday's friendly v the Badgers of Kirkbrae has had to be cancelled anyway as they could not raise a team. So if anyone up for a bit of a net and then to support the Bots in their TN Semi-Final then come on down to Roseburn on Thurs
Well we have had the Brazilian Mufs, so I was wondering what Red Indian (or Native American if that is more PC) Tribal names our Mufs Braves would have. For example, Gilly might have been known in Sioux circles as "Wind in Her Cheeks". Mr Belly perhaps "Big Chief Batting Rubbish", Gowtham "Big Man Hit Ball Very Far", Dazza "Heap Big Drink Tennants Lager "... probably several contenders for "Toys From Pram". Send your suggestions to the Mufs web news-desk mailbox or post (if not too offensive) on the Message Board.
Talking of which, do we want to have our own Message Board like the one used by ESCA - (link to ESCA message board ). I have created one, but before going to the effort of linking it up and tweaking it etc etc then I want to have a feel for whether we would actually, and sensibly, use it (allow people to post up teams, fixture changes, players needed, general discussion items, post player availability etc etc). To post messages you need to create an account - but it means we can have "threaded" discussions by Topics and use Polls etc etc. Let me know what you think. We can still keep the (mainly daft) other Guestbook board much used by anonymous domestic appliance lovers. Views again to the Mufs web news-desk mailbox or post your opinion on the current Message Board.
Ones and Twos both claimed vital victories against teams directly above them and leapfrog their rivals. Threes lost against West Lothian
Ones were indebted once again to The Leopard, as Gowtham posted 61 out of a total of 149 against Cramond at Muirhouse. Good support from mid and late order with runs from Phildo (13), Sutha (11), Wheelie (13), Beasty (15), and a sickly Burger King (19) [sorry Adam]. Vishal Shah taking 6-44 for the visitors. Cramond faced an intense Mufs bowling and fielding effort with a pumped up Akshay taking 4 for 11 off his 6 overs as our local rivals were dismissed for 71. Two victims apiece for the excellent Nasty Keith (8-3-16-2), Beast of Sorrell (7.2-3-24-2) and Claypole (6-2-19-2). With the victory we leapfrog Cramond and now sit in 6th place - (see unofficial Division 1 Table ) but still plenty of work to do chaps.
Twos stopped their recent slide with a crucial away win against Boroughmuir 2s who scored 110ao from 35.3 overs (J. Crosby 30, W. Angoid 18, M. Garlapati 12*; Nadeem Amjid 7-2-15-2, Martin Ward 3-0-17-2, Norman Allan 10-3-20-2, Tony Simpson 10-6-20-1, Simon Coull 5-1-28-1, Ali Amjid 0.3-0-5-1). 1 run out by direct hit by Ali. 2 catches by Sasid keeping, 2 for Lindsay Towns, 1 for Wardy at short leg. Mufs Twos sped to their target reaching 114/3 from just 16.5 overs (Nadeem Amjid a rapid 60, Ali Amjid 10, Chris Watling 10 not, Ali Amjid 10, Lindsay Towns 9, Graham Watson 4*; H. Durrani 3-25, Mr X Turah 22). Mufs 50 came up in the 8th over and 79 for first wicket by 11th over.
In Division 7, West Lothian scored 184 for 8 (I Snedden 53, J O'Dwyer 35, Oscar Prabhakar 3 for 32). MF Dafs finished on 134 all out (R Fotheringham 34, P Moran 3 for 26). Well done Rob for his first ever 6 and El Secretario for finally reaching double figures in a 9th wkt 45 partnership with Rob.
Thursday sees a game at Muirhouse against the Badger Set of Kirkbrae - availability to Nasty Keith. Next Sunday sees a home friendly game v Dunfermline - availability to Vestio Ward.
RBGE caused an upset to beat Division 3 side Drumond Trinity to reach the semi-finals of the Terry Newcombe.
Details
Drumond 112-8. McCallum 23; Oscar 3-23, Arfan 3-15, Pretorious 1-19, Amjid 1-25
RBGE 113-6. Rafiq 30, Arfan 18, Minty 14. Oscar hit winning run finishing on 16 not out.
Semi-final is on Thursday 27 July at a venue to be determined.
Unfortunantly Sunday's great trek to Arbroath is off (Mr Belly is distraught at the thought of missing out on copious amounts of Smokies) as Arbroath's youth team have been successful in one of the Scottish Youth Cups and are scheduled to host a North of England youth side on this Sunday. Good luck to them. Hopefully we can re-schedule later.
Currie and Balerno proved just to be too hot for Mufs who had the game in their pocket but allowed it to slip out like a last night's dodgy Vindaloo... as a Nasty Midweek Skipper writes...
Well, it had to end sometime - a Bad result for us last night as the longest winning streak since the days of Billie Jean king ended abruptly. It's all written in black or white in the (ornate but slightly useless) scorebook.
The bowlers did a decent job to keep Currie & Balerno to 126, with Shezhad "Inzamam-ul" Haq and Ian "Lardo" Shiels turning a succession of batsmen into history.
The batting didn't start to badly either - I said to each outgoing batsmen, don't stop 'til you get enough - see that score of 126? Just beat it! Sadly nobody listened and we fell 9 runs short, the last wicket falling in the final over. Just when our progress was looking smooth, criminal run-outs took place (web-ed ... oops, sorry Nasty). There was also Akshay's entry for comedy moment of the season as he swaggered literally half-way down the wicket, only to contrive to get "yorked" and bowled. The star man though was Ali "Maria" Amjid, who retired on 28, then returned for the finish - he'd got to be there - but only managed to add one more.
Remember the time we used to win games? Well who's up for revisiting those times next Thursday? It's another home game, this time a return fixture against the mighty badgers of Kirkbrae.
Keith (friendly skipper)
Availability to Keith please. PS... a tribute to badgers everywhere can be found here. Enjoy on full volume.
On a warm and sunny Saturday, Mufs Ones hot streak continued with a fine away win at Myreside, but Twos and Threes lost.
With the Beast in charge in El Lardo's absence at Phildo's Southampton shin-dig, Mufs took their revival in form on the road. Electing to bat first, Mufs posted 247-6 with Gowtham Rai 56, Chris West 71 not and Tom Wheeler 50 not. In reply Watsonian 2s managed 186 all out with Akshay claiming a hat-trick amongst his 4 victims (4-27) and Richie taking 3-26. Mufs have now won 4 out of their past 5 League fixtures (and that loss was to runaway leaders Glenrothes) and now sit in 7th place (see unofficial Division 1 Table ) in what is turning into a very tight division from 3rd to 10th. Tremendous spirited effort over the last few weeks to get ourselves off the bottom and back amongst the mix - now we must work even harder to keep on going upwards - starting next Saturday v arch-rivals Cramond. A win will see us leap-frog them too.
Twos wilted in the heat to finish a long way short in chasing over 200(?) v Watson 3's. Threes came a helluva lost closer chasing the 206 posted by Livy 2 - a great innings from Martin Pretorious got us to 201.
On Sunday at Muirhouse in the Q-F of the CS Trophy, Mufs were outgunned by a handy Hillhead team. Batting first Mufs posted 167 with Gowtham once again in the runs with 61. Hillhead chased this down with the loss of only 2 wickets.
Yes, 40 for Claypole today (12 July) I bet you all agree that he doesn't look a day over 40 either. Many Happy Returns. So to honour our evergreen and spritely one, here's a picture from yester-year of Phil in action...
Nowt much changed with that shot, eh?
Got a bit buried in my in-box (ooh err) but worth the wait for this spectacular work of art courtesy of Nasty - an alternative MDCC v Holy Cross CS Trophy match report here. Also a link to a superb One's match report from Tom for the Ones game v Livy . Hopefully this will get others inspired to get writing...
There's just no stopping the Lawrence Midweek Express as Nasty's unbeaten streak as midweek skipper continued with a crunching win over Maccabi. Mufs posted 160 off their 20 with both Gowtham and Danny retired on 50. Then wickets shared around - 2 for Adam Scott, El Lardo, Scott Taylor, and one apiece for Dominic Curran (a wicket with his debut ball), Don, and Gowtham; as Maccabi finished about a 100 runs short.
Mufs re-enactment of last year's Great Escape continues with a hard-fought victory over Livingston by 3 wickets chasing 147. This after hauling Livy back after they got off to a bit of a flier. Wicket takers for Mufs, Ash with 3-19, Claudio Claypoleto with 2-34, Nasty 2-31, Adam 2-12 and Tom 1-7. In reply Mufs were indebted to another fine knock by Gowtham of 40, 17 from Kidda, 12 from Ash and a battling 26 not from Phil to bring the bacon home. Hurrah! Here's a link to an unofficial Division 1 Table
Twos crashed at Largo - posting 101 all out with Lacey 27, Danny 20, Sutha 13. Two farcical run-outs according to the skipper then precipitated a disastrous collapse of 7 wickets for 27. Largo lost 4 wickets in the chase with the pick of the bowling Sutha taking 2-26, and Tony 1-13.
However, all this somewhat overshadowed by fury at Campbell Park where the 3s lost (or did they?) against Edinburgh CC 3s. To quote our Cookie on the ESCA message board.... "DIVISION 7 - (Depending which scorebook you read) Edinburgh CC 3 XI beat MDAFS 3 by 1 run. A game played in very poor spirit with plenty of over appealing and the worst example of sportsmanship I've seen in a very long time".
The incident in question was that our non-striker was "run-out" by the bowler in their delivery stride. Have to say the umpire (one of our team obviously) was not aware of the rules - you cannot attempt a run-out when you are actually in the delivery stride even if you want to ignore the basic principles of sportsmanship and the spirit of cricket in particular. It should have been a dead-ball. There were other issues too that left a sour taste ..... no more can be said right now....
Next week sees Nasty's Midweek Mufs take on Maccabi at Roseburn on Tuesday. Next Sunday we should have the next round of the CS Trophy to play at Muirhouse - availability to me please. Tom Wheeler will captain on the day as neither me or the Beast are available. Finally the Mufs kit (see below) has been selling like hot-cakes so get an order in quick. Cheers, El Lardo.
No, not a bit of trimming of the ol' hedgerow but a bit of fun with the following website www.minimalsworld.net courtesy of Phildo (who should really be called Claudio Claypoleto)
Saturday's Ones batting line-up in Brazilian football style:-
Amazing how it gives me a Brazilian name that looks like Lardo !! I'm glad Tom isn't called Dom though.
A report, courtesy of El Secretario, from the Bots camp of a Terry Newcombe Trophy victory over Bass Rock is available at this link to Bots Report. What no Eddie Clark?? And well done Mel on a PB.
It's taken us a wee while (ahem) but we finally found a supplier that was willing to set-up an embroidery disk for us for our Club badge logo plus the new Murrayfield Hotel logo (and let us have a copy disc to keep too) without charging a king's ransom. So one has finally got the bits and pieces we bought at the close of last season embroidered - and some new shirts and training (rain) jackets now bearing our MH sponsors logo as well. We also have some Polo shirts and some vests club badged too plus more jumpers in something other than extra-Kidd/Boyd size. The full list of available kit including existing remaining stock is listed below plus price - let me (Ian Shiels) know what you want and so long as you hand over the dosh then its yours...
(With thanks to Reg Shark Modelling Inc...)
New Club Shirts with MDCC and new Murr-Hotel logos:- 3 items - Small (S) sizes only - £12
Old Style Club Shirts (Club and Berts Bar logo) - 2 items - 1 x S; 1 x M - £6 reduced to clear
Sleeved Fleece-style Jumper (Club logo) - 10 items - 3 x S; 4 x L; 2 x XL; 3 x XXL - £12
Sleeveless Fleece-style Jumper (Club logo) - 12 items - 1 x S; 6 x L; 4 x XL; 2 x XXL - £12
Caps (baseball style) with Club Logo badge - uni-size - 6 items - £6
El Wardio Style Surridge Vest with Club logo - 3 items - white - 1 x M; 2 x L - £5.
Polo Shirts with Club logo - 3 items (been selling fast) - sand brown - 1 x M; 1 x L; 1 x XL - £6
Training Jacket with Club and Murr-Hotel logo - 0 items (SOLD OUT) - dark blue - 3 X M - £12.
(Reg taught Murali that Doosra thingy, did you know?)
One is going to put in an order for more odds and ends, scour the Net for bargain stock etc, more polos, rugger tops, T-shirts, traditional style caps? Any one interested or any ideas then let me know at ian_shiels@hotmail.com or 07730 074174. Perhaps we should get some Club Blazers done!!
Tonight's friendly game at Muirhouse v The Scotsman Publications has been cancelled as they couldn't raise a team unfortunantly.
"Nasty" Keith Lawrence made Marchmont rue for their decision to bat first on a damp wicket at Muirhouse with a ruthless display of bowling and good fielding. The Big Man taking 7-3-20-5 as Marchmont were dismissed for 53. Key man, and possible key moment, Aaron Sardesai somewhat unlucky to see a fierce on-drive deflect off the shoulder of Mr Belly at Silly Point and loop back to Nasty. We haven't had much luck this year so were overdue a big slice. Mel chipped in with 7-0-19-2, The Beast of Sorrell unplayable with 4.1-3-4-1, and Tom with 4-1-9-2. Mufs lost only Dazza (8) in a dash to victory with Gowtham again in supreme touch with 28 not, and Akshay 13 not. Mufs now leap-frog Marchmont and are off the bottom as this link to an unofficial Division 1 Table will show. Onwards and upwards now lads, and some revenge to dish out to Livy next.
At Fauldhouse, Mufs 3s lost by 48 runs chasing 161. Twos game at Muirhouse on Sunday was abandoned due to the torrential rain. At the point the deluge came Edinburgh University Staff were 86-6 from 29.2 overs (P. Bailey 24, J. Zanotii 22; Norman Allan 2-17, Ali Amjid 1-2, Sutha 1-9).
On Thursday Mufs take on The Scotsman at Muirhouse in a friendly match.
Mufs will play either Strathmore or Hillhead in the next round (QF) of the Cricket Scotland Trophy at Muirhouse on Sunday 16 July.
Mufs travelled across town tonight to play Kirkbrae in a midweek friendly at Double Hedges, Liberton on an interesting wicket and lightning quick outfield. The hosts, a little short staffed, came out blazing with the bat, but Tom with 4 wickets for 7 halts the charge and a rapid 62 all out off 10 overs is what The Badgers of Kirkbrae set Mufs (set? geddit??? oh dear). Danny had earlier taken 2 wickets in 2 balls, and Sutha also was amongst the wickets. The Mufs reply evens up the match as they slump to 8-4 (shades of a Livy chase here) but Mr Belly with 27 not grinds us home with some late support from Tom with overs and wickets to spare in the end.
We all said it at the end... why can't we do this on Saturdays? Hopefully an excellent victory over Holy Cross by 178 runs in the Cricket Scotland Trophy will kick start our batting in the League.
On Sunday at Muirhouse, Mufs were invited to bat on a wicket that played pretty true for a change. Mufs started solidly with Sicknote just about rediscovering the right way of holding a bat etc at last as he and Gowtham put on 43 for the first wicket before the Great Bearded One induced an edge from the skipper's bat. Then it was the Gowtham and Akshay show as they put on 95 for the second wicket before Ash fell for 47. Gowtham blazed on supported by Phil with 12, but fell tantalisingly short of his century - caught on the boundary by Shannon on 97. A magnificent knock with 14 boundaries. Adam gave the innings a late boost with 24 not to see us to 250 off our 50 overs. Shannon and Charlie bowled well for their two wickets apiece.
We turned straight round as we were having a late tea at 5pm so we (or the English supporters at least) could add chewed fingernails to the pie, cake and sandwich spread that, while adequate, was not quite up to the heights of tea-heaven of late. By tea Holy Cross were already one down, the messiah looking Gallagher sharply caught by Gowtham at gully off Nasty. Shortly after tea, Sicknote got revenge on Bonfield (7) with a good running over the shoulder catch to give Mel his obligatory One-for. Then Old Mother takes a blinder of a twisting, diving catch to dismiss the dogged left-hander Hodgskin off Akshay for 13. Next Claypole finally gets his man as with a smart CnB he takes the prized scalp of Charlie Ellis for 8. Phil next has Keith Fraser (7) caught by OMH. Akshay weighs in with a CnB to claim Cydzik (1); Phil bowls Hill for a duck and now Holy Cross were still over 200 short with only 3 wickets left. 3 became 2 as Adam traps Pickering LBW for 6. Enter Mr McGill who strikes two fours in two balls but perishes in a run out. Finally Lawrie is dismissed for a duck, caught by Phil off Tom and Holy Cross have all fallen for 72.
Excellent bowling and fielding again by Mufs - some vital catches held. Bowling stats Mel 7-0-18-1, Nasty 5-1-10-1, Akshay 10-2-15-2, Phil 7-5-5-3, Adam 2-0-18-1, Tom 0.2-0-0-1. And like England, Mufs advance into the quarter finals. Hurrah.
Threes won by 3 wickets at Clackmannan and provided Mufs only success on Saturday as both Ones and Twos were beaten by 4 wickets.
Ones failed to cash in on a solid start and slipped from 81-3 to 112 all out. Akshay top scorer with 33 and Sutha 21. In defence of this we battled well with Nasty taking the first 4 Glenrothes wickets before an boundary laden 40 not out from Hopcroft got Glens home by 4 wickets. Phil and Mel the other wicket takers, Phil also with a great short-leg catch to dismiss the young Safa OA Madiseng. But just not enough runs again.
At Muirhouse Twos posted 88ao (Ali Amjid 17, P. Hubbard 17; G. Ross 4-13, M. Wauchop 3-19) and Dunfermline Carnegie 92-6 (C. "I'm Free" Humphreys 51*, M. Wauchop 10*; N. Allan 4-20).
Threes traveled to Clackmannan. The hosts batted first and scored 148 all out. Carl with 4 wickets and Paul with three. Mufs chased this down in 41 overs with Steve Alberts 42, Paul 16 not and a few others chipping in with double fugures.
Today Mufs take on Holy Cross in the Cricket Scotland Trophy at Muirhouse, 12.30 start.
An alternative karaoake style report from Nasty about the Ones victory over Fauldhouse Victoria can be accessed from this link to Nasty Fauldhouse Match Song-sheet
Now then. We have had a total lack of match reports or stats from the Twos and Threes this season. Surely there is someone amongst you with the wit and will to put fingers to keyboard and write a bloody match report. Sort it out! A website lives or dies by its content - I can't write reports for games I am not present at, so pull yer fingers out! (not literally as that may in some cases make fielding a tad more difficult).
This is the sort of Saturday we want more often. The victory beer will be in full flow tonight at the Halfway House as all Mufs teams achieve a clean sweep of victories across the board. Hurrah. I would wrote more but victory beer is calling me. Not too much as a trip to Doune for a friendly is schedued to tomorrow. But another Hurrah before I go.
The morning after a bit too much beer, stovies, donner kebab (shame on Mr Belly) etc... the Doune trip is off due to rain - hopefully will be re-scheduled later on. Some details of yesterday's heroics starting with the Threes...
Threes played Holy Cross 3 at Roseburn and posted 146 all out with Ed Long 44, Martin Pretorius 20 odd top batters. Mufs dismissed HX for 124 with the Donimator claiming another 3 scalps, Pretorius 2, new boy Oscar Prabhakar 2, Paul Leonard and Neill Yelland 1 plus a run out.
Twos travelled into the Kingdom to take on Dunfermline 2 at McKane Park. Mufs scored 167 all out with Super Sutha blazing 80, Sasid 18 and Stuart "Daddy" Coull 18, plus a 10 not from new skipper, Vesty. Stormin Norman and Nightbus have Dunny tied down with stints of 2-12 and 2-24 respectively from their 10 overs each. Dunny fight back but finish 26 short on 141 with the inspirational Sutha now starring with the ball with 4-34, plus the Vestmeister with 2-21. Three catches for Norman, 2 each for Lindsay and Vesty.
The Ones were invited to bat on the Muirhouse marshland by our visitors from Fauldhouse. This time we started somewhat more solidy with Gowtham and Sicknote resisting well on a tricky surface to post 24 off the first 10 before Sickie ill-advisably tries to swot Ricky McDonald through midweek and is leg-before for 6. Lacey falls for 1, then a mix-up with Dazza sees Gowtham run-out for 32 when looking really well set and in prime form. Kidda is caught for 6, then Monty falls for a duck and its starting to go horribly wrong again at 48 for 5. Mufs needed some dogged resistance. Enter Claypole. He and Adam nudge us to 74 before first ball after the drinks break Adam is castled by Alan McDonald, who now has 4 Mufs scalps. The Philly is caught at short leg for 25 off Ricky McDonald in his last over to leave Mufs rocking at 83 for 7. But with the McDonalds bowled out (Ricky 10-3-18-2 and Alan 10-3-19-4) Mufs counter-attack and Fauldhouse have their stranglehold well and truly loosened by a ferocious assault by the Beast of Sorrell (37) ably supported by Tom with 19. Nasty and Clench, despite a short stay, showed that our last pair know which of the bat to hold too, which further re-inforced the Fauldhouse fielders impression that we had reversed the batting order (some of the Fauldhouse banter was highly amusing to listen to from the umpire's perch). Keith last man out for 2 holing out in the deep with a big hit. Mufs had posted a very creditable 143 given the devils that lurk within the Muirhouse botanical garden of a wicket.
With Big Frank again providing a veritable feast of a tea again, we set out to defend our total. Straight away we got on top and with an excellent bowling and fielding performance never really let them back in the game. With early strikes from Rich (5-2-5-1) and Nasty (7-4-13-2), Fauldhouse were three down for 8 at one stage. Mildren 14 and McCafferty 15 showed some resistance in a 22 run stand before McCafferty is CnB'd by Phil, and then Mildren snaffled at silly point by Mr Belly off Tom. Mel claims David Allan with a beast of a ball and Fauldhouse are sinking at 47-6. Ricky McDonald clubs some big hits including one which landed on the boundary line ("chalk flew up!") which led to some interesting debate about 4 or 6. 6 in the book. Then one hit too many as Tom Wheeler takes an outstanding one-handed catch very much like Jayawardene had earlier on the telly to give Scotty his first wicket. Rogers claims Hussein (10) and Alan McDonald first ball, but can't force the hat-trick. Finally after a bit of comedy fielding we take the final wicket with Ronnie Currie caught by Nasty of Adam and the much needed and vital victory was nailed down. Other bowling figures (Mel a great 10 over spell of 10-4-21-1, Tom 4-1-17-1, Adam 2.1-0-5-2, and top dog, and MoM contender with Rich, Phil Rogers with 5-0-19-3. All dismissals caught - Keith 2, Dazza 2; Phil, Mel, Sickie, Tom, Gowtham and Westy with one each.
A priceless win for Mufs which keeps us alive and kicking and now level with Marchmont. Few teams will relish batting on the bog at Muirhouse, if we can set totals then it will be hard to chase them down with our attack. Fauldhouse joked that, Gowtham aside, we had reversed the batting order - sure we have batting ability all the way down but the top order needs that extra bit of consistency. However at least we didn't gift our wickets as cheaply as in previous weeks and we are showing signs of improvement. The Fauldhouse skipper kindly remarked on leaving for us to "stick in there, lads". We certainly will need to scrap for our lives - if we can reproduce the second half form of last season then we can stay in the top flight.
All in all a great Saturday for Mufs. It perhaps would have been nicer to see more Mufs out on Sat nite supping victory ale. Those who did venture out certainly enjoyed toasting the three victories.
The Mufs committee are pleased to announce the appointment of Martin Ward and Sasidharan Sengodan as new captain and vice-captain of Mufs Twos. All the best to them and I'm sure they will have everyones firm backing both on and off the park. Up the Mufs (Twos).
Not exactly a Saturday to remember other than for the cracking weather, the appearance of water melon within the magnificent Muirhouse tea spread, and some football game perhaps, as Mufs suffered a triple dose of misery on the pitch with defeats all round. Ones fought back bravely against Holy Cross but lost what turned into a tight game by 2 wickets. Threes crashed heavily against the Cask and Barrel, bowled out for only 46 and succumbing to a 6 wicket defeat. The "in-crisis" Twos took heavy punishment in the field at Westquarter and finished well short. Details: Westquarter & Redding C.C: 263-7 (50 overs) (H.Mumtaz 105, S. Farooqui 37*, A. Abraham 35, A. Baqi 31, S. Coull 2-43, P.Leonard 2-43); Murrayfield DAFS 2's: 85 all out (22 overs) (D.Abraham 33, S.Fox 2-26, H.Mumtaz 2-48, A.Baqi 2-1, C.Fox 2-7)
Mufs Ones started badly on a lively Muirhouse pitch against the new ball and were floundering at three down for only seven with Gowtham with an "ambitious" shot falling for an goldie second over, Sicknote edging to slip off Two Dogs for 3, and Andy rather bizarrely walking for caught behind off his arm-guard for 2, before a 50 stand by Dazza (31) and Westy (15) got us going. The middle order all weighed in with contributions from Claypole (10), Adam (18), Tom (7), and Richie (22, including a towering 6) before Mel (4) was caught by Charlie off Two Dogs leaving Nasty (4 not) once again unbeaten. 128 was more than it looked likely at one point but less than we should have posted, particularly when Dazza and Monty were going along so nicely. For the Cross, the excellent Rob "Two Dogs" Worsnop finished with 9.1-2-24-3; Millington 7-0-22-3; Charlie a steady 7-3-9-0; Malik, 3-0-16-0; Shaaaaamoooooooooo (as they call him) 7-0-28-2; and Preece with 5-0-20-2. Still it would take some graft from Cross to get if we got the ball on the right areas on the pitch. They grafted but we couldn't quite locate the crazy spots on the pitch regularly enough.
We started well, with Euan Smith (3) maybe unlucky (according to Westy and Dazza anyway) to be caught behind off Nasty for 3. Charlie and Calum Smith patiently pushed the score on and kept out the Beast who was unrewarded from his fine spell but, crucially perhaps in the end, injured his groin in his final over. Mel made the breakthrough castling Smith for 17 leaving HX at 39-2 off 16 overs. That became 58-3 off 23 as Claypole removed Millington (4) with a CnB, having appealed long and hard for an LBW Phil only just remembered to snaffle the return catch offered. Malik offered some resistance in his 13 before he fell to Tom, caught round the corner by Richie. Cross Skipper, Keith fell for a duck to his Nasty namesake with a splendid catch by Adam and now HX was starting to wobble at 77 for 5. But Mufs nemesis, Charlie was still there patiently crafting his innings and exorcising any demons the pitch spawned.
Ross Cartwright and Charlie then put Cross's noses back in front but Mufs spurned an easy catch (we won't name and shame poor Andy) before a mix-up led to Ross being run-out for 23, departing with some less than gentlemanly phrased advice to his partner on the art of running between the wicket. 107 for 6 turned to 111 for 8 as Adam and Phil struck to remove Cydzik and Preece for ducks. We were back in it big time again. But it wasn't to be as Two Dogs Worsnop took the aggressive and aerial route, two of his shots fell agonisingly close to outfielders but with 12 not and Charlie Ellis finising on 42 not out, Sicknote (with a rare outing with the ball) couldn't repeat the last gasp heroics of last Sunday and the Cross got home with 10 balls left.
A good Mufs performance with the ball (Beasty 6-0-15-0, Nasty 10-3-20-2; Hairy 10-3-20-2; Scotty 5-0-21-1; Philly 10-4-17-2; Shielsy 2.2-0-9-0; and Wheelie 5-0-15-1) and generally good in the field. But again another under-par score with the bat has cost us. Still there is plenty left in this campaign for us to get it right with the bat together and like last year dig ourselves out of trouble. Keep the faith and believe.
Next Sunday, Mufs travel to Doune, Perthshire for a friendly game - availability please to Martin Ward.
Andy Gray has resigned as the captain of the Twos. Candidates wishing to take on the Twos captaincy could contact either myself, Don or Iain Martin to express their interest in the post. In the interim, any availability issues to either Martin Ward or myself please.
Mufs emerged victorious from the friendly clash with local rivals Holy Cross at the Arboretum. HX batted first and posted 125 from 20 overs with Sutha and Kanwar bowling well on a skiddy surface to put the halts on the Cross. In reply Mufs started strongly with both openers Danny Abraham and Akshay Kulkarni (inspired perhaps by his watching Mother) retiring on 33, Danny blazing to retirement in fine style with 2 sixes. Mufs cruised to victory with 2 overs spare and then retired to the other Berts for post match refreshment with McGill and Co. A fine night and a fine game of friendly midweek cricket.
Talking of beer, this Saturday's pub of choice is the Cask and Barrel at the foot of Broughton Street. Incidentally CnB are the 3s opposition this weekend!
With the first ball bowled, as shown above, at the Threes skipper by the Ones skipper, the new bowling ends at Roseburn were declared open by Mr Belly. Unfortunantly Craig Wright was up north that day so couldn't do the honours (we did try) and Reg Shark's apperance fee simply too exorbitant. Many hurrahs and thanks to all who have been involved in the Nets Upgrade project.
Well its games like these that just re-inforce one's love affair with this crazy game called cricket. A Sunday friendly at Berwick, played with enough competitiveness to make it meaningful, finished in dramatic fashion as Mufs staged a late fight back to almost snatch a win but in the end secured a tie and a fair result all round. Mufs batted first and posted 139 with Gowtham again displaying Mufs Sunday Best with 43 including a towering six, after sharing a careful opening stand with Mr Belly who scored his second 16 of the weekend. The Judge weighed in with 17 and the Donimator with a dogged 10 before some late scampering from the worse-for-wear Daybus with 15 and Vesty with 7 not gave the innings a late shot of momentum. For the opposition, slow bowling was the main threat and N.Hush silenced the Mufs middle order with a spell of 5-32.
The Berwick young openers started well and were well up with the rate as the Mufs opening attack of Lord Nelson-Broon (4-0-17-0) and Sasid (5-0-12-0) were unable to penetrate. Ali achieved a break through aided by fine low catch by Mr Belly and found new energy in his 5-0-16-1, Vesty took some caning with 32 coming off his 5 overs but he took a vital Berwick scalp - another fine low diving swoop by Belly to remove the dangerous Berwick opener. Gowtham kept his end water-tight in a six over spell that yielded one wicket for only 9 runs, but Young Yelly was not offered the protection he needed and was shedding runs alarmingly. But the game began to turn and Berwick start losing wickets with Sasi taking two stumpings off Neil. All of a sudden thanks to a Young Yelly-Belly combination to remove the Berwick skipper, they are needing 2 to win and only one wicket remains. The number 11 heaves it to midwicket at catchable height, the chance of victory is spilled unfortunantly by Ward, snr and a scampered single sees the scores level. Young Yelly now with figures of 7-0-37-4. Then in the final twisting act of drama, up trundles Mr Belly for the first ball of the next over, the ball is fended away and a leaping Westy just scoops up the chance at silly point to ensure a tie is the result. How Mufs celebrated in joy. A great game, lovely venue and great hosts. Can't wait till next year's visit.
Meanwhile at Muirhouse, Bots regained the "Argyll Ashes" with victory over Innellan. Runs for Mark Watson 34, KP 38 not and 62 for The Wheeler Dealer put Bots in a strong position which the visitors never threatened.
On Thursday at the Arboretum a Mufs XI with some faces old and new take on Holy Cross.
Again the Threes provided Mufs their only source of success with a 6 wicket victory against Dunbar who had been bowled out for 64 with newish recruit Stuart Coull taking 5 wickets for 9 runs in a superb spell. But Twos lost at Muirhouse v Holy Cross by 9 wickets defending 130-odd and Mufs Ones were defeated by Grange 2s at Portgower Place. Grange won the toss and batted first posting 265 for 5 with Adam Scott top wicket taker with 7-1-40-2 and Mel with 9-2-29-1 plus two well executed run-outs. Pollock (50), Reimoo (48) and Purser (90 not) did the damage. Mufs reply started disastrously with a needless collapse to 18-5, Gowtham's 10 the only score out of these 5 wickets. Mr Belly, with 16, dug in to try to avoid total annihilation and found great support in a 44 run stand with Adam who scored freely in his 42 (6 fours and 3 threes). Both perished to good catches. With patient batting at the end by Tom (11), Mel (9), and some fine strokeplay by Nasty (18 not) suported by Stormin (6) then we managed to eke past another batting point to reach 132 and at least salvage in total 6 points out of the mess.
Today a Mufs XI (or is that X) travel to Berwick for a friendly and at Muirhouse Botanics take on Innellan.
Finally a plea for those of you who fancy displaying their literary talents on line. Been a lack of match reporting going on - and I can't write about games I'm not at nor have a lot of spare time to write about the ones I am. So if you like to send something to me (best in word doc) then I will post it up. Similarly send in any photies you take at a game. A website lives and dies by the content on it !!
Photos from Iain and Sue's big day can be found at this link to Mufs Royal Wedding photos.
As last Saturday night's gathering of Mufs to feast on ale and stovies at the Halfway House was such a grand success we've decided to do it again! Mr Belly can't wait.
The good weather means that the installation of the new artificial bowling ends at Roseburn to complement the new cages has been completed earlier than expected. So we will be able to make first use of these on Monday 5th. So we'll have the Grand Opening Ceremony then with a mystery celebrity present to officially open the nets at about 6pm.
Mufs crashed out of the Parks Trophy after being defeated by old foe Maccabi who exacted revenege on Mufs for the Cup final defeat two years ago. Mufs posted an under-par 89, with Andy Lacey and Phil Rogers top scorers with 22 and 20 respectively and the wiley old fox, Gus McClean destroyer in chief with 5-0-14-3. Maccabi won in the final over with Adams 48 not out but should have been. Enough said.
The Botanicals emerged triumphant from the Wednesday night titanic clash with Mufs and win the Muirhouse Cup (also known as the Chastity Belt challenge).
Work has started as from today on the Roseburn Nets bowling ends. This means the nets are out of action for this Monday (tonight) and next Monday. We will have a bit of a practice session instead out on the arti.
Mufs travelled to Boghall, Linlithgow on Sunday to take on a West Lothian XI in a Sunday friendly match. Mufs posted 121 off 38.1 overs with Gowtham Rai the mainstay of our innings with a very fine 56, P.Yelly ably supporting The Leopard with 22 and Westy 13. Our hosts, semi-cheered and semi-booed by the loyalty torn Mr Ritchie, reached their target with Edwards (28), Gurr (19) and Smith (38) seeing them homeoff 32.2 overs. Mufs bowlers used were Wardy (5-0-27-0), Brownio (8-3-20-0), Amjid (5-2-14-2), Rai (4-2-13-1), Mr Belly (4-1-10-1), Young Yelly (4-0-27-2), Not So Young Yelly (1.2-0-10-0). Smashing ground to play at and jolly nice hosts.
And so as things got a little tight, with the light increasingly gloomy, and in front of his nail-biting team-mates and some spectating Ones, up stepped Iain Oliphant and with one mighty blow for 6 blew away a typically bad tempered Cramond 2nd XI at Roseburn and gave the Club it's sole source of cheer on Saturday as Ones and Twos both suffered heavy defeats.
Threes had restricted Cramond to 92 with chief destroyer Chris Grey with 4-12 ably assisted by Martin Pretorious with 2-12, Paul Leonard with 2-28, The Donimator with 1-21 and Ian Oliphant with 1-15. Mufs chase of the target was bolstered by Chris Gray and Ed Long both with 24. But with a rain break and some silly nonsense from Cramond not wanting to take the field, Mufs started to make heavy water of it as wickets fell. At the end Iain and Rob saw us gloriously home.
Elsewhere at Muirhouse Mufs were resoundingly stuffed by Heriots 2. Heriots inserted Mufs into bat in a crucial toss, and Mufs started badly with both Dazza and Gowtham back in the hut with nowtski on the board. Jaya looked in good touch before departing for 17 and despite some stolid resistance from Westy a paltry 56 was all we could manage. In reply we should have had our nemesis Davie Ross LBW for a duck off Stormin, plumb as plumb, then a ridiculously poor piece of umpiring not to give him out stumped (Dougie Hamilton hang your head, old boy) but with Davie making an aggressive 35 before being run out then Heriots coasted to victory for the loss of two wickets and to be honest the decisions that didn't go our way probably would not have mattered other than an extra precious point or two. Positives - none for batting, but we bowled and fielded well, and Westy's glove-work was fantastic.
With Ones plumbing the batting depths at Muirhouse, it would take something special by the Twos to out-do that. They did. Chasing Preston Village's 141, Mufs succumbed to 33 all out- Andy G and Matt Boyd made double figures but 5 ducks tells a story. Andy's text message contents are not repeatable even on a Mufs website
Sunday we travel to Linlithgow to play West Lothian in a friendly
Following last week's tremendous victory for the rejuvenated Ron Wood and Finnish Pomp Metal Group, Lordi in the Eurovision contest the following judges scorecard marked by Mel and some pals has made its way to the Mufs Newsdesk. Terry Wogan beware, your punditry days are numbered... enter the Elven warrior. Readers of sensitive disposition, all Greeks and Euro-enthusiasts beware before opening the attached Alternative Eurovision Scorecard....
A match of a different kind is being held tomorrow as it is the marriage of our very own El Secretario, Iain and Sue. What will the two years'-running winner of Worst Mufs Barnet possibly be sporting on his bonce tomorrow? Mufs Newsdesk in association with Hello Magazine will aim to sneak some photos out from the Mufs Royal Wedding. Seriously I'm sure all of the Mufs family wish Iain and Sue all the best on this most splendiferous of occasions.
This Saturday evening after games have been played (or not - forecast no great for tomorrow) we will be gathering in the Halfway House in Fleshmarket Close - a CAMRA award winning pub run by El Vestio's parents - rumours of a stash of stovies and other goodies being laid on too as well as the usual very finely kept ales. See Edinburgh Pub Guide for map and reviews.
Wednesday saw a welcome return to action after all this rain as Mufs, lead by ruthless new midweek skipper, Nasty Keith, laid seige to Merchiston Castle. In a stroke of captaincy genius, Nasty elects to bat first, and Mufs post 113-4 off 20 overs with chief battering rams being: JNB retired on 29, Bicycle Towns retired on 26 (three sixes), Adam Scott n.o. 23, and Westy a patient 10.
With the Merchiston Castle ramparts now softened up, Nasty unleashes the Highlander fury of JNB and Stormin Norman to breach the outer defences - JNB roars to 4-0-11-3 and Stormin 4-0-19-1. However, the Merchiston defenders counter-charge as Ali "The Judge" is put to the sword but still claims a victim in his two overs for 18. Resplendent in his chain-mail vest, El Ward reaps 2-0-7-1; Adam wayward at first with his opening shots, tightens up to bowl 3-0-16-0.
In a tactical masterstroke the Mufs Chieftain decides that the best bet to end the spirited Merchiston resistence is to starve out the defenders. So Nasty deprives the Castle of runs in a stingy 3-1-6-0 spell before unleashing Mr Belly to batter another hole in the defences as El 'Note claims 1-0-5-1. Finally the Donimator is thrown into the mix, cruelly deprived of a wicket, but a final over tally of 12 runs is 11 short of victory for the Castle staff and students. After the contest, Mufs indulged in the traditional feasting on sarnies and beer laid on by our hosts in the Staff Room for which many thanks to Stephen and his crew.
Tonight, Mufs took on the National League might of West Lothian in the Masterton and instead of any giant killing, Goliath well and truly despatched David. We didn't help ourselves by playing poorly but were up against it with much of the normal 1st XI missing (though most were available for our intended preferred Tues fixture... grrrr) plus one player calling off just before the start due to a work crisis (ok -excusable perhaps) and another player (and not a newbie) apparently not even knowing where our main home ground is and being unable to come down at all. Yes it beggars belief as an excuse (we have been merged for what 6 years now??) and made us look like a bunch of fools. For the record a Mufs IX was bowled out for 29 but some pride salvaged as two scalps claimed for Nasty Keith as West Lothian quickly won by 8 wickets. Shame none of them considered staying for a post match beer given we all had some time on our hands. We had a couple nonetheless.
Those of us at Muirhouse would probably much rather have been in the Meadows tonight playing against the fine fellows of Morton and no doubt enjoying the banter and post match hospitality in K Jacksons. A Mufs XI won by 20 odd runs in a well contested game.
The wet weather put paid to all our Saturday games and also the Sunday friendly game at Falkland.
Wednesday's Parks Trophy clash with Macabbi fell victim to the recent bad weather. This game will be played now on Wednesday 31 May at Muirhouse, 6pm start. Availability for this please.
We are also due to host West Lothian in the next (2nd) round of the Masterton now confirmed for Thursday at Muirhouse - the deadline to play the game is by the end of the week.
Also, we have two other midweek games next week (busy ol week !) - on Wednesday Mufs play at Merchiston Castle (6.30 start) and on Thursday we have a game in the Meadows against Morton, for both games the post match hospitality is always excellent. Availability for this hectic week needed !!
Talking of money, it has been announced that just over £400 was raised by the Duck Race, again well done Mr Wilkie. For other fundraising events, we plan to have a car boot sale (thankfully not from my car boot!) probably at Ingilston Market in July (i.e. when its nice and sunny). Idea being to sell those odds and ends you don't need no more and raise funds for the club (and for us to try our best Cockney Barrow Boy patter... "Awlright Dahling, two Mufs batsmen for a pauund, nay three, I'm giving em away, luv..." etc etc. Please let us know if you have gear to shift and/or want to help.
We are delighted to announce that Mufs have been successful in securing grant funding from the Lottery funded "Awards for All" Fund for the installation of artificial bowling ends for the Roseburn Outdoor Nets. Thanks especially to Don Wilkie for his hard work on this project.
At last all parts of the Mufs machine managed to fire together at the same time as Mufs Ones defeated Watsonians Twos by 8 wickets at a sunny Muirhouse. Meanwhile the Threes were defeated at Livingston. Livy 2s posted 292-5 and Mufs 3s 152-9 with Chris Phillips making a half-century posting 54.
Mufs Ones were invited to field first by 'Sonians at Muirhouse. Good bowling and fielding managed to restrict the visitors to 134 all out off 41.2 overs with the excellent Rich 9.2-2-32-2, Stormin Norman with 10-0-27-2, Atul with 8-0-32-2, the stingy "Nasty Keith" 8-1-14-1 and The Leopard, Gowtham with 5-1-27-2.
This time we didn't stuff up the chase, as Dazza and Gowtham put 96 on for the first wicket before the tiring Kidda fell for a tremendously brutal 59 that had the Watsonian's attack reeling. Gowtham bared his claws with some classic strokeplay before falling 4 short of his 50. Andy and Jaya saw us home and hosed with 8 wickets at 24 overs to spare. An excellent performance to earn our first victory, however, can't help think it could and perhaps should have been played 3 won 3.
On Sunday at Muirhouse, Mufs 2s lost to Watsonians 3s. Sonians posted 180-8 with John Baikie top Mufs bowler with 4 wickets for 27 off his 10 overs. Tony, Paul, Tom and Sutha also each claimed 1 wicket apiece. In reply Mufs were never really in the hunt as only Sutha (33), an entertaining late flourish from Tony (22), and Tom Wheeler (11) made double figures, as Mufs were bowled out for 107 in 36.2 overs.
Well done to Twos and Threes as they recorded wins over Largo 2 and Edinburgh CC. Twos stars with the bat Kidda (60 odd), Skipper Gray (another 60+ score for the wee man) and Sutha 40 odd as Twos post over 200 at Muirhouse. Martin Ward finished top bowler with 3 wickets as a comfortable win was earnt. For the threes, El Presidente once again starred with the ball as his 3-15 and Nick Hill's 3-24 helped dismiss Edinburgh CC for 87. Mufs 3s win by 8 wickets with Scott Taylor on 33 not.
But I'm lost for words to describe the game at Livingston where Ones bowled and fielded excellently (Stormin' Norman taking 3-21) to dismiss the home team for only 65, then the tables were turned after a most tasty tea, when the Livy bowling was right on the spot, aided and abetted again by some criminal batting in places, as we finished 4 short. That we came that close was thanks to Mel and Tom who took us from 32-8 to within a shot of victory in a patient and well-crafted stand. But the top order simply should have done the business. Again too many wickets needlessly gifted away under pressure. We will learn (one day). Very enjoyable on and off the field spirit so thanks to home team for that.
Peebles unfortunantly could not raise a team for tonight's Masterton game so Mufs move through to the next round. Now then, now then, Mufs have no midweek next week as we kept the week free in case of Masterton this week being rained off. There is, however, a RBGECC game at Muirhouse - so if interested contact Iain Martin at Iain Martin work email to see if any spare slots. For newbies, Royal Botanical Gardens Edinburgh CC, known as the Bots are a very closely related midweek team many of us also play for.
Next Mufs midweek is the Docuserve sponsored Edinburgh Parks Trophy clash v Maccabi on Wed 17th May at Muirhouse. Availability to me at ian_shiels@hotmail.complease for this juicy re-enactment of the Parks Trophy final from two years ago. Yes I know it clashes with the Gooners Euro Cup Final game but I'm sure we'll catch a bit of it on the telly afterwards!!
A Mufs XI took on a strong Galashiels team on Sunday down in the borders. An enjoyable day out was apparently had though a bit too much leather chasing in a hefty loss. El Presidente continues his purple patch of form - this time with 23 not with the bat. Details available at this link to scorecard.
Mixed fortunes for our teams on the season openers. Mufs Ones were defeated by 3 wickets in a tight game against Marchmont, Twos defeated EUSCC by 3 wickets, Threes lost against Fauldhouse by 4 wickets.
Mufs Ones opted to bat first on a slow Cavalry Park wicket and at 82-1 off 27 overs, and with Sicknote (25) and Lacey (21) well set, we had set at platform for a good score. Even having a giant inflatable black-pudding like kite thing being flown tantalising in his line of sight behind the bowler's arm did not seemed to put off the food-loving skipper as he dug in for the long haul.
However, when Mufs press on the gas pedal sometimes the engine can fly out instead. And so it proved as we found ourselves 83-4 as Lacey, Jaya (0) and the aghast Sicknote all fell while playing forcing shots. Akshay (19) and Gowtham (15) picked it up again but some less than clever strokeplay and a double strike by Neil Granger (5-36) let Marchmont back in. Tom Wheeler batted sensibly for 18, Rich a fast 14 and Mel classily at the tail for 10 not.
172 was better than what it could have been at one point but 20-30 short of what it should have been. Lessons to learn about not gifting our wickets away - at least 4 dismissals were giveaways. Credit to Davi Sardesi for a fine spell of 10-3-2-20 who bowled an excellent length on the surface.
Our defence of this total began excellently. Mel and Rich bowled superbly in tandem and had the home team on the back-foot. Rich's straight spell of 10 overs for 1 for 19 (most of those runs snicked around the stumps too) was simply magnificent and his figures deserved better reward. We looked keen and fired up in the field - wickets for Mel, Gowtham and Atul meant Marchmont were 64 for 4 off 27 and the game was there for the winning for us. Slowly it turned - the cold seemed to quell the enthusiasm in the field and Aaron Sardesi and Bourne put on a patient but slowly accelerating 36 stand to bring the game back into balance. Still at 100-6 we were favourites. Aaaron was the key man - if he stayed Marchmont probably won - if we took his wicket then we probably would have clinched it. We didn't, Reed 18 and Mathers 13 stayed with him, some contentious decisions (one very!) did not go our way but with a fine, chanceless 66 not, Aaaron fittingly hit the winning runs to seal victory for the home team with 2 overs left. We needed one of our top 6 to have done the same as Aaron. Lessons to learn.
A fine game played in a most excellent spirit - probably the best spirited game I have played in for a long time - proving hard-fought top-level games do not need to be played with the snarling ill-tempered aggression that some other team(s) seem apt to pathetically descend to. Finally, while on the subject of the spirit of cricket and how it should be played and appreciated, sadly missing from a trip to Cavalry Park for cricket against Marchmont was of course dear Roger Sardesai.
There was joy for Mufs Twos not far away at Pfeffermill as Mufs 2's defeated Edinburgh University Staff CC by 3 wickets. Tony Simpson took 3-30 off 10 as EUSCC post 201. Mufs cruise by this total with Skipper, Andy Gray leading the way with a patient 61. Matty scored 29, Dazza 22, Ali 25 not and Lindsay 24 as Mufs win. Good stuff chaps.
Threes were undone by Fauldhouse 2s at Roseburn - Mufs post 127 ao with Scott Taylor 44, and Fauldhouse reach 131-6 with "Fidel" Wilkie claiming 3-16.
Today, Mufs XI take on Galashiels in the Borders.
Another good work out to shed the rust and get some practice on grass as a Mufs Midweek XI took on Scottish Widows at Inch Park. Mufs posted 117 off 16 overs with Jaya 42 (retired to let others have a bash) and JNB 21 unbeaten, starring. Ash looked good for his 18 too.
Widows played their midweek cricket with a little more cut-throat competitiveness than we were displaying. With an aggressive 72 from R Hannan (out, not retired!) Widows just inched (sorry) past our score in the last over. Some dubious ball-counting (three 7 ball overs!) did not help our cause. Mel Clench bowled exceeding well, Kanwar took 3 wickets but was expensive, the rest of the bowling just wasn't that clever on the day. Not helped by skipper (with mind elsewhere really -sorry chaps) dropping a sitter too.
Saturday saw a double set of pre-season friendlies at Roseburn and mixed fortunes although at this stage its really just about getting players firing again. A Mufs XIs led by Andy Gray defeated Peebles on the grass with Edwin Silvester star man with 4 wkts for 9 off 8 overs and Sutha with 4 for 23. Akshay with 26 and Graham Watson with 23 starred in the successful Mufs chase of 95. Report received from Daybus at this link to Mufs match report
The other Mufs XI led by Andy Cook were defeated by 3 wickets on the artificial by Stirling University 2s. Mufs posted 126 ao with Nick Hill hitting 36 and Skipper Andy Cook 25 - top dog for the students was Craig Robson with 4-20. SUCC with a fine 35 n.o. by S Hopper held off Mufs; top Mufs bowling figures JNB with 2-24 and Martin Ward 2-20.
A reminder that outdoor nets start at 6pm Monday night in Roseburn Park. Mufs then take on Scottish Widows at Inch Park on Tuesday.
Saturday sees more pre-season friendlies at Roseburn as Mufs XIs take on Peebles and Stirling Uni 2s. If not playing come on down to see the chaps. Photos courtesy of Vesty Photography of last Sunday's game at Stirling Uni can be found at this link to Mufs v SUCC photos and Match Report.
Weather permitting we will venture outdoors on Monday from 6pm for the first of our outdoor net sessions at Roseburn Park. Last indoor nets at MESC on Friday 21 April (tomorrow!)
The first salvoes of the phoney war were fired yesterday as a Mufs XI took on the students of Stirling University on Sunday. A good work-out and some rust shedded from the Mufs war-machine but we were outgunned in the end by some fine bowling by J Elliot (3-27) who blew away the Mufs middle order after Sicknote (29) and Lacey (17) had steadied the ship following Old Mother's less than glorious return to a ground he had played at in his student days (yes, that long ago) with a late entry for the Mufs Duck Race. A familar wag of the Mufs tail by Adam Scott (33) and Super Sutha (22) saw us to 138 off 32 overs - Ali "the Assasin" Amjid, guesting for the opposition, claimed both of their scalps before the speedy Safa, C. Matthews ended our resistance.
With a fine assortment of tea (especially tasty flap-jack) and a welcoming hot drink (cricket in April always fun) we set out to defend what was most likely a below par score on the artificial. And so it proved. Despite fine bowling (and a great run-out direct hit) from Mufs MoM, Adam Scott, with 5-1-15-1, signs of trickery from Ash, and latterly a good spell from Sutha (1-24); we were undone by excellent aggressive batting by C Matthews (67 not) and K MacIntyre (30) as the students cruised to victory.
Some lessons to be learnt obviously but a good workout outside of nets. And at the end of the day a great knock from young Matthews, to be admired even when on the receiving end of it; and a good spirited game. Good luck to the lads in their forthcoming Uni games, and in their studies and remember they really are some of the best days of your life - so enjoy it.
A report of the match by El Vestio can be found from this link to Stirling Uni game.
"Generals gather in their messes...."
It's getting close innit! The season is nearing and I hope your winter fitness campaigns have gone better than Mr Belly's. First shot in the pre-campaign phoney war gets fired this weekend as a Mufs XII travel to Stirling University on Sunday for a friendly. Then the following Saturday we have two more friendly games -selection meeting on Tues for this so tell your capitanos your availability or use the form in the earlier news item - we also need your subs and your contact details ASAP.
Then its time to get down to business, boys. Full on assault on those League Titles - no quarter expected or given. Its time gentlemen to go to WAR.... uh-uh, yeah! what is it... (sorry, felt a bit of another song coming on). I personally cannot wait to get stuck in and I hope you feel the same. The club has recruited and retained well - we are in good shape- let's do something special. UP THE MUFS.
Its the one you've all been waiting for - the titantic midweek clash of MDCC v Royal Botanicals Gardens of Edinburgh CC. This year we are playing each other just the once on Tues 30th May - and this time there is a Trophy at stake. Now we could call it simply something like the Muirhouse Cup but I am sure we can get better suggestions than that. Add your suggestions to the Mufs Message Board !
On Tuesday a motorised heavy roller was delivered to Brian our groundsman at Muirhouse and astonishingly no-one got injured pre-season in the process of unloading it ( I was keeping well clear). Many thanks to El Presi Don and his crew for the loan of it, also to Nick Hill (its handy having a man with a big van ).
Picture of Don presenting Brian with his new toy. Mind that reverse gear.
The ducks have raced and we can announce the following prize winners:-
Thanks to all for selling tickets and those buying - and big thanks to Don and his helpers. And to the Ducks!
As part of pre-season preparations we are having a tidy up session at Muirhouse -doing oddjobs etc - e.g. tidy-up round the shelter, retrieve that old roller from the bushes, repair the shelter roof, cut back the bushes - that kind of odd jobs and things. Starting from 10am this Saturday - so any volunteers to join in the effort most welcome.
The pre-season friendly game at Stirling University has been brough forward a week due to unavailability of the pitch. This game will now take place on Sunday 16th April - yup Easter Sunday. So you'll need to put those Easter eggs to one side for a day. Players needed - please email Sicknote at ian_shiels@hotmail.com ! - thanks to those who have already indicated they will play.
We need to register you unruly mob of Muffers once again with the League. We MUST have this done by a week before the start of the season. We also would like to take this opportunity for you to let us capitano's know in advance of what your likely availability is. So grateful if you could complete the attached word doc for 2006 Contact Details and Availability and return to both myself (ian_shiels@hotmail.com) and El Secretario, Iain Martin (ijmartin@talk21.com).
As well as the change to the Stirling Uni friendly (see news item above) we also have a Sunday friendly on 30 April at the finely named Borders town of Galashiels. I have added this to the list and also revised the fixture lists. Also thanks to those 20 odd Muffers who responded to the recent email and have filled this form in already.
Let's hope it warms up soon eh!!
Next indoor nets on Friday 7-9pm - also lets keep them 2006 Member Subscriptions coming in!
The Club still has a stock of kit for sale - and shortly will be getting some more odds and end sembroidered with club badge and new shirt sponsor (Murrayfield Hotel) logo.
We have a small numbers of old shirts to shift - these still have the Berts logo on them so we will flog those at a bargain half-price. Photos of kit at Mufs Clothing.
Details of kit for sale, price and stock availability follows:-
If you wish to buy any of this stock then please let me (Ian Shiels) know at ian_shiels@hotmail.com or phone/text me on 07730 074174.
We also will be shortly getting the following stock of Surridge items embroidered with our Club Badge - prices to be determined but I will take any pre-order interest at ian_shiels@hotmail.com . Items include the following:-
The second match of the season for the One's versus Livingston, which was originally scheduled for Sunday 7th May at Muirhouse, has been switched to Saturday 6th May at Livingston. The return leg will now be at Muirhouse on 8th July 2006. So that means not only do we avoid the crazy scenerio of both Ones and Twos playing away on the 8th, but also that Botanics can play Innellan at Muirhouse on Sunday 7th May afterall.
We are also looking to move forward a week the SCU Trophy game v Holy Cross to Sunday 25th June, this will avoid a clash with a home Twos League game scheduled for Sun 2 July
Pictures from the MUFTAs Season 2005 Awards Ceremony Dinner can be found at this attached link to Muftas Photos The full list of MUFTA awards categories, the nominees, and most importantly of all the WINNERS can be found at this link to a Mutfa Awards document.
And here's a pic of Super Sutha getting his trophy and award certificate for 2s POY - good stuff fella.
Fresh from his starring scouse appearance in Sri Lanka our Claypole makes the hallowed pages of the Daily Star...separated at birth...?
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Next Indoor nets at MESC are on this Friday 17th March at 7-9pm - we have 3 lanes this time.
All 200 tickets for the Duck race scheduled for 1st April have been issued - so if you are sitting on unsold stock then please let Don Wilkie know about this asap so he can re-allocate these tickets- phone Don on 07866-797831 or email him at squashiedon@hotmail.com .
A copy of the 50 Club Standing Order Mandate form can be found at this link to Mandate Form. More members needed - the way the scheme works is that you fill in a standing order to the fund for say one or more quid a month which buys you a proportionate number of picks for a monthly cash prize - the draws are normally held with a few months drawn at a time ( a draw is overdue and I will publish results on the website when it is held). Obviously a proportion of funds goes towards the club funds - these have been used recently for the Nets project at Roseburn so we need to top up our funds.
Also please send us any ideas you may have for Fund-raising for the club. Talking of which a reminder of the Duck Race on the 1st April. If you have any unsold tickets please contact Don Wilkie immediately as all the tickets have now been issued so someone else could sell your unsold allocation. The duck race will take place on the Water of Leith close to Merchiston Castle. We'll post up a map and more details when we get it.
A reminder that the Mufs Season 2005 Awards Dinner is on Friday 10th March at the Murrayfield Hotel. As well as the usual honours such as the teams' player awards etc, we also have the more silly but as equally hard earnt awards for which YOU can vote for on the night. For that we of course need your nominations - and for this purpose attached is a link to a Nominations form - there are some categories already listed for which we would like you to propose your nominees plus reason why they should win a coveted Mufta Award.
We would also welcome new categories too for this year - so include your suggestions (and nominees too!) for these on your Nomination form and send to the Newdesk . All suggestions treated in full confidence. Keep it funny and not derogatory (well not too much).
The Season 2006 League Fixtures have been published on the ESCA website. Mufs Ones start their campaign at newly promoted Marchmont. Twos open up away to Edinburgh University Staff and Threes take on Fauldhouse III at home.
Full details of League matches and the fixtures being arranged for Midweeks, Sunday and Pre-Season friendlies (some to confirm still) can all be found at the following Fixtures 2006 page . Please note that a couple of the Saturday league games will be played on Sundays.
Next indoor nets are on Saturday 25th February 3-5pm at MESC. Nets are of course free to paid-up 2006 members - £2.50 per hour for non-members (half-rate for junior and unwaged). Afterwards we are heading off to Berts Bar to watch the Scotland v England rugger. 2006 subs (£60 full/ £25 unwaged/ £10 junior U-18) should be sent to Chris Brown at 2F2, 1 Roseneath Place, Edinburgh, EH9 1JB asap please.
Update on the Season 2005 Awards Dinner to be held at the Murrayfield Hotel on Friday 10th March. Dinner will be served at 7:30pm and will consist of the "restaurant menu of the day" at a price of £16.50 .
Reg has put the final touches to his photo-journal of his, Belly, Gilly, and Claypole's trip to Sri Lanka with the London Saints CC. Either go to our Photo Galleries page or follow this link to Reg's Sri Lankan Adventure.
Hopefully as much fun as last year, the Season 2005 Awards Dinner is scheduled for Friday 10th March at the Murrayfield Hotel. More details to follow but we will have the usual approach of top gnosh, then the well-earnt player awards and the less well-earnt other categories of various less serious awards on which you can vote for your favourite or most (un)deserving Muffer. Suggestions for award categories (and nominations) gratefully received by the newsdesk at ian_shiels@hotmail.com.
We also need to have the briefest of EGMs (5 mins!) to ratify club accounts I think.
The ESCA are introducing a fair play award in Season 2006 - voted by the clubs! Details in the following document! Bet you can think of a few hot faves not to win this!
The Donmeister is arranging a fund-raising duck race for April 1st (yes, very foolish!) to be held somewhere on the Water of Leith... Belshill?? area. More details to follow, but we will be seeking your co-operation to sell some ducks at £3 each or two ducks for £5. A bargain. The more ducks we sell the better. Let's get 200 sold !! A range of tasty prizes is being lined-up including a 12 bottle case of Deuchars IPA; Ten Pin Bowling Tickets; a meal for 2 at Khushi's; whisky galore: a bottle of Glenfiddich, a bottle of Isle of Jura, and a bottle of 1992 Famous Grouse; a Sony Clock Radio; a slap-up meal at err ... somewhere else (forget the name!) and more. Of course, the real cricketing duck race will start at the end of April and conclude end August!!
Some tasty fixtures in the Cups as Mufs are drawn at home against old chums Holy Cross in the SCU Trophy - game to be played on Sunday 2 July - and in the Masterton Trophy a home game against Peebles. This game to be scheduled in the week commencing 1st May -probably the Wed 3rd.
Well as you can guess Belly, Gilly and Sharky are back from Sri Lanka - Claypole had got back a week earlier. Our touring record - played 3, lost (heavily but less heavily as we went along) 3. Despite being talked up as the pre-eminent batters on tour, our Mufs contingent amongst the London Saints did not set the heather alight with the bat, (me 3,4 and 18 and Phil 0 and ..errr... 0) but Phil bowled excellently in the heat in his two games against the might of the Lankans top order (3 wickets), and in a more limited capacity that ol' Sicknote fella didn't do too bad with the ball either. But boy oh boy is it knackering playing in that heat and humidity - I was pining for a dreich, windswept Muirhouse! A great time was had by all and plenty of the very fascinating island seen including a very moving trip down the south coast to the Tsunami affected regions where we went to see the fishing boat the London Saints had raised money for and the Children's Camp for which they have contributed funds towards nets and other equipment.
One of the LSCC party, Steve Keenan, is the Travel Editor for the on-line Times newspaper - he wrote several articles about the tour and trip to Sri Lanka in general - these can be found at this link to the on-line Times Travel Logs. More detailed accounts of the matches and general tour nonsense can be found on the London Saints Website at the following link to LSCC match reports - you need to scroll down a bit down their news page. You will see Gilly has an honourable mention upholding Scotland's esteemed reputation in International Arrack drinking. Unfortunantly we just missed the International Elephant Polo at Galle where Scotland (yes Scotland) were defending (but lost) their