2007 news stories can be found at 2007 News Archive. Go to our Sitemap for previous years' News.

A small but significant landmark for the club was reached today (Sunday 1 Feb), as MDAFS fielded it's first Youth team in competitive action. We played Edinburgh CC Youth in our first fixture in the Lothian Junior Development Group U-11 8-a-side Indoor Tournament at West Woods. The format is 12 overs a side - with 4 pairs of batters having 3 overs each - runs scored off walls etc. Both teams start with a score of 200 - with a 5 run deduction per wicket. MDAFS scored a net 282 runs (losing 7 wickets) off their 12 overs and Edinburgh 304 (losing 4 wkts)- so a 22 run win for ECC. Next up in 2 weeks time is Grange.

A photo-journal of the September 2008 Club Tour to Somerset can be found at this link to The Boney Muflins Tour - it's also at our photo galleries page.

Note: the page may take a while to load fully as there are a load of photies (and I couldn't be arsed to divide it up into separate pages). Enjoy - we all certainly enjoyed the trip!

2009 subs are indeed now due, and as has been the normal practice in previous years then the club offers FREE indoor Club nets for paid-up Club members. So there's an incentive to bring your subbies with you to nets. As agreed at the AGM, 2009 membership subs are now £75 for waged; £30 still for unwaged/students. £10 for U-18/youth.

A reminder that Club Indoor nets start up on Saturday 24 January 2009 from 1pm - 3pm at the Academy Sports centre, Arboretum Rd. Bring your membership subs cheque/cash - see above. Nets free to paid-up Club members. £5 non-members. See you all there !

The 2009 League Fixtures have now been published on the East League website. MDAFS Ones kick off hosting our auld foe, Holy Cross, at Roseburn Park. Twos travel to Musselburgh, Threes host Carlton 3s at Roseburn, Fours travel to Inverleith Park to take on Drummond-Trinity 2s. The first round of matches are scheduled for Saturday 2 May. We are, of course, aware of the use of Murrayfield for major rugby matches/events in May - and are currently in liaison with the Council over what, if any, issues these may cause for our games at Roseburn Park. There is thus a possibility a game or two could be moved in terms of dates or location. Once we know for sure we will of course let you know.

Former club secretary and player of what was DAFS CC, Hector Mackenzie, has been awarded an OBE in the New Year's Honours List - see link to the relevant Scotsman article. Well done, Hector.

A Happy New Year to all Murfs past and present wherever you are!

The ICC World Twenty20 is being held in England next year - Cricket Scotland have been allocated a limited number of tickets for sale - as a member club of CS we have received this offer - some of you who took out the Saltires package may also have had a letter too. The games involving Scotland (v NZ and then SA) are on 6 and 7 June at the Oval - also playing will be Aus v WI on the 6th and England v Pakistan on the 7th.

The attached World Twenty20 pdf document has details plus a form that needs to be sent back to CS by Mon 5 January (yes, I know it's upside down - but that's how IJM scanned it!! - just rotate it in your pdf viewer)

With Xmas nearly upon us, then if you are ... ahem... searching for the perfect gift, or simply distraught that Santa seemed to skip by your chimney stack this year, then you can always make amends by buying one of the shiny new club Ram cricket shirts that were being modelled by persons large and less large at the very end of last season. The new shirts (Club/sponsor badged) cost £26 - they look great (IOHO) and are made of excellent sweat-wicking material - just right for those blazing Scottish summers. We are also have a limited stock of sleeveless Club/sponsor badged sweaters too (also £26). Contact me (Ian Shiels) on 07730 074174 or ian_shiels@hotmail.com for orders. We will bring some stock to indoor nets too.

Talking of Xmas and all that... festive, seasonal, xmas greetings to you all and here's to a great New Year for you and Club alike.

There are a number of developments and opportunities coming up for our Youth Sections. We have been invited to enter a team into the Lothian Youth Development Group Indoor 8 a side tournament starting in January. Cricket Scotland is also running a series of Youth Coaching Camps - further details can be found on the Cricket Scotland Winter Coaching Courses webpage. Incidentally Lea Tsui is part of the coaching staff for these sessions.

We also have taken a provisional booking for the hour in front of some of our senior Indoor Nets sessions which we will use for Youth development, if there is sufficient demand from our Youth section.

Finally you may have noticed on their website that there is a big push from Cricket Scotland for developing Girls cricket in 2009.
Gordon Drummond (Edinburgh Council Cricket Development Officer) is running a Girls Cricket Development Centre, aimed at girls aged 9-13, at Westwoods Health Club at Fettes on January 18th and 25th, February 1st, 8th, 15th, 22nd; and March 1st, 8th, 15th, 22nd, and 29th. Lea is also helping with these sessions too. If you know of anyone who may be interested in this course, indeed any others listed, then please do bring it to their attention - here's a link to the Girls Cricket Development Centre Publicity Flyer (word doc). For more details and bookings please contact Gordon Drummond (Edinburgh Council Cricket Development Officer) at gordon.drummond@edinburgh.gov.uk (tel: 07771 666614)

Cricket Scotland has published its 2009 Cricket Coaching Course Programme. As you should all be aware we have made good progress in establishing a new Youth section. To help us to develop that further then we need more qualified Club coaches - so if you are interested then let us know - if you need to discuss this then either of us Ia(i)ns would be more than happy to help. It's also good for learning more about your own game! The Club will also contribute towards your Coaching costs.

Aspiring cricket umpires and existing officials wishing to brush up on their understanding of the Laws can do so either in Edinburgh or Glasgow, where courses will begin on Thursday January 22, lasting for eight weeks. The courses will be held, starting at 7.30pm, at Clydesdale Cricket Club, Glasgow (course tutor Jim Connell, telephone 0141 840 1844 or 07746 073058), and at the National Cricket Academy in Edinburgh (course tutor Sandy Scotland, 0131 551 2663 or 07740 438677).

Thanks to all of you who have bought equipment from Cow Corner - not only is that supporting a couple of local cricketers in their worthwhile enterprise, it also means that due to Cow Corner's club cash-back scheme that we receive £25.82 back from them. Cow Corner can be found at 90 Brunswick Street (off Leith Walk), Edinburgh or online at their website .

For those following the ESCA message board thread on this would have seen some interesting debate on scoring system revisions and even the potential introduction of Duckworth-Lewis to settle rain interrupted games. The Penicuik Proposal was to base points for the losing side on how close in percentage terms they got to victory either in wickets terms or runs terms with 10 for a win and up to 5 for the losing team. So for example a game where a team is 90 all out chasing say 95 would get same bonus points as a team scoring 270 chasing 285. Sadly - as we were supporting the proposal - it just missed out on getting its needed two thirds majority at the AGM with 16 in favour and 9 against. The Duckworth-Lewis proposal also bit the dust. So the scoring system next year will be exactly the same again. And that was the main exciting bits.

Many thanks to El Sec for posting these up on the message board so I can copy them here! A chance for revenge at Penicuik perhaps. We of course have the postponed Cow Corner 2008 semi-finals/final day to play in April 2009 too.

Murgitroyd Masterton

Round 1

Penicuik vs Murrayfield DAFS (by May 29)

If successful:

Round 2 vs Edinburgh or Drumond Trinity (Away)

Cow Corner

Round 1

Musselburgh vs Murrayfield DAFS (by June 19)

If successful:

Round 2 vs OCs/Morton/Edinburgh South (Home)

Parks Trophy
Sponsored by Nicholas Hill Garden Construction

Round 1 (by 15 May)

Murrayfield DAFS vs Scottish Widdows
Leith Beige vs RBGE

Round 2 (If successful) (By 5 June)

Murrayfield DAFS vs Casuals
RBGE vs Marchmont

Terry Newcombe Trophy
Sponsored by Nicholas Hill Garden Construction

Murrayfield DAFS not eligible as SNCL & ESCA Div 1 Clubs excluded

2nd round
RBGE CC vs Kirkbrae (by 12 June)

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The Minutes of the Club AGM will be posted up as soon as we get them. Main headlines are:

•   Ankeet Vora appointed 2nd Team Captain
•   Chris Brown appointed 4th Team Captain
•   Phil Yelland takes on organising Sunday Fixtures
•   All other currently serving officials remain in place
•   Annual subs increase to £75/£30. Match fees to £6/£3.

Link to the AGM Agenda.

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These will be held once again at the Edinburgh Academy Sports Centre off Arboretum Road, Edinburgh.

Saturday 24 January 1.00-3.00pm
Saturday 7 February 1.00-3.00pm
Saturday 21 February 1.00-3.00pm
Saturday 28 February 1.00-3.00pm
Saturday 7 March 1.00-3.00pm
Saturday 14 March 1.00-3.00pm
Saturday 21 March 1.00-3.00pm
Saturday 28 March 1.00-3.00pm
Saturday 4 April 1.00-3.00pm
Saturday 11 April 1.00-3.00pm

As agreed again at our recent AGM, these nets will be free to paid-up Club Members. £5 charge otherwise (not £3 as previously mentioned- thx to our ever-vigilant Treasurer in pointing this out).

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Cricket Scotland is running a series of coaching courses, from November 2008 through to March 2009, for children between 6 and 13 years of age. These will be held in the National Cricket Academy, Ravelston, Edinburgh.

Details can be found at this weblink: http://www.cricketeurope4.net/DATABASE/ARTICLES2/articles/000045/004521.shtml

Also, Gordon Drummond, City of Edinburgh Cricket Development Officer, is running an ICC Introduction to Cricket course. He states "This is a perfect course for parents, volunteers and young cricketers who are helping out at clubs/schools who dont have a qualification yet". In our opinion it's a good entry level course - very suitable for those who wish to help us with our Youth section and a good entry level course for further Coach Education.

The course will be held at Telford College, West Granton Road, Edinburgh, on Saturday 29th of November from 9.30- 4pm. Cost £20. More details - including the registration form and Gordon's contact details, can be found on the attached Introduction to Cricket course document.

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Another step forward for the Club in our ongoing development - we now have formal Charitable Status. Our Registered Charity Number is SC039920. You can find our entry on the Scottish Charity Register from the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator website. Now that doesn't mean we should be charitable to our opponents on the field!!

The Club Annual General Meeting will be held at Muirhouse (Civil Service Sports Association Clubhouse) on Thursday 6 November at 7pm.

"As per the constitution, as Club Secretary of Murrayfield DAFS Cricket Club I hereby invite all members to the 2008 Annual General Meeting to be held on Thursday 6 November 2008. The meeting will take place at Muirhouse CSSA Clubhouse at 7.30pm (bar open from 7pm).

Motions are now invited from members. These must be received by the secretary at ijmartin@talk21.com by Tuesday 4th November to be considered. Motions should ideally include a Proposer and a seconder - although the seconder can be obtained on the night.

If you would like to get more involved in the running of the club then you can apply to be elected onto the committee.

All official positions of the club can be applied for even if the standing official wishes to continue in post. If this situation arises a vote will take place on the night. Below is a list of the current committee. If wish to apply for election to any of these posts, please let the secretary know at ijmartin@talk21.com, ideally by Tuesday 2nd November. Applicants will be accepted after this date but the committee would request that all members observe the club's gentleman's agreement to at least let the post-holder know of your intentions to stand for election.

The current committee is as follows:

Election Of 2009 Office Bearers (2008 Office Bearers Listed)

Hon. Life Members: Scott Anderson, Robin Ballantyne, Alan Goudie, Duncan McNaughton and Bob Wilson, Willie Ritchie, Phil Yelland.

Executive Committee:
President: Don Wilkie seeking re-election.
Vice-president: Ian Shiels seeking re-election.
Secretary: Iain Martin seeking re-election.
Treasurer: Paul Hubbard seeking re-election
1st XI Captain: Tom Wheeler seeking re-election.

Other positions:
1st XI Vice-cap: Ian Shiels seeking re-election.

2nd XI Captain: Rajnish Singh standing down so position vacant. 2nd XI Captain Nomination: Ankeet Vora - proposed by Rajnish Singh.
2nd XI Vice Cap: Ankeet Vora seeking re-election, but becomes vacant if Ankeet elected to 2nd XI captaincy.

3rd XI Captain: Stuart Coull seeking re-election.
3rd XI Vice-cap: Andy Lacey, intentions unclear at this time.

4th XI Captain: Paul Leonard standing down - captaincy nominations to Secretary, Iain Martin.
4th XI Vice-cap: Charlotte Bascombe seeking re-election.

Ex Officio Committee Members:
Nick Hill seeking re-election
Henry Collin seeking re-election
Vimal Dsouza seeking re-election

Midweek Captain: Ian Shiels

Sunday Captain/Organiser: Phil Yelland Proposed by Committee

Club Statistician: Andrew Piggott & Chris Brown
Auditor: Lindsay Towns seeking re-appointment


Many thanks

Iain Martin "

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Headlines from the Muftas Awards Dinner night held on Friday:

2008 MDCC 1 Player of the Year : Raj Sampath

2008 MDCC 2 Player of the Year: Ankeet Vora

2008 MDCC 3 Player of the Year: Chris Banks

2008 MDCC 4 Player of the Year: Irfan Mahmud

2008 Young Player of the Year: Neil Yelland

2008 Newcomer of the Year: Jean-Pierre Cruz Rocha

2008 Most Improved Player: Chris Donaldson

President's Award: Tom Wheeler

Details of the "silly" awards nominations and winners can be found at this link to Muftas Awards Winners (word doc).

Another update from Tom and the all important nomination form:

Chaps and chapettes

In case you haven’t already noticed via the website or message board, the prestigious 2008 MUFTA awards and dinner will be taking place at the Murrayfield Hotel on Friday 17 October – arrive around 7pm for food at 7.30pm.

Dinner will be of the three-course variety, with three or four choices available for each course, at bar menu prices rather than a fixed price so you only pay for what you eat – should be the right side of 20 quid for three courses unless you’ve got very expensive tastes. Once the menu options are confirmed I’ll publish these on the message board, which should be in the next few days.

I need to confirm numbers with the hotel in the next few days so please could you let me know asap whether you want to come along. Partners and sundry hangers-on are welcome.

Now to the important business – the awards nominations. The “sensible” awards – 1s-4s players of the year, MDCC most improved player etc – will be decided by the playing committee. But the equally coveted “silly” awards, such as the on/off field comedy moments of the year, will be voted for on the night using a ground-breaking voting technique that involves putting your hand in the air.

This is where you come in. The awards categories are listed on the attached Word document MUFTAs Awards Categories 2008. Please fill in your nominations and return them to me by email no later than Wednesday 15 August. If you’ve got any new awards categories to suggest then please do so – there’s space for this at the bottom of the form.

And if you want to start suggesting nominations on the Message Board,
feel free and I’ll pick them up from there:


Nothing obscene or (too) defamatory please...

Oh, and please bear in mind that Lifetime Achievement Awards were given out last year to Iain Martin (Worst Haircut) and Martin “Vesty” Ward (Worst Dressed Muf). So you’ll need to use your imagination to find some new, equally worthy winners. (Astonishingly, Mr Belly did not receive a lifetime achievement award for the beer belly category so you are free to nominate him again.)

Cheers, hope to see you on the 17th,
Tom

Message from Mr Wheeler who has kindly agreed to take on the organisation of the MUFTAs this year:

The 2008 end of season dinner and awards ceremony - fondly known to literally dozens of people as the MUFTAs - has been scheduled for Friday 17 October at the Murrayfield Hotel, beginning at 7.30pm.

For the unitiated (or for the previously initiated who've been too drunk to remember previous awards dinners), the evening involves a three-course meal in the restaurant at the Murrayfield, followed by the sensible awards (player of the year for each of the four teams, best newcomer, most improved player etc). Then we move on to the slightly less sensible awards, such as Worst Dressed Muf, Worst Haircut, Comedy On and Off Pitch Moments and so on.

Further details, including menus and MUFTA nomination forms, will follow in the coming days. But in the meantime, put the date in your diary and let me know if you're up for coming along so I can get an idea of numbers. As usual, you can contact me on 0787 667 3320 or imsorryihavent@cluemail.com.

Cheers
Tom "

Final results can be found on the MFL 2008 Final Scores or on the MUFS Message Board where there is a bit more narrative too. The winner is Adam Scott with 2388, followed closely by Vimal D'Souza with 2380. Wooden spoon went to Mark Williamson with 1093.

Our 3s and 4s have won their respective divisions Fair Play Awards - so well done to Stuart and Paul and their teams.

Fours are relegated to Division 8 but go down with a fighting display as a fine 62 from Irfan - ably supported by 21 not out from Charlotte - almost saw them overhaul West Lothian's 175 but fall 6 runs short. The wet weather this week saw the other 3 teams' games called off. So a mixed season on the pitch with Twos also relegated from a tough Division 2, but a highly creditable Div 1 Bronze medal for the Ones who again put in a solid all-round team performance and were well led by Tom. Threes stay in Division 5 - perhaps a bit too close for comfort at one stage - but well done to Stu and his crew for getting the results when it really mattered.

There is always next season to look forward to (hopefully drier!) and a chance for 2s and 4s to bounce back. That a club like ours has put out 4 teams every weekend is a testimony to our progression. That progression will only continue on with your help and support so please do your bit.

The Sunday 31st August tie versus the Scotland Women's Team - was inevitably rained off. Thanks to Charlotte for her efforts in setting up this game - partic after all the venue difficulties. There's always next year!

Unfortunantly due to all the rain this week the Cow Corner Finals day has been postponed. Because of one the semi-finalists, Edinburgh Accies, being in the SNCL Play-Offs, and other uncertainties etc it has been decided to postpone this to the early part of the 2009 season - something to look forward to, eh.

As the Ones and Twos kicked their heels due to cancellations, Threes triumphed in a crunching 49 run win over Heriot's at Goldenacre but Fours woes with the bat continued as they make a mess of chasing Holy Cross 3s mere 98 at Roseburn. Threes hit 164 ao with Jigar 33, Lindsay 25, Kamath 19 top scorers. Heriots 115 ao with skipper Coull and bus veteran Simpson taking 3 wickets apiece to reduce them to 32-6. Banksy weighed in with 2-7. A vital win that should ensure Div 5 status is secured. Fours are now in deep trouble and need a strong performance next weekend to avoid relegation. That sadly is now the fate of the Twos following the cancellation of their Leith game due to flooding at the Links.

For the Ones, again inactive due to no pitch being prepared at Muirhouse because of the wet conditions this week, their Division 1 title chances rest beating Fauldhouse in the final game, then hoping Accies take no more than 4 points from their final game v Grange 2s and Watsons taking no more than 9 against already relegated Freuchie 2. Funnier things have happened!! If it's just between Watsons and Accies, then Watsons need to score 5 more points than Accies I think. No doubt clubs with teams 3rd from bottom will be praying for a Accies title and eventual promotion.

MDAFS Youth section's second attempt to take part in a Kwik Cricket festival again fell victim to the wet underfoot conditions - this time on Sunday at RHCCC at Barnton. So we (Ian, Iain, Lea and birthday boy Neil) laid on an extra session in the Park for the kids instead which was very enjoyable for all involved.

For your interest, here's a link to latest issue of the Scottish Cricketer. There is mention here of a UKCC/ECB Level 1 course being run at the National Cricket Academy in Edinburgh on five Wednesday evenings from October 1-29, between 6 and 9pm. If you are interested then let us (Ian Shiels or Iain Martin) know. There is also mention of a Groundsman course - Institute of Groundsmanship Foundation Part B Course (Autumn Renovation and Winter Maintenance) is being held on Saturday 6 September 2008 at Boghall, Linlithgow (West Lothian Cricket Club)- again if anyone interested then let us know.

Also please find a link to the Edinburgh Sports Club latest Newsletter.

All Saturday 9th League games rained off.

UPDATE - due to the appalling wet weather of late - both events cancelled - the Cow Corner will be re-played on the Sun 24th August at Craiglockhart

A reminder - if any needed - that we play in the Cow Corner 20/20 Trophy Finals this Sunday 10 Aug. Our semi-final game versus Drummond-Trinity starts at 1.15pm and is on the Craiglockhart pitch. If we progress to the final we will play either Marchmont or Edinburgh Accies at 4pm on the main Myreside pitch at Watsons. Fervant Mufs support needed to cheer on Tommy's Troopers in their quest for some silverware. The Myreside bar will be open from 15:45 - for the Craiglockhart match it may be a case of BYOB.

Also on Sunday we have our new Junior section taking part in a Kwik Cricket festival at Carlton Cricket Club from 9.30. So an exciting day all round for young and old alike.

Wednesday's 20/20 friendly fixture against Old Contemptibles CC unsurprisingly fell victim to the incessant rain. Where did summer go? (or even actually start?)

For a change a sunny day for the annual MDAFS outing across to the Isle of Arran to play Sannox CC - though setting off from Edinburgh as 7.30am in driving rain brought back horror memories of last year's aquatic fiasco. Thankfully it had all cleared by the time we got through Glasgow. Fuelled by the Calmac fry up (for some of us) Belly and Yelly jnr open the bowling tidly for the tourists keeping the Sannox openers quiet before the introduction of The Wheeler Dealer who claims both openers, Pomeroy (7) and Manson (4) in his first two runless overs. Yelly snr has Haggerty fortuitously stumped off Andys pads for a duck before the Belly returns for his final 3 overs to take the wickets of Hackett (6), Marriot (14) (a second smart catch for Pickles) and Dunn for 18. Sannox now in trouble at 66-6. Ali Amjid then cleans up the tail with the wickets of Beardsley (9), Lees (3) and Dunn for 0. Charlotte administers the coup de grace with the wicket of Brown for 2. Sannox all out for 84 off 34.1 overs. MDAFS bowling figures: N Yelland 4-2-8-0, I Shiels 8-4-11-3, T Wheeler 7-2-14-2, P Yelland 5-1-6-1, A Amjid 4-2-6-3, D Barker 2-0-23-0, C Bascombe 3.1-0-6-1, J Gourlay (guesting for MDAFS) 1-0-3-0.

85 suddenly seemed far off after Andy is caught at point first ball, Ali is caught behind for 1 and then Charlotte LBW for 0 - all 3 wickets falling to Dunn. From 6-3 our position improves as Wheels and Belly steady the ship. But we are in trouble again at 39 for 5 as Tom is bowled for 14 (1 four, 1 six) by Pomeroy and Phil top edges a pull off Marriott to fall for 2. Neil Yelland is the last recognised batsman left but in a determined 41 run stand with The Belly, MDAFS chip away at the target until on the cusp of victory Belly falls for 35 (5 fours) CnB by Marriott going for glory and we are now 80-6. Drew joins Neill at the end but another 4 from Yelly jnr and a single sees us home. Neil finishing on a splendid 29 not out (6 fours). Lea and Jim DNB. Bowling figures for Sannox: E Dunn an excellent 8-6-3-3, C Marriott 7.4-1-28-1, S Mason 8-0-22-1, T Pomeroy 8-1-31-1.

As ever a most enjoyable game - more so without the rain in previous encounters. The traditional sampling of Arran ales etc and demolishing of Fish n Chips for the Ferry back to Ardrossan just topped off the Arran Adventure.

Teamshot of MDAFS Sunday Sannox Daytrippers with local guest player (Jim -left)

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Not a terribly good day or two at the office, as MDAFS Ones game versus bottom club Freuchie fell victim to the lack of a proper groundsman service at Muirhouse and was called off on Friday. Then on Saturday all three of the Teams lost - 2s posted 179 in reply to Boroughmuir's 206, Scotty hitting form with 73 to lead a recovery to respectability; Nadeem had earlier taken 4-41. 3s slumped to 130 odd ao in reply to the Broomhall Batting Machine's 278. 4s posted 134 against SMRH3s with Ali scoring 39 but this proved too few even against 8 men as the visitors comfortably knocked off the required total. While 2s look doomed for relegation, 3s and 4s need to improve quickly and halt their recent slumps to avoid suffering the same fate. The Edinburgh Accies victory over Watsons 2s helps keep the One's slim Div 1 title chances alive but missing the chance of a 20 point haul from the Freuchie match, particularly on a sunny day, certainly irritates.

Tuesday saw a really enjoyable game played at a sunny Gifford - we dodged the showers that deluged Edinburgh that evening. The rules to ensure the game was played in the right midweek friendly spirit were: retire at 20, bowl off 4 paces (ideal for Banksy!!), max of 2 wides per over (ideal for **insert bowler of choice**) [the batter then had to chase any further wides!], everyone bowls 2 overs. White ball used.

MDAFS elect to bat first and Banksy cuts the first ball for 4 but is smartly caught by P Bailey (no relation I think to PVB?) attempting a repeat off the 4th ball. Then 2 balls later Sutha is CnB by Ross and suddenly we are 2 down with one over complete! Fear not. The power running partnership of Jamieson and Bascombe steady the innings before David retires on 20 (2 fours) and Charlotte is CnB by Dimeck for 10. Andy Lacey hits a quickfire 20 and retires (2 fours, 1 six), Don is bowled by Mowatt for 4, then Melv (23 retired) and Mr Belly (16 not out) latterly helped by some late scampering by Cyclops (1) and Elsie (0 not) get us up to 108-5 off our 20 overs.

MDAFS take to the field with only 10 men/women as Spaceman Taxis had probably got diverted into picking up fares in Haddington. Andy is appointed "celebrity" captain. Bowling order is agreed at one over each in reverse batting order (bar Charl as she and Andy need to swap keeper role half way) and then repeated. So Iain Martin bowls the opening over to G Donaldson and P Bailey which goes for six runs, Charlotte's first ball (a carried-over hat-trick ball from HBOS game) is despatched for 4 by the merciless Bailey as is her last delivery. 16 off 2. Broon bowls next and concedes 10. 26 off 3 and the Goblins are gobbling up the required rate. Charlotte's 2nd over sees Donaldson run out by a direct hit by Sutha for 8 and next ball Gavin Dimeck is bowled by Charlotte for a goldie. The team hat-trick ball is a dot ball. Pickles finishes her spell with 2-0-13-1. Belly bowls next and bowls Logie for 2 and concedes only 3 off the over. Score now 32 for 3 off 5. Then Notty Clench bowls his curious loopy type of nets spin (career change from his fast seam stuff now required methinks) and bowls the dangerous Bailey for 18. 34 for 4 off 6 - but the home team still above the rate and young C Scott tucks into Don's first ball to slap it for 4, 7 conceded off the over. Sutha's over of spin goes for just 4 and DJs and Banks' overs 5 and 2 respectively.

So at just past the midway point the home team are on 56 for 4 off 11 with Scott and Skea well set.

MDAFS "play their joker" next - with Char taking over keeper duties as Andy Lacey is required to bowl given we are a man short. Only 10 runs are conceded (we were lucky). Then we repeat the earlier bowling order again (except Char). IJMs over only goes for 2, Broon's 5 plus a handy CnB of C Scott for 17, Belly's over concedes just 1, Melvs 4 and Don's over concedes 6 (including 2 drops - one an absolute dolly by himself and then another next ball by the still guffawing Belly...oops. Andy returns for his second over which goes for 11 and at 94 off 17 (15 off 18 balls) the home team just about look favourites as MDAFS cricket has gone ragged. Then it swings back again: Sutha's last over concedes 5 but Skea has to retire on 20. David bowls Mowatt for 13 and concedes just 1 off his over. 5 runs needed and "Two Step" Banks to bowl it in the gloom. A typically tight over concedes just 2 runs and MDAFS have triumphed by 2 runs.

A highly enjoyable game played in great spirit. Then a feast of pies and steak-sandwiches laid on in the bowling club afterwards - many thanks to Colin and his team for their hospitality and a definite repeat fixture on the next seasons MDAFS midweek schedules.

9 weeks simmering of fury was unleashed by Melv on Carlton 2 on Saturday as he and Raj hit Carlton with an astonishing opening spell to avenge the controversial defeat earlier in the season. Chasing MDAFS 175ao, Carlton were reduced to 19-6 with Melv claiming 4 and Raj 2 wickets in the opening assault. Then just as it seemed Carlton were going to be blown away for next to nothing, a couple of missed chances and then a great fightback by the home team with big Ferg Guppy (67) and young Stevie Elder (62) frustrating MDAFS with a 101 run stand for the 7th wicket. Just as you sensed the game had astonishingly tipped back in Carlton's favour, then with three catches safely pouched by Sutha (2) and Raj (right on the boundary!) MDAFS triumphed and heaved an enormous sigh of relief. MDAFS 175 built on innings of 39 from a vintage OMH, 34 from Maggy and a fine 45 from JP. Stevie Elder took 3 wickets. A game played in good spirit and normal cordial relations re-established.

However, that was the only bright moment for the Club on Saturday as the 2s, 3s, and 4s all lost. Twos suffered at the hands of Edinburgh 2s interesting interpretation of the LBW law - chasing 215 they were only 19 runs short on 196 with Siva stranded on 35 not out. Sunny earlier hit 55 opening. 3s lost chasing Leith 2s 136 - reaching only 95(?). 4s posted 142 at Dalgety Bay but lost by 6 wickets.

On Sunday, we had another quite remarkable game as MDAFS Sunday Daytrippers beat Bamburgh by 23 runs.

MDAFS batting first, start well with Phil Yelland hitting a quickfire 33 opening (Irfan hit 5 batting at 2) and Melv Clench a steady 27 - elevated to number 3. Tom Wheeler hits 19 but then the wheels come off spectacularly as MDAFS lose 7 wickets for 5 runs (6 in 10 balls) to collapse to 96 all out - young off-spinner Taylor taking the 3 last wickets in 5 balls on a pitch that was indeed helpful to spin - as the bemused Belly discovered as he was the last man to go, castled by Taylor for 0. After Tom the book reads, Charlotte 5, Chris D run out 1, Asif 0, Reyaz 0, Belly 0, Lea Tsui 0, Neil Yelland not out 3 !!
But fear not - suitably fired up and inspired by Skipper Bascombe, MDAFS fought like tigers (sort of). Despite a battling 18 from opener A Curran and 19 from B Wright, Bamburgh suffer their own collapse from 54-1 to end up on 73 after their allotted 40 overs. Spin again did the most damage as Tom took 4-12 off 8, Phil Yelly 2-14 off 8, also Melv took 1-5 off 6, Belly 2-8 off 7. Other bowlers Neil Y 3-1-8-0, Asif 8-5-11-0. Also highlight of the day was a stonkingly good catch by Pav - catch of the season contender.

And at last a game actually finished at Bamburgh. Just the odd bit of fog to contend with.

MDAFS Midweekers beat a HBOS XI, featuring Scotty and Leonard, in a friendly 20/20 at Peffermill. Batting first MDAFS scored 139 for 6 off 20 overs - top scorers Tom Wheeler 31 retired, Jigar Patel 19, Neill Yelland 26, David Jamieson 30 retired - Adam Scott with 4-0-23-3 the pick for HBOS - Paul Leonard, with 3-0-21-0, not able to get revenge on flatmate Tom Wheeler in the latest 'washing-up' challenge. Other MDAFS batters: Belly bowled by Scotty for 2, Andy Lacey 0, Lindsay Towns not out 2, Abdul Reyaz bowled by Scotty for 4, Irfan Mahmud stumped off the last ball for 2. Asif, Charlotte and Broon DNB.

In reply, HBOS reached 120 all out off 20 overs - top scorers P Newton 20, B Dummone 23, R Newton 16, C Bryne 33 retired - Charlotte Bascombe the star of the show with a spell of 3-0-19-4 (on a hat-trick next game after bowling Mr Leonard first ball off the last delivery!), other wicket takers: Abdul Reyaz 2-0-10-2, Ian Shiels 2-0-7-1. Other MDAFS bowlers figures: Chris Brown 3-0-15-0, Asif Mohammed 3-0-12-0, Neil Yelland 2-0-15-0, Lindsay Towns 2-0-5-0, Jigar Patel 2-0-30-0, Tom Wheeler 1-0-8-0; and, there were 3 run outs.

A good game played in great spirit. Comedy moment of note was the Donimator (who was watching via CCTV while working his shift in the Peffermill office) using the PA system to berate Mr Brown in the field.

Next midweek game is on Tuesday against the Goblin Ha' at Gifford (past Haddington) so players - and players with motors in particular - required - availability to Ian Shiels please on 07730 074174 or ian_shiels@hotmail.com.

Message from MFL Administrator, Chris Brown:

"Hello fellow Muffers

MLF is now reaching the critical part of the season so now is the time to cement your place at the top, settle for mediocrity or try and save some face. And in keeping with any good fantasy league competition now is your chance to do something about your woeful performers. Instead of suggesting that you frogmarch your men down to nets and get them to practice scoring runs / catching / knocking the stumps down (though that might be an idea for team performance) why not just drop them from your team. Each team will be allowed 2 transfers in any department. You can even change your captain to another player in your team (1 transfer) or drop them altogether from the XI, though that'll use all your transfers up in one go. But be quick !!! You only have until start of games on Saturday to make your changes.

The instructions in the transfer spreadsheet MFL 2008 Transfer Spreadsheet should be self-explanatory but it anyone needs any help then send me an email to the same address to send your changes, cpb_100@hotmail.com.

Obviously if your are happy with your team you don't need to do anything at all. The only thing to be aware of is that the players you are buying are priced differently and there are some new players too. Everything you need should be in the spreadsheet including the points everyone has earned so far and your own team (and everyone else's). Please let me know of any errors, but I cannot accept responsibility for you picking a useless team.

Example 1 -
Buy Danny Abraham (£800) to replace Jaya (£700) as a batsman - Net cost £100
Buy Chris Grey (£700) to replace Mel Clench (£800) - Net cost -£100 (Chris Grey is a new player and Danny's price has gone up from £600 to £800 so it'll cost you the new price to buy him)

Example 2 -
Buy Paul Hubbard (£700) to replace Darren Kidd (£700) as a batsman -
Net cost £0
Make Ian Shiels your new captain instead of Darren - No cost
(Swapping batsmen counts as one transfer and the 2nd is electing the new captain)

The decision is yours !!!"

CB

Latest scores can be found on the MFL 2008 Transfer Spreadsheet or on the Message Board.

Back to Headlines

At a packed EGM last night at the Murrayfield Hotel, with the attendees trembling in excitement at the historic event unveiling in front of their eyes, the new Club Constitution was passed by a vote of 9-0 (inc 3 proxies) in favour. The new document can be found at this link to 2008 Club Constitution. The main change has been to slim down the old committee into a streamlined Executive Committee plus make some minor changes to Membership classes and also the clause regarding disposal of Club assets - all to help us in our application for Charitable Status.

The heavy rain on Friday and then again Sat morning meant all the weekend games were cancelled, including the Sunday friendly game at Dunnikier.

During the week, on Tuesday Bots beat Mufs in a wicket fest at Muirhouse in a very friendly game (despite the various personal challenges, vendettas and varied scores to settle always lurking within these Bots-Mufs games). Bots scored 63-8 and Mufs 52ao (8 wkts) - full scorecard is on the Message Board - standout figures were Arfan's 3-0-6-5! Rather irritatingly, several Muffers either pulled out at the last minute, found themselves on flights from London, or just didn't show up. Mr Belly's midweek selection policy may become less forgiving. Thursday's friendly 20/20 game versus Holy Cross fell victim to the rain.

The Threes provided the only cheer of the day with a crushing win over Boroughmuir 2s as Ones were beaten by Edinburgh Accies and Twos were beated by Livingston. The Fours fixture at Livingston had been already cancelled by Friday due to a waterlogged Livy pitch.

Daddy himself reports: "Let's not beat around the bush here. MDAFS 3s, Kicked. Ass. No two ways about it.

On a pitch tailor made for messers Allan, Simpson and Collins, Boroughmuir (having won the toss) batted first and were 32 all out. And, guess what? The aforementioned Allan took 4-10, Simpson took the top order apart with 3-11 and Mr. Collins finished it off with 2-1.

Slight wobble in the chase as we lost 4 wickets getting the runs but comfortable enough in the end. Chris Banks and Irfan Mahmud getting most of them but scores are not to hand. Well done to all, in particular the 3 bowlers mentioned. "

At Newfield in a match reduced to 40 overs, on as poor a Newfield track as I have ever seen - this used to be a batting paradise!?!, Ones reached 131-9 off 40 overs with Paul Hubbard hitting 39* and Mangesh Akerkar 36. Great last flourish from OMH as he takes 21 off the last Accies over to get us up to something partially competitive but it would prove insufficient against a tough Accies batting unit. Simply not good enough application by MDAFS batters - a couple of dismissals not helped by the pitch sure, but some just down to sheer rank shot selection against good bowling. Top bowlers for Accies: Matt Roskell with 4-22, Kean Woodmansey 2-32, and Andrew Cosh 2-38.

We started well with the ball as Raj bowls openers Andy Moffat and Mike Thomson for 1 and 3 respectively, and this brought the high scoring Aussie pro, Mick Raso, to the crease and the other Moffat brother. We had a golden chance to dismiss Mick early off Melv but the catch was grassed. Had it been taken that may have made the chase much trickier for Accies. Skipper Wheeler claims the prize of Raso's wicket LBW for 39 as he tries to reverse sweep Tom and Stuart Moffat is trapped LBW for 33 off Raj. With Cosh bowled by Tom for 4 and Accies at 95-5 we hoped that we could indeed put the rest of the order under the cosh. But it proved not to be as skipper Nick Murden with 18 not and M Stewart with 26 not batted sensibly to see Accies home with 5.4 overs and 5 wickets to spare. Raj Sampath finished with 3-28 and Tom Wheeler 2-29. With Watsons and Carlton also winning, MDAFS now are joint 4th with Fauldhouse who lost at Myreside - see unofficial Division 1 Table.

Twos woes continued as Raj reports. "Unfortunately, MDAFS 2 continued its poor run. Having bowled Livingston for 122 (exactly same as Boroughmuir in the early part of season), the chase gone exactly the same way (ward) with MDAFS 2 all out for 58 (1 less than B'muir) at the end of 23 overs." Mo Rafic can at least hold his head high as he was the only one to make double figures with 13 and earlier had figures of 10-5-9-3.

The Belly Army beat Edinburgh South by 9 runs in a keenly but very sportingly contested friendly 20/20 match at the Inch Park on Tuesday evening. MDAFS negotiated batting first due to some stragglers yet to arrive on an interesting Inch wicket. With the quick loss of skipper Belly for 9 after a couple of successive boundaries, Chris Banks (4 fours) and Abdul Reyaz (4 fours, 1 six) , in particular, moved the scoring along nicely and both reached the 30 run retirement mark. Then Irfan falls for 8 (1 four), DJ for a brisk 19 (4 fours) and Don for a brisk duck (no fours) and so it fell to Charlotte with a measured 9 not out (1 four) and Neil Yelland with a positively hasty 14 not (including one large six, a three and a four) to take us up to 131 off 20 overs.

Edinburgh South start well with Khan and Leigh taking an aggressive approach and MDAFS are on the back foot until Abdul Reyaz takes a super running catch at deep midwicket to dismiss Leigh for 20 (2 fours, 1 six) off Paul. The scoring rate still soars along at 8 an over until Khan retires on his allotted 30 (actually it was only 27 - the scorers miscounted!!) and Suvarna is bowled by David for 18. Tahir has Glany caught by Chris Banks at mid-off for 17, Don Wilkie takes the scalp of opposition skipper Paul Reddish for 6 caught by Mr Belly in the covers, and, with the suicidal run-out of Bourke for 4, the wheels have come off the spirited Edinburgh South reply. They finish on 122 for 7 off 20 overs with a late 'flourish' from veteran sage Gus Mclean of 8. Bowling figures for MDAFS: Norman Allan 3-0-21-0, Paul Leonard 3-0-24-1, David Jamieson 3-0-22-1, Neil Yelland 2-0-15-0, Don Wilkie 3-0-15-1, Tahir Miraj the pick of the MDAFS bowling with 3-1-8-1, Abdul Reyaz a tight 2-0-9-1 at the end and Chris Banks with the penultimate over of 1-0-6-0. Good game played in excellent midweek spirit.

MDAFS are through to the Finals Day of the Cow Corner Trophy after defeating Leith FAB at Leith Links by 9 wickets. Leith batted first and posted 109 for 8 off 20 overs - a good finish for MDAFS as Leith were well placed at 73-1 at the 13 over stage as Tam Heinitz (47) and Nettleton (36) took advantage of some less than impressive fielding on offer from MDAFS. Thankfully we sorted it out to restrict Leith at the death with 5 wickets tumbling for 3 runs including 3 run outs. Bowling figures Melv Clench 4-0-20-2, Raj Sampath 4-1-18-1, Tom Wheeler 4-1-17-1, Mangesh Agerkar 2-1-8-0, Jean-Pierre Cruz Rocha 2-1-17-0, Sunny 1-0-8-0 and Asif Mohammed 3-0-13-0. Regan and Asif opened up for MDAFS and broke the back of the requirement - putting on 67 off 11 for the first wicket when Regan was out for a fine 38 (32 balls - 4 fours, 2 sixes). Maggie joins Asif and they pace the final push for victory superbly and with Mangesh hitting two successive 6s into the allotments to secure the win in the 18th over. Asif finishing on 44 not out (39 balls - 4 fours, 2 sixes), Mangesh a brisk 27 not out (14 balls - 1 four, 2 sixes. MDAFS earn themselves a trip to Myreside/Craiglockhart for the Cow Corner Finals Day on Sunday August 10th when the semis and the final matches will be played.

As part of our application process for Charitable Status we need to make some changes to our Constitution. Main ones are to streamline the Committee into a smaller Executive Committee and some other minor changes on disposal of assets and membership classes. Formal Notice from Secretary Iain Martin below:

All the weekend's games eventually fell victim to the rain - at Muirhouse, MDAFS, taking on old sparring partners Holy Cross, reached 60-4 off 18 overs - Raj Sampath 15 not, Jean-Pierre Cruz Rocha 11 not, Mangesh Akerkar 10, Belly 6, Regan 6, Asif 5; and Rob Worsnop with figures of 9-2-22-3 for Cross.

Twos had a fuller game at Largo as the rain hit later - Largo made 212/10 off 50 Overs - (Siddharth Wahi 10-1-50-5, Rajnish Singh 9-0-37-2, Ankeet Vora 10-2-26-0, Sunny Dahiya 10-2-32-2, Kedar Paul 9-0-44-0, Mark Williamson 2-0-12-0). MDAFS2 scored 120 for 2 off 26 overs when the match was called off due to rain: Siva Jayahanthan lbw 61, Ankeet Vora lbw 32, Vimal D'Souza not out 12, Danny Abraham not out 5.

MDAFS4s match v Penicuik 3s was abandoned after 14 overs in drizzle becoming heavy rain. Mufs batting had begun well with the score on 46-1 with Nick Hill out for 8, but Jigar Patel (26 not) and Irfan (4 not) and 8 extras moving the score along nicely.

Threes game on Sunday versus Carlton at Grange Loan was cancelled without any play.

On Monday we take on Leith FAB at Leith Links in the next round of the Cow Corner 20/20 - big away support wanted to support Tommy's Troopers- and note no Monday nets are running as a result. Fingers crossed for the weather. On Tuesday we have a friendly 20/20 at Inch Park v Edinburgh South.

Victories don't come much sweeter than those over Heriot's - and Saturday's victory beer had an exceptionally pleasant taste to it for Tom Wheeler in particular with a first 5 wicket haul for the Ones. Batting first in tricky conditions MDAFS posted 182 for 8 off 50 overs. Raj Sampath top scored with a fine 66, Asif Mohammed hit 26, Mr Belly 19, Regan a rapid 15, and OMH 15 not out. In reply Heriot's were dismissed for 103 off 37.3 overs - with only David Ross hitting any runs of significance with 48 before being one of skipper Wheeler's 5 victims in his spell of 7.3-1-17-5. Asif took 2-11 off 3; JP, Mangesh, and Raj each took a wicket - catches for Sutha, Raj (2), Maggy (2) and JP. An excellent display in the field by MDAFS and a fine victory over a petulant foe.

In the other games: Twos lost again, Threes demolished Grange 4 for only 45 and won by 9 wickets, Fours chasing 201-5 against Musselburgh 2 finished on only 78.

At Roseburn, MDAFS midweekers defeated an HBOS XI, featuring our very own Scotty, by 54 runs. MDAFS elected to bat first and with DJ and Sutha mixing scampered singles and big shots we got off to a good start with Sutha retiring on 30. Pickles joined David and the running became more interesting until DJ is caught and bowled off C Brian for 25 with the score on 72 off 13. Charlotte is then run out for 10, Asif bowled by Adam for 9, and then Marcus Lyall (13 not) and Abdul Reyaz (21 not out including four 4s in a row) see us up to a healthy 129 for 3. In reply HBOS shed wickets regularly but reach respectability at 75 all out off 19.1 overs with Adam Scott top scoring with 32 before being caught by Belly off DJs first ball - next top scorer D Goodwin with 12. MDAFS bowlers - Neil Yelland 3-1-11-1, Mr Belly 3-0-8-0, Chris Banks 2-0-5-2, Marcus Lyall 2-0-8-1, Abdul Reyaz 3-1-12-0, Stephen Willis 2-0-23-0, Asif Mohammed 2-0-4-0, David Jamieson a tail-crushing 2-2-0-4, and Sutha 0.1-0-0-1. Game played in excellent spirit as midweeks should be. Next Wednesday we host Kirkbrae at Roseburn (grass wicket).

MDAFS coaches are helping Edinburgh Leisure put on Kwik-Cricket at the Edinburgh school-kids End of Term Party this Friday afternoon at the east Meadows. Mr Belly, ably assisted by Charlotte, Neil Y and Lea, will be ensuring the kids have a chance to try cricket in amongst touch rugby, tennis, football, basketball, sumo-suits, face painting, tug-o-war (I think I've done enough of that lately), bouncy castles etc etc. Full details of the event can be found on the Edinburgh Leisure website.

With the game interestingly positioned with MDAFS on 53-2 off 18 overs (Regan 30 not) chasing FCCs 164 ao (50 overs) (D Mulligan 41, Raj 3-40, Mangesh 2-20, JP 2-34, Asif 2-18, Tom 1-23) the rains that were forecasted hit us and that was that.

MDAFS II lost to Stirling in a rain curtailed match on the basis of run rates. MDAFS II batted first scoring 195/10 in 49.4 overs with Vimal D'Souza scoring 78 and W Chishty taking 4-32 and S Jabbar 3-27. Stirling made 171/2 after 37.2 overs, with P. Bielby 74 not out and G. Robbins hitting 65, when the rain, which was already pretty heavy, made the conditions too dangerous to play.

Threes lost at Falkland. MDAFS III made 201 ao off 34.1 overs - pegged back after a flying start from Sunny 34 and Bish 42, Chris Donaldson also scoring 30. Falkland 3s made 202-8 with 14 year old Steven Meikle's maiden 50 for Falkland the highlight for Falkland, Henry Collin 3-47 the main wicket taker for MDAFS. Fours, as posted below, had a walkover victory as West Lothian could not raise a team.

Threes fixture vs Carlton 3s originally scheduled for Saturday 5th July at Inverleith Park will now be played on Sunday 6th July at Grange Loan.

This week's friendly 20/20 is versus HBOS (likely to feature Messers Scott and Leonard in their ranks) on Wednesday at Roseburn Park (artificial wkt) - start at 6pm. Availability to me at ian_shiels@hotmail.com or 07730 074174 please.

Fours unfortunantly have a day off, but 20 points bagged, as West Lothian cannot raise a team and thus scratch the fixture. Ironic when I believe we had spare players from the available pool this Saturday too.

MDAFS reward for beating Fauldhouse in the Cow Corner trophy in Tuesday's thriller-by-the-river is a trip to Leith Links to play Leith FAB in what is a quarter-final match on Monday 7 July - 6pm. As this clashes with the usual Mon club nets - and given most of our regular net attendees will either be playing or watching - then we will cancel that night's nets - with the aim that we should take a large away support to cheer on Tommy's Troopers. A 'three line whip' on this one!!

Yes a tour - not something we (M-DAFS) have done for a while ourselves. And this has the makings of a cracker. Courtesy of JPs contact through his brother, who works at Minehead Butlins and can get us a good deal on staying there, we are going to be hitting Somerset. Details of precise itinery to be arranged - but looks like we will travel down on Thurs 11 and return on the Monday 15th. So far we have a game lined up on the Saturday v Timberscombe CC, should have a 20/20 game against Andy Cook's team Middlezoy CC on the Friday, and are closing in on a fixture for the Sunday.

But the best bit I am saving to last.... it is also one of Butlins 'Adult Weekends' (no, not that!) ... and that weekend is Disco Inferno featuring the likes of 1970s pop/disco legends Boney M in action. Tremendous! Daddy Coull meets Daddy Cool. How cool is that! (Of course this is lost on most of you under 35 or so)

Costs yet to be determined but the accomodation should be cheap (£72.50 each person for all the 3 nights at Butlins (Fri-Sun )) - plus cost of a Thurs nite stay at a venue to be confirmed - trave costsl - (hiring a big minibus)- and some contributions to pitch hire - tea costs - local travel - tour T shirt etc etc. So somewhere around £175 per person I guess. But a MDAFS tour like this is of course priceless.

Numbers will be limited and deposits (£50 or so each) will be required very soon. Email Rasputin at ian_shiels@hotmail.com and fast!

So I need a feel for what leisure gear people would be interested in - i.e. Hooded Sweatshirts (I believe young people endearingly call these "hoodies") , fleece jackets, reversible fleece jackets (has a rainproof side), rain/windstopper jackets, track-suit style tops/bottoms, polo shirts, and even club blazers!! I can't guarantee these are the exact pricings, and availability of some of these items may depend on minimum order quantities being met (e.g. 6 or so) but expect the following as a rough guide to prices:

Approx prices (inc estimate for VAT and club badge logo embroidery costs):
Hoodies: £15.
Full zip Hoodies: £19.
Fleece jackets: £20
Reversible fleece jackets: £26
Rain/windstopper jackets: £26
Track-suit (full-suit - top+troosers) £34.
Polo Shirt: £12.
Club Blazer: £70
Cricket shorts £17
Classic Oxford Shirt £20.

New club shirts and fleece slipovers will sell for about £20, caps with logo for £10. The shirts will be lightweight easy-breathe material with team colour trims and side panels. For shirts it would be good to get some feedback on whether people prefer short-sleeved, 3/4 sleeved or long sleeved.

If anyone is after long-sleeved traditional style cricket jumpers (acrylic) in club light/dark blue colours then I should be able to get these from Sports Warehouse (if min of 6 orders) for about £28 inc club logo.

Email orders (PLEASE INCLUDE YOUR SIZE) and feedback on shirt sleeve lengths to ian_shiels@hotmail.com as soon as possible please as I wish to get the order out by close of Sunday 22nd June.

Jules Macken, GB Brand Manager for Magners, said: '"Magners and cricket are a perfect fit. Watching cricket on a warm summer's day is an ideal way to enjoy a pint of Magners over ice. As Mid-Summer's Day falls on a Saturday when there are many League matches planned this is a just a simple way to generate a bit more interest for the players.'"

Roddy Smith, Chief Executive of Cricket Scotland, welcomed the initiative. He said: '"It's a great idea to offer our senior club players a chance of receiving some product for some on field success and it will help create some added interest in next Saturday's games!'"

Maybe we will be seeing scores of 550-10 v 550-10 and a lot of merry cricketers.

Report from Tom Wheeler of MDAFS thrilling victory over Fauldhouse....

Fantastic game of cricket with Asif (41 not out) hitting the first two balls of the last over for 6 to win the game. Excellent contributions also from Irfan Mahmud (36) and Sunny Dahiya (a quick 23 at the top of the order).

A win looked very unlikely when DJ Allan (45) was belting us to all corners of Roseburn (including two sixes into - or perhaps over - the Water of Leith off yours truly). Fauldhouse were 66 for 0 in the 7th over before DJ tried one hit too many off the skipper and Sunny took a good catch on the boundary. An excellent bowling and fielding effort dragged us back into the game, then we kept the momentum going after Sunny and Reyaz got us off to a flyer. Irfan and Asif played aggressively but sensibly, peppering the short boundary with a series of sixes, the brothers McDonald having a particularly hard time of it against Asif.

Wickets for Raj (1-16) and myself (4-27), and a comical run-out involving colliding batsmen gave us our other wicket. But everyone contributed with the ball and/or in the field.

Special mention to Neil Yelland in his first MDCC game at this level - he was unfazed by DJ's early onslaught and came back to bowl two superb overs at the death that had a lot to do with us winning the game. Well done kidda.

We're away to Leith in the next round - will let you know once we've fixed up a date for that one.

Cheers all, and well done again, Tom

Now that's more like it! With all our teams winning, MDAFS has achieved it's first Saturday 4 team Grand-Slam! Hurrah!

Ones defeated Glenrothes away by 5 wickets. Glenrothes reached 188 ao off 49.3 overs with M Boyd 40, C Arnold 49 and spin-twins Tom Wheeler taking 3-36 and Asif Mohammed 2-26 in fine spells that applied the brakes on Glens. MDAFS Ones reached 189-5 off 46 overs with another good innings from Mangesh Akerkar of 77 and Raj Sampath with an intelligent 43 not ably supported by Paul Hubbard with 23 not to see off a late minor-wobble and to take us to victory. Earlier Regan Black hit 20 and, with the ball, Glens Ian Georgeson claimed 2-20 and Cammy Ross 2-29. A good win for the Ones in what is a tricky fixture - and a good barometer of where we are at. Room for improvement still (catching!! ... mea culpa amongst others).

More pictures available at this link to MDAFS v Glenrothes pictures. At least getting out early provides plenty of photo opportunities!!

Twos registered their first victory by 6 wickets chasing down Leith FABs 184 at Muirhouse - with Nadeem 49 not, Danny 44 not, Ankeet 42, Vimal 24. Earlier Nadeem and Anks both took 3 wickets (3-40 and 3-41) and Sid 2-21. Well done to Raj and his team for sticking in there - hopefully this will kick start them to further wins.

Threes beat Heriot's 3 at Roseburn by 43 runs. 3s scored 143 ao off 49.5 overs - Dave Bishton 34, Adeel Raza 20 not, Chris Richardson 17, Andy Lacey 16, Chris Banks 12, Daddy 10. Heriot's 3s 100 ao off 34.1 overs - the Nightbus, Tony Simpson, with fabulous figures of 9-6-5-3, Henry Collin with 8.1-0-22-3, Banksy with 6-0-16-2 and Bish with 2-0-13-2. For Heriot's 3s, A Gosney took 3-33 and scored 32 runs - Hogwarth took 3-29.

And to complete the set of clean sweeps, Fours beat Holy Cross 3 at Campbell Park. Fours posted 172-7 with Ali Amjid scoring 22, Ed Long 20, Chris Grey 25, and Stephen Alberts 39 not out. An astonishing 49 extras too - including 39 wides! In reply Holy Cross reached 96 ao off 36 overs. Stormin' Norman Allan with 3-22 off his 9 overs, Mamoun 2-17 off 7, wickets apiece for Paul Leonard, Chris Grey, The Donimator, and Stephen Alberts.

Good stuff all round fellas. On Sunday, MDAFS are hosting St Clements Strollers CC, a touring team from England, at Roseburn Park (2.00pm start). On Tuesday we have the Cow Corner 20/20 Cup game v Fauldhouse at Roseburn Park, 6pm start. There's no friendly match this week so if you are not in the Cup team make sure you come to Mon and/or Thurs training at Roseburn Park.

MDAFS youth coaching initiative on Thursdays at Roseburn Park is up and running. So far we have had two sessions with 7 and 5 kids attending but we will be looking to get more kids down - and of course you can help this - a flyer can be found at this link to our Thursday Youth Cricket Coaching sessions. Last Thursday Ian Hewson from our new sponsors, Farrer Consulting, attended the session for a publicity photo-shoot with our coaches.

After the youth sessions, senior training is open to ALL from 6.30pm - more numbers required!

Currie and Balerno beat MDAFS 3-2 in bowl-out. It went to 'sudden death' after Bob Irvine had squared it at 2-2 with the last of CnBs regulation 10 balls after Tom Wheeler and Mark Williamson had successful hits each. It then went to the 16th delivery before Richard Scott got the decisive hit for Currie and Balerno.

Earlier, the heavy rain had made further play impossible with MDAFS on 77-2 off 11 overs (Vimal D'Souza on 42 not out off 34 balls and Danny Abraham 19 not out off 22 balls).

Good luck to CnB in the next round v Edinburgh CC

MDAFS Midweekers took on Scottish Widows in a friendly 20/20 match at a blustery Roseburn Park. Batting first MDAFS posted 113 for 3 off 20 overs with Mark williamson scoring 22, Melv Clench 17, Asif Mohammed 19, Sutha Rangaswamy 27 not and Don Wilkie 13 not. In reply Widows soared past the required total for the loss of only 2 wickets with Eddie (The Eagle?) Edwards smashing 78 not out off 60 balls (including 5 sixes) and Brian Forrester caught smartly by Asif off debutant Haroon for 23. Haroon took the other wicket to finish with respectable figures of 2-0-5-2 on debut. Tomorrow (Wed) sees the serious 20/20 stuff as MDAFS take on Currie and Balerno at Muirhouse in the Parks Trophy.

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Its been a while coming... but finally MDAFS Ones have beaten Grange 2s. Hurrah for us. At a sunny Muirhouse MDAFS were inserted into bat. Ian Shiels (25) and Paul Hubbard (20) got us off to a solid start with 44 added to the first wicket against some very accurate early seam bowling by Grange by Gordon Allan and Max Banks (yes son of Chris) and some spin-wizardry from ex-DAFs Keith Meakin (who finished on 4-37). Mangesh continued on in his prime batting form (40) but the middle order (Asif 5, Raj 1, Vimal 0) failed to fire with some dubious shot selection at play as Powell claimed 2 wickets in identical fashion (caught at square leg). We were rescued by an intelligent stand of 45 for the 6th wicket between Mangesh and Sutha (23), and then a flurry of wickets (Sutha and Maggy dismissed looking to accelerate and Adam, 4, and Rafic, 1, falling in quick succession) which looked as though it might derail us again until some sensible last wicket scampering by Skipper-Wheeler (10 not) and Melv "Notty" Clench (4 not) to finish on 146-9.

Grange started solidy with Max Banks looking to be aggressive but were pegged back by Raj dismissing the dangerous Hamish McClean for 3 (credit to Hamish for walking) who gloved a nasty delivery, looping it to Belly at first slip; and by an excellent spell of bowling by Melv, who bowled right through his 10 to finish with 3-20. Melv removed Max for 23 and both Hammond and Munro for 5 each . Adam kept things reasonably quiet in a 5 over spell for 18, and was unlucky to see a sharp slip chance grassed. Tom removed James Hearn just as he was getting going for 12, finishing with figures of 6-0-22-1. The game still remained in the balance as Grange were above the asking rate and had capable batters all the way down - but Raj bowled a super second spell of 4.5 overs to blow away the tail and finish with 9.5-4-21-4. Mangesh picked up the other late wicket with a catch at point by Scotty. Rafic was the other bowler used with 3-0-13-0. So a great team performance in the field earns us 20 points and that sweet historic MDAFS victory over Grange 2. Still room for improvement though!

MDAFS 2 lost by 7 wickets at Scroggie Park versus Falkland 2 with Ankeet starring with 87 with the bat. MDAFS posted 181 all out (A Vora 87, Nadeem Amjid 21, T Brunton 3-40, B Watson 3-37, M May 2-25) and Falkland 2nd XI 185 for 3 (M May 49no, R Manson 45, B Watson 35, D Lawson 27; a wicket apiece for Ankeet, Sunny and Siva). But it was closer than the scores suggest.

MDAFS 3 were beaten by 8 wickets by Dunfermline at McKane Park defending 110. Top scorers for the Threes were Chris Banks 24, Chris Donaldson 15, and Lindsay Towns 14 - wicket takers for Dunny S. Davidson 3-22 and C. Humphreys 3-32. Dunfermline reached 112 for loss of 2 wickets with Mushi Beg 75 not out and S. Campbell 16 not out. Dave Bishton took 2-27.

But more cheer as the 4s were inspired by skipper Paul Leonard's four wicket haul as they beat Edinburgh CC 3s by 4 wickets having bowled ECC out for 87. Paul finished with 4-17 and Chris Grey 2-10. Graham Watson carried his bat with 29 not to see us home, well supported by debutant Irfan Mahmud with 18. Well done, chaps.

On Sunday, MDAFS travelled to East Kilbride for the Lloyds TSB Scotland Trophy match. Unfortunantly we were totally pants (which is probably an injustice to lingerie). We lost by 9 wickets defending only 118 which was awful given a solid, if cautious start, against some lively opening bowling. Veteran DAFS openers Ian Shiels scoring 38 and Paul Hubbard 23 respectively as they set a foundation of 65 runs off 22 overs for the first wicket. However the innings simply collapsed away appallingly, with the last 9 wickets falling for a woeful 53 runs as, what looked on paper at least, a strong middle order again failed badly. Nadeem was the only other batsman to hit double figures with 16. Saffa paceman R Vardy took 4-17 and veteran A Meikle 3-16 off his 10. We fared little better with the ball as East Kilbride got away to a flier (42 off 5 at one point!) and then despite our spinners Tom (5-0-12-0) and Asif (5-0-10-0) pegging EK back, they cruised to victory with Kampman notching an unbeaten 52 and Dalgleish 42 not out to win in the 24th over. Raj took the only wicket. At least it was a marvellous tea, sunny day and friendly opposition.

This coming week we have a friendly 20/20 at Roseburn (artificial) v Scottish Widows on Tuesday and a Parks Trophy cup match on Wednesday at Muirhouse v Currie and Balerno.

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There is a coaching course on Sunday June 15th... I think similar to watch Ian and Iain went on last year - if so - this is pretty good and would recommend you to go on it. Details below:

Date: Sunday June 15th
Venue: National Academy, Mary Erskine School, Edinburgh
Cost: £15
Time: 9.30 - 4.00
Age: Candidates must be 16 or over
Dress: Candidates should come appropriately dressed for a practical session.

This course is aimed at providing participants with a basic understanding of the game of cricket, a basic education in three important components of the game; playing/coaching, umpiring, scoring and the skills and resources to conduct/assist a cricket session with children in a safe and enjoyable environment.

The target market for the course is predominantly teachers, tertiary education students, parents and youth workers with little or no understanding of cricket. Also current players and cricket interested people, with little or no coaching, umpiring or scoring experience. This course can provide a basis for candidates to progress to ECB UKCC Level 1 Coaching Award in Cricket.

Please note the course is administered by the City of Edinburgh Council. Please contact Gordon Drummond via gordon@sporting-chance.org

On Wed 4 June an East League Select XI take on a Scottish Universities XI at Pfeffermill from 1pm. MDAFS have the honour of Melvyn Clench and Ian Shiels being in their ranks. Full team listing:

Ross Brooks - Watsonians (capt)
Derek Allan - Fauldhouse
Shannon Bonfield - Holy Cross
Mel Clench - Murrayfield Dafs
Ian Shiels - Murrayfield Dafs
Keith Flannigan - Watsonians
Greig Hopcroft - Glenrothes
Omar Ahmad - Carlton
Keith Meakin - Grange
Stephen Litster - Heriots
Craig Walker - Largo

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Due to the overnight and morning rain the Cow Corner 20/20 match v Fauldhouse has been postponed to Tues 17 June - venue tbc.

Farrer Consulting has kindly agreed to become an official sponsor of Murrayfield-DAFS Cricket Club - joining our existing sponsors Festival Inns/The Murrayfield Hotel. New club kit and other leisurewear with Farrer Consulting and Club logo will be ordered within the next couple of weeks. We will be in touch to see who wants what in due course. Thanks to Regan Black for his efforts in helping with this sponsorship.

Much more cheer this week as both Ones and Threes notch up comfortable victories for their new skippers, but the agony for the Twos continues. At Freuchie, MDAFS had started to throw away a solid start (again) but things were put right by a super 161 unbroken stand for the 6th wicket by Mangesh Akerkar, finishing on a magnificent 126 not out (14 fours and 3 sixes), and Raj Sampath 59 not out. Earlier Ian Shiels had hit 34. Freuchie were never really in the running thanks to tight opening spells by Melv and Raj - Melv bowled through his 10 to finish 2-19 (welcome back our Angry Fast Bowler). JP took 3-31 in the middle section and Tom 1-27, both off ten, as we turned the screws. Rafic picked up 1-22 off 5 overs and also a super run-out hit. After having eased off a little bit too much (standards chaps!) to allow Freuchie to 134, Raj returned to wrap up the tail and finish with 2-19 off 6.5 overs. A much better all round performance by MDAFS - still room for improvement though (middle order!). Well done to Mangesh - who picked up his third MoM award in a row.

Photos of the MDAFS innings at Freuchie can be found at our Photo Galleries page

Threes posted 177ao (Dazza 45, Jigar 33 odd, Adeel 30) recovering from 30-3 and won by 70 runs as Broomhall were dismissed for 107, Chris Banks taking 3 wickets, Matty 2 and Tony bowling an excellent spell though wicketless.

Twos lost at Muirhouse - Boroughmuir posted only 122 (Raj Singh 5-28 and Ankeet Vora 3-19) but the Twos were all dismissed for a mere 59 (U Anilkumer 7-15) with only Siva scoring anything of note (19 not out).

Fixtures, Fixtures, and More Fixtures

Due to rain the Sunday friendly at Berwick-upon-Tweed was cancelled unfortunantly - we hope to arrange again later in the summer as its just too nice a place not to play at.

On Tuesday we host Fauldhouse at Muirhouse in the Cow Corner 20/20 tournament (weather permitting - 6pm). Home support much appreciated.

On Wednesday Melv Clench is representing us in an East League Select Team to take on a Scottish Universities XI. Mr Belly is currently on 12th Man duties... no, hold the back page ... as 'The Coo' from Freuchie has dropped out, enter The Belly into the fray.

Then on Thursday we have our first dedicated youth session at Roseburn Park (5pm-6.30pm). A flyer can be found at this link to our Thursday Youth Cricket Coaching sessions. After the youth sessions, senior training open to ALL will resume from 6.30pm.

After the usual Saturday battles, we are in action in the Lloyds TSB Scotland Trophy match away at East Kilbride on Sunday (Tom Wheeler organising). And next week, a 20/20 v Scottish Widows on Tues at 6pm at Roseburn (availability to Ian Shiels) and then on Wed, a Parks Trophy 20/20 v Currie and Balerno at 6pm at Muirhouse (Tom Wheeler organising). Wow - games coming thick and fast.

Fours pick up a walkover victory as SMRH3 cannot raise a team for Saturday. Ironically we had a surplus of available players! May be greater interest now in the Sunday friendly at Berwick ! Contact Tom Wheeler on 07876 673320 for the Sunday game.

At a sunny and warm evening at the Arboretum, MDAFS Midweekers proved too strong for a Holy Cross X, romping to a 87 run victory. MDAFS batted first and reached 171-3 with Ankeet retired 27, Andy Lacey retired 29 - including a mammoth six into the road, Abdul Reyaz retired for 42 (20 balls), Mo Asif caught for 38, Dave Bishton bowled 7, Chris Donaldson 10 n.o. and Adam Scott run out off last ball for 6. Holy Cross reached 84 for 7 off 20 overs with S Malik reaching 20 before being splendidly run out by Mark and B Fraser not out 28. Bowling wise, top dogs were Scotty with 3-0-11-3, Tom with 3-0-10-2, and David Jamieson with 4-0-15-1.

Having advanced via Mr Bye into Round 2, MDAFS face Currie and Balerno in the Parks Trophy and a chance to avenge the midweek friendly loss. This fixture will be played on Wednesday 11 June at Muirhouse - 6pm start. As a result we have had to move the MUFBOT challenge match back - this will now be played on Tues 15th July again at Muirhouse. Here's a link to a revised Midweek Fixtures schedule.

Some rejigging in the MDAFS Team Captains. The first was known, the second a bit more of a surprise. Due to Martin taking up a post in Nottingham (still on the choo-choos) he has relinquished the Thirds captaincy, with Stuart Coull taking over, though Martin will be catching the Mufs Express for the odd game I believe. New 3s vice-captain will be Andy Lacey. In the Ones, Melvyn has decided to step down - he has posted up a statement explaining why on the Fixtures (Weekend 6) thread on the Message Board in posting up his final Ones selection. Tom Wheeler takes over and Mr Belly remains as Vice. Many thanks to the outgoing captains for all their efforts and good luck to the new skippers!

The first round of MDCC Fantasy Cricket League was the weekend gone so thanks for those who have joined so far. For those who have not yet, then it is not too late but you might have a bit of catching up to do - particularly against those who selected Maggy, Belly, Dazza, Bish or Sid in their teams, entry details can be found at the Fantasy Cricket League page.

For those who have recently sent in new Player Profiles (Regan, Tom, Ankeet, Siva and now Mangesh and Marcus) then these have been finally posted up. Also we still lack match reports - don't just leave it to the skipper to do everything!! And while on that subject for those playing particularly at Roseburn do your bit WITHOUT BEING ASKED to help with the pre-match set-up. Your skipper has enough to do!

While here still... please find a list of Sunday Fixtures, this Sunday we are away at the picturesque Berwick-upon-Tweed ground - Tom Wheeler is arranging this fixture so contact Tom on 07876 673320.

The Threes provided the only note of cheer in an otherwise disappointing weekend to provide Martin with a victory in his last game as captain. Threes posted 232-8 at Leith Links with Sid Wahi hitting 83*, Darryn Kidd 56, Martin Ward 25 and Chris Donaldson 19. Leith FAB got close but finished on 225-9 with Pavan hitting 71; and for MDAFS Dave Bishton took 4-47, Stuart Coull 2-34 and Henry Collin 1-30. Hurrah for Vesty.

At Muirhouse the Ones were seeing red at Muirhouse as they squandered (again) a good position with the bat (100-1 off 28 overs) to finish on 190 off 49.4 overs. Mangesh Akerkar top scoring with an excellent 79 (3 sixes), Ian Shiels 42, and Rafic a quickfire late 26. Unfortunantly the MDAFS middle-order just did not fire. In reply Carlton had been pegged back to 100 off 37 overs but had 7 wickets in hand (would have been less if they had the decency to walk after edging) and accelerated well to score 94 in 12 overs as MDAFS bowlers struggled to get it in the right areas to stem the flow nor did the fielding reach the necessary consistent high standards for this Division. In the end Carlton won by 5 wickets with 4 balls left. MDAFS bowlers: M Clench 9-2-31-1, R Sampath 8-2-25-1, T Wheeler 9-0-35-2, JP Cruz Rocha 10-2-21-0, R Settu 8-1-37-1, M Akerkar 5.2-0-40-1.

Twos lost against Edinburgh 2 by 4 wickets at Double Hedges. Batting first MDAFS2 posted 153 ao with Mark Williamson scoring 34, Danny Abraham 30, but Edinburgh reached 157 for loss of 6 (A. Majeed 52, O. Mazher 38) with Mohammed Asif taking 3 for 42.

Fours lost against Dalgety Bay at Roseburn. The visitors scored 141 but the Fours could only reach 87(?) - Jigar top scorer in the 20s.

MDAFS were eliminated from the Murgitroyd Masterton by Penicuik at Kirkhill. Batting first MDAFS posted only 90-9 as we lose our way badly from 50-3 at the 10 over mark; Jean-Pierre Cruz Rocha top scoring with 30 and Mark Williamson not out 13 next highest score. For Penicuik Ian Kirkhope took 3-13 off 4 and Hutton 2-12. MDAFS started well with the ball to peg Penicuik back and at one point the run-rate hit 6 an over, but with experienced heads at the crease in ex-internationalist Willie Morton (21) and Ian Kirkhope (20 not) a flurry of big hits (one taking out someone's greenhouse by Willie) put Penicuik back in charge and victory was secured by the home side with 7 balls left. Top bowler for MDAFS was JP with 3.5-0-17-3 - other bowlers: Melv Clench 3-0-13-0, Rajnish Singh 4-0-8-0, Tom Wheeler 4-0-26-1, Mark Williamson 4-0-27-2.

In other news.... for you perusal, here's a link to the latest edition of the Scottish Cricketer Magazine. There's an interesting mini-article on Page 8 ("Fancy That" section) about our pre-season opponents Kelburne CC. Also, good luck to Pickles who is running an 8-mile leg of the Edinburgh Marathon on Sunday for charity ... you can find the fundraising page at this link to Saltirettes Marathon.

MDAFS Midweekers were given a right royal thumping on a gem of batting wicket/outfield by the Staff (etc) XI at Merchiston Castle, with the hosts hitting 197 (A Brown 76, H Van-Heerden 57, and P Osborne 50 not; MDAFS painful bowling analyses of Scotty 3-0-32-1, Sutha 3-0-17-0, Norman Allan the pick with 4-0-24-1, Tom 2-0-19-0, Don 3-0-30-0, Chris Banks 3-0-30-0, and Chris Brown 2-0-38-1 (ouch)). MDAFS finished on 108ao with OMH top scoring with 26, Lindsay 17, Tom 17 and Chris Banks 14. The post-match hospitality of beer and sarnies somewhat eased the pain of our thrashing!! Next game is Thurs 29 v Holy Cross at the Arbo - availability to me, Ian Shiels, as usual.

Because of the absence of many Thurs eve training regulars at the Cup game at Penicuik, there will be no Thurs eve training at Roseburn this week.

It's been worth the wait. But the blockbusting MDCC Fantasy Cricket League is back, albeit with a slightly new format though the fundamentals of picking your fantasy MDCC League side from your team-mates remains the same and of course points mean PRIZES! Hopefully this may also kick start a recovery in the 2s, 3s, and 4s teams' performances too. Full details can be found at the MDCC Fantasy Cricket League 2008webpage.Performances from this weekend will count towards points earnt so get those teams selected and entry forms in quick, though you of course can join at any time. £5 entry. Further details from Ian Shiels or Chris Brown who has kindly offered to administer the League now that Nasty Keith is Stateside.

Despite Nadeem Amjid blasting 137 at Largo in a total of 213 off 45 overs, MDCC4s still can't quite force that vital victory as Largo got home with 3 balls a two wickets to spare in a late twist to the game, and after having been 6-5 at one point! Some comeback.

Meanwhile at a sunny Sunday Muirhouse on a somewhat lively track(!), a MDCCXI defeated Comrie in a friendly match. MDCC posted 173 off 40 overs with Mangesh Akerkar scoring 62, Asif Mohammed a rapid 28 (2 sixes), Ian Shiels 25, and Jean-Pierre Rocha-Cruz 22. For Comrie, A Rogerson took 3-31 off 8 overs and A Dowse 2-4 off 2 overs including a pouching a superb CnB off a fierce JP drive. Comrie start well with Watters (25) and Keldie (21) putting on 40 before Siddarth (5-1-17-1) takes the first wicket and then Tom (6-1-14-1) and Adam (5-1-9-1) put the squeeze on Comrie. JP then single-handedly derails the Comrie middle-order by smartly running out the Comrie skipper, Charlie Gibbons for a duck, and then claiming a double-wicket maiden in a spell of 3-2-1-2. Daniel Henry's leg-spin accounts for Lamb, stumped for 10, the only other Comrie batsman to reach double figures. Daniel finishes with 4-0-11-2. Enter the Belly to apply the coup de grace with 2.3-1-2-2 as Comrie are dismissed for 86. Other bowlers used, young Gurjeet Singh with 3-0-20-0 and Martin Ward 2-0-11-0. And a well done to celebrity fielding captain for the day, Scotty.

A frustrating day all round as the Ones clash at Craiglockhart/Myreside Watsonians 2s was cancelled just as we rocked up. A number of spilled catches cost the Twos at Muirhouse as Westquarter and Redding with 176-6 off 50 overs (H.Mumtaz 43, R.Sutton 38*, T.Bashir 35, Mohammed Asif 2-42) beat MDCC2 125 a.o. (Mark Williamson 30, C.Fox 4-16, S.Farooqui 3-20, S.Fox 3-21).

At Roseburn, Threes threw away a promising position with the bat (111-5) to slump to 117 ao, then had Edinburgh Accies 2 95-9 but still could not force victory.

Fours play on Sunday away at Largo and there is also a friendly game v Comrie at Muirhouse.

A MDCC Midweekers XI, with representation right across the Club, emerged victorious by 1 run against what looked like a strong Casuals CC team in a midweek friendly at Roseburn. MDCC scored 91 for 9 off 20 overs with Asif Mohammed the main star with 35 not out (after initially having to retire at 25) and Mr Belly the main chump having managed to fall over backwards onto his stumps in a bizarre, nay comical, dismissal. Rupert James took 3-0-3-2 as the stand-out bowler for Casuals CC. In reply the Casuals were initially well placed reaching a third of their total after only 4 overs, then Dave Jamieson with a tight spell of 4-1-7-2 and then Tom with 4-0-16-3 and Sutha with two maidens bowling at the end secured a one run victory as Casuals CC finished on 90-8.

Next week sees a friendly match at Merchiston Castle on Tues at 6pm - availability to me at ian_shiels@hotmail.com or 07730 074174. There is also the Murgitroyd Masterton Cup match away at Penicuik on Thursday which Melv will be selecting the team for.

All of the Club's Saturday games eventually fell victim to the rain; at Muirhouse a bolt of lightning apparently hit the outside of the Clubhouse - it sure was some bang! On the pitch Edinburgh Accies had reached 169 for 7 off their 50 overs with Moffat and Raso both hitting 25 and Phil Taylor not out 37. For Mufs Ones, Melv Clench finished with 10-1-35-2; Dale Simpson 10-0-55-1; Tom Wheeler 10-3-25-2; JP Cruz-Rocha 10-3-15-2; Chris Banks 5-2-8-0; and Reagan Black 5-1-18-0. In reply, Mufs were 19-0 (Reagan 15 not and Mr Belly 3 not) when the rain got too heavy for further play. Mufs 2 barely got started I believe over in Livingston (5 overs only), Mufs 3s had Boroughmuir 2s 92- for 7 at Roseburn with Dave Bishton having claimed a 5 wicket haul and on the other pitch Mufs 4 had reached 135-8 off their 45 overs; Graham Watson with 26 and Chris Richardson 39.

The Murrayfield DAFS Youth Development Committee met on Wed and agreed that we will be starting up the Youth Development Coaching Sessions from Thursday 5 June. The following has been prepared as a "media release":

"Murrayfield-DAFS Cricket Club are hosting youth cricket coaching and practice sessions at Roseburn Park, Riversdale Crescent, EH12 5XN from 5pm to 6.30pm starting from Thursday 5 June and continuing through to mid-August. All standards and from age 7 upwards are welcome. The cost will be only £1 per session but are free to Junior MDCC members (£10 annual subscription rate).
Murrayfield-DAFS coaches, who are all governing body qualified, will supply playing equipment for use in the sessions, but children are welcome to bring their own. For beginners, we will introduce them to cricket using softball/Kwik-Cricket. Please ensure children are suitably dressed for outdoor physical activity and bring own refreshments with them.
Adults wishing to get involved in cricket are also welcome to attend our Monday night practice sessions, also at Roseburn Park, from 6pm (weather permitting). The club fields four league teams in the East of Scotland Cricket Leagues as well as Sunday and Midweek friendly teams.
For further details please contact Iain Martin on 07973 105818 or ijmartin@talk21.com or Ian Shiels on 07730 074174 or ian_shiels@hotmail.com, or go to www.murrayfield-dafscc.co.uk"

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An piece written by Phil "Claypole" Rogers (yes he's still live and kicking but studying etc...) if you want to write a piece for the website then send it in to me.... terrible jokes most welcome.

A good weekend at the football for Mufs stalwarts. Former opening bat Andy Knight kept his neighbours in Perth, Australia awake by celebrating his West Brom side's clinching of the Championship title, while his erstwhile batting partner Ian Shiels enjoyed Stoke's first promotion to the top flight since 1985.

While that pair's teams departed the Championship, two more Muffers were happy that their sides would be playing in it next season. Record-breaking pre-season skipper Keith Lawrence's Nottingham Forest ended their unexpected stay in League One, while a drained Phil Rogers was at St Mary's to see Southampton scrap (or scrape) their way out of the Championship's bottom three.

All we need now is for first team skipper Melv Clench's Birmingham City to perform the great escape on Sunday (err....oops) . (and I guess failure of Palace to progress in the Championship play-offs will be some consolation to Brighton supporting Tom Wheeler)

Further addition from Phil Yelland..."Oh Dear, oh dear, oh dear. You missed the most important piece of news !....

For those with Setanta, you may have spotted two M/Dafs players behind the Barrow dug out at the Blue square North play off final at Burton on Friday night. Yes the Yellands were present as Barrow won their way back to Blue Square Premier with a single goal on the hour at the Pirelli Stadium.

Real football, 2,500 fans and celebrations long into the night".

And to cap it all Man Utd's triumph in League and European Cup provided cheer to many. Followed by Hull City's first ever promotion providing joy for DJ.

In a friendly 18/18 played at Roseburn Park in sunny conditions, Mufs Midweekers defeated Edinburgh South by 15 runs. Stars of the show with the bat were Mark Williamson with 24, Lindsay "Bicycle" Towns with 25 (retired) and David 'DJ' Jamieson 11 n.o. at the end, as Mufs posted 95-5. For Edinburgh South, S. Ramakrishnan took 3-13 off 4 overs and M Dutton 2-18 off 4 overs. Despite an enormous number of wides conceded (22) Mufs bowled Edinburgh South out for 80 off 16.3 overs with Adeel Raza bowling a tremendous spell to first remove top scorer, P Reddish, stumped for a dogged 15, and then clean-up the lower order to finish with 6 wickets for 10 runs in just 2.3 overs. Other wicket takers for Mufs were Mr Belly with figures of 3-0-5-1; David Jamieson with 3-0-16-1; The Donimator with 3-0-15-1 and Sunny Dahiya 2-0-11-1.

Next midweek is on Tues 13 May again at Roseburn v Casuals CC - availability to Ian Shiels - 07730 074174.

Mufs Ones produced the only note of cheer on Saturday with a well-fought victory over auld rivals Holy Cross. Twos lost against Largo by one wicket at Muirhouse and Threes and Fours also continued in their disappointing early season slump.

At the Arboretum, Mufs restricted Holy Cross to 101-9 off 50 overs with an excellent session in the field after Cross openers had initially looked well set with an opening partnership of 39. The Mufs squeeze was led by Tom Wheeler (10-5-7-3) with the wickets of the top three (Pickering off Tom's first ball the first of two good catches by Vimal) ably supported by Jean-Pierre with a spot-on spell of 10-3-17-1. Then Rafic claimed 3 for 15 off 8 overs as Mufs continued to strangle the Cross innings with a combination of tight fielding, great catching and pressure bowling plus shrewd captaincy by a fired-up skipper.

In the chase, Mufs lost JP quickly for a duck to "Two-Dogs" but Mr Belly somehow managed to defy the fury of Bonfield in the lively opening exchanges before being run-out for 8 - weighed down by a considerable ballast of tea-time grub and, sadly, probably now relinquishes his title of "fastest fat-man" over 22 yards. Mangesh Akerkar, looking to atone for batting sins of the previous week, made amends and then more with an excellently paced 44 (6 fours) to take Mufs near to victory with stands with Vimal (10 before being undone by Dr Astley's first ball) and then with Raj (17 not) before Danny clouts two successive boundaries to take us to victory and that precious, confidence-building first win. Mangesh was voted Mufs Man of the Match. As ever, a game played in great spirit with the Cross.

More photos from Arboretum can be found at this link to Mufs v Holy Cross photos.

Mufs Twos narrowly lost at Muirhouse. Mufs posted 136 with Asif 38, Sutha 28, Riaz 25 and Regan 16 amongst the runs. Largo took the points off the second last ball despite a 5 wicket haul and a hat-trick for Dale Simpson - link to Scorecard. Threes lost after a poor batting display led to them being skittled for 80?-odd and Fours (with just 10 men due to late call-offs) were 100 all out chasing 179.

The Sunday friendly at Galashiels unfortunantly looks like being off due to a lack of availability and insufficient transport logistics.

A Mufs midweek XI took on Currie and Balerno at Roseburn in a 18/18 game - switched to the artificial due to the damp grass wicket. In a sporting contest played under retire-at-25 and 'everyone (almost) gets a bowl' midweek friendly protocols, the visitors emerged victorious after chasing down Mufs 95-1. Chief scorers for Mufs Chris Banks and Mangesh who both retired once past 25, Richard Scott top scoring (also retired) for CnB. A good, but slightly chilly, workout before retiring to the warmth of the Murrayfield Hotel for post match beers/juice and Chelski v Sorry Scousers in the CL on the telly.

Next 20/20 friendly sees us take on Edinburgh South on Tuesday 6 May, 6pm. Availability again to Ian Shiels please at 07730 074174 or ian_shiels@hotmail.com, ta.

Thx to those who have sent in Player Profiles in response to the item below - they will be processed when I get the time - likely while chewing my fingers off watching Stoke City on Sunday. Talking of which (Sunday that is) Mufs travel to Galashiels on Sunday - contact Martin Ward on 07917 732757 if you are looking for Sunday friendly games.

Given there are quite a few new faces this year, then a wonderful opportunity to let your new team-mates know your darkest secrets is through completing one of our Player Profile forms which is posted up on the website at our Profiles page which lets us all know what terrible taste in music/football teams, etc you have. The form can be accessed from this link to Player Profile(word doc in rtf) - if you can't use/open MS word just email me your answers to ian_shiels@hotmail.com! Latest form received from Siva.... good lad.

Mufs suffered a poor start in the Season openers with all four teams suffering defeats. Mufs 1 threw away a good start having been 102-2 off 23 overs at one point before suffering a shocking collapse to fall to 144 all out. Only Ian Shiels (47) and Vimal D'Souza (25) emerged with any real credit from the batting wreckage - Hamilton and Hardwicke taking 3 wickets apiece. Mufs battled back at the end to bring us back to the cusp of victory but we couldn't quite force that final wicket. So a loss by 1 wicket - and lessons to be learnt by the Mufs middle order.

Mufs 2 were defeated by 101 runs by Marchmont at Roseburn - Marchmont scoring 189 with Sam Preachey hitting 51. 2 wickets apiece for Rajnish (the pick of the bowlers with 10-2-26-2), Usman and Manan. Mufs struggled with the bat, bar 24 for Regan Black and a late 21 from Rajnish, slumping to 88 all out; E Granger taking 5-22 - link to match return.

Mufs 4s posted only 58 at Musselburgh but had the hosts 8 down in the end - some photos posted by Iain Martin on Facebook.

On Sunday at Fettes, Mufs 3s, completed the unwelcome clean sweep of defeats by losing to Grange 4 - Mufs dismissed for only 89 with N Peet - who was in Grange 1s not that long ago - wreaking havoc in the top order with 5-29. Marcus Lyall top scored with 27, followed by Phil Yelland with 18 and Sutha with 17. Grange reached their target for the loss of 3 wickets - 2 to Adeel and 1 to Martin (off the 10th ball of his over!!).

All round, a poor weekend and plenty of thinking for our batters' to do in particular. Hope to see 'em at nets on Monday working on their game! Fuller details of the games and scorecards are on the Message Board.

For the (home) skippers, there is a new ESCA Match Return form this year - available here at this link to Match Return.

A Midweek fixture list can found at this link to Mufs Midweeks. First 20/20 is next Wed 30 Apr at Roseburn (grass wicket) v Currie and Balerno. Availability to Ian Shiels please at 07730 074174 or ian_shiels@hotmail.com.

It should have been a clean sweep of victories for all 3 of the Mufs XIs that played pre-season friendlies, had it not been for a dramatic last over at Paisley where the hosts, Kelburne, stunned Mufs by scoring 15 off the final over to snatch victory off the last ball. Nevertheless good workouts all round to help us make the transition from indoor nets to grass surfaces in advance of the season openers. And some areas of improvement to make to sharpen our games no doubt.

At a sunny but chilly Kelburne Oval, Paisley, Mufs scored 155-9 off 40 overs with Jean-Pierre Cruz-Rocha scoring a fine 47 on debut batting at 4, Raj Sampath a useful 37 in the middle order and Sicknote a dogged (slow!) 17 up top. After a stodgy start and early loss of wickets this had turned into what seemed a competitive score on a typical April slow and low wicket. For Kelburne, R.McLean took 3-3 and I.Bennett 2-21.

In reply after a marvellous tea, Kelburne were pegged back by good Mufs bowling and the regular fall of early wickets. But with the chill perhaps affecting the standards of fielding - or simply just poor application - we let Kelburne wriggle off the hook, with ex-pro Butt proving a stubborn thorn in the Mufs side with a fine 75 before being run out trying to keep up with an ascending run-rate. With one over to go we still looked home and hosed as Kelburne needed 15 for victory with 7 down, after Raj had bowled a tremendous penultimate over - finishing in the end with 2 wickets for 14 off 7 overs. However, one should never count one's chickens as they say, as Kelburne shocked Mufs in an astonishing final over blitz, set up by a stonking straight 6 off the first ball by young Campbell. Then McDonald swiped another boundary and with a series of scrambled 1s and 2s Kelburne managed a last ball victory, finishing on 156-7 off 40 overs (I.Butt 75, J.McDonald 23no, S.O'Connell 18, D.Campbell 12 no). Jean-Pierre Cruz-Rocha, with his 47 and a tidy 2-25 spell with the ball, was voted Mufs MoM with Raj a close second. Some lessons to be learnt by all afore the season - and an excellent workout in a competitive but very good-natured friendly game which we would love to repeat same time next year. Apart from that last over !

A Mufs 2s/3s XI took on Largo 2 at Roseburn - batting first Mufs scored 206 for 7 from 45 overs with Nadeem Amjid top scoring with an excellent 58, Regan Black 48, and Chris Banks 33 not out. For Largo M. Sneddon took 2-18 and A. Robertson 2-31. Largo were dismissed for 83ao from 43.4 overs with R. Ealand 22 and R. Tooze 15. For Mufs Siva took 2-1, Nadeem Amjid 2-3, and Mark Williamson 2-19.

In the other match at Roseburn, across on the artificial, a Mufs 3s/4s XII took on a Dalgety Bay XII in a 40 over game with two Mufs newcomers making up Dalgety Bay numbers ironically top scoring for them - Marcus Lyall with 51 not out and Dale Simpson with 19 - as Dalgety Bay Mufs posted 132. Mufs bowling stars were Ed Long with 3-16 and a fine return to action for Andy Piggott with 2-17 and a catch. Mufs chased down the target with 5 wickets to spare with Chris Donaldson 41 not out, Billy Sneddon scoring 32 (including 3 sixes), Lindsay Towns 16 and Graham Watson 15 - the bowling star for Dalgety Bay was another Mufs newcomer on 'loan' - Pranay with 2-16.

On this Wednesday there is an internal club 20/20 at Roseburn being billed as a Melv XI v Raj XI - players are required - and should be a good spectacle anyway so come on down.

We've not had a rotten joke posted up for a while (memories of Ed Clark's jokes are fading...) so here goes...

Mexican Oysters

MDCC does not in any way condone the practice of bull fighting or the eating of anyone's testicles.

The first of the season's Monday Outdoor Nets at Roseburn Park will be held on Monday 21st April from 6pm - try to be on time to help set-out the netting onto the cages, plus the evening light obviously won't last that long.

Teams have been announced for the 3 pre-season friendlies at Roseburn Park - team listings are on the Message Board - availability has been good so there might be a few who miss out on a game but the outdoor nets will be put up so come on down and cheer the guys on and have a net. You might find yourself dragged into a game anyway!! But we can assure you that with us now running 4 teams in the League each weekend then we will be needing you!! - so there will be plenty of cricket for all. Anyone not yet paid Club Subs can of course bring them down to the Saturday games to give to captains or down to nets.

A reminder that we will renovating the other outdoor net lane at Roseburn on Sunday morning (from 10am or so) - volunteers required - let Don Wilkie or me know you are coming.

Today saw a significant milestone in our Club's continuing development - the formal signing off of our Top Club Development Plan by us and Gordon Drummond from Sporting Chance/Cricket Scotland and thus the achievement of Active Status. Thanks to Iain Martin for his hard work with the paperwork. Now the hardwork in the gym hall, park and nets really begins ... see news item below about Youth development.

So with our Top Club Active status accreditation now achieved we need to put the plans into action! And help will be required. We are looking to do some introduction to cricket sessions at Gylemuir Primary School this summer (May/June)- some extra helpers to accompany our qualified coaches would be useful. If interested please let Henry Collin (henrycollin@btinternet.com 07989 395037) know asap as he will need to co-ordinate getting your Disclosure Scotland clearance via the Education Dept, and fast!

We will also be putting in place a regular Thursday youth practice session (5.00-6.30) at Roseburn Park as part of our youth development efforts - if interested in this please let me (Ian Shiels) or Iain Martin know - and again we will need to get you Disclosure Scotland cleared (via Cricket Scotland this time!!). This winter Cricket Scotland will be running another Level 1 Coaching course - let me know (ian_shiels@hotmail.com) if you are likely to be interested.

Other youth development activities will see myself and Mark Williamson help out Sporting Chance coaches with after-school cricket sessions being run at Tynecastle High School. So all in all an exciting new chapter in the history of our Club has started.

Hopefully not a sign of things to come as the friendly game against St Michaels CC unsurprisingly falls victim to the wintry weather. Anyway there are three friendly games being played next Saturday 19th to look forward to! Let the skippers' know your availability if you haven't already. Teams should get posted up on the Message Board - if in doubt phone up a skipper!! We may be oversubscribed for the three teams so if you are not picked then, with two teams playing at Roseburn, by all means go on down as the outdoor Nets may be up as well for some practice.

On Saturday a Mufs XI hopefully will travel to Dumfries to take on St Michael's CC and defy the elements (to a degree) in a pre-season 'warm-up' friendly match. Meanwhile for those not in the XI they have a warm and cosy indoor net session between 12-2pm! The Club, as always sheds the odd player each year for a variety of reasons - off travelling, moving away, 30 pieces of silver (hiss), injury or insanity. So we always need to recruit and retain. And that is a responsibility for EVERYONE not just a few club officials nor relying on this website (i.e. the new player reg) to bring in the new players. Its even more important this year as we need to find 44 vaguely fit bodies to play each weekend! So spare no sinew in your efforts to RECRUIT, RECRUIT, RECRUIT !!

And for those of you still yet to send in a Player Availability Form or pay your Subs - get them in now!!

Having done such a smashing job on one of the Net batting ends at Roseburn already we are keen to renovate the other lane on Sunday 20th April - 10.00am start. So volunteers required - please let either Don Wilkie know (text or call 07866 797831) or me Ian Shiels (07730 074174) so we know who to call if the works had to be postponed at short notice.

For those not involved in the first pre-season friendly match an extra session of indoor nets has been booked at Edinburgh Academy Sports Centre (Arboretum Road) for Saturday 12 April - from 12pm to 2pm.

Its been a wee while since we met for a beverage. So a social gathering shall be convened from 8pm on Saturday 5th at old haunt Berts Bar (William St, West End).

With 44 players needed each Saturday this season and some pre-season friendlies coming up then we need to have a good idea of our player pool availability in advance! Please fill in the attached Player Availability Form (don't need to fill in all the season's games if you are not sure!!) and send back to murrayfield-dafscc@uk2.net and copy to me at ian_shiels@hotmail.com or print out and bring to nets.

Talking of which this Sat 5th is the last scheduled Indoor Net session (1-3pm) and so another chance to impress our captains new and old. If you haven't attended, then now's your chance!!

Who needs that Charlie Dimmocks and her Groundforce crew? A Mufs hit squad spent a soggy Sunday at Roseburn Park renovating one of the outdoor net batting ends - a job very well done! The other net end will be tackled at the season end. The Club owes these fine gentlemen a drink or two:- Don Wilkie, Nick Hill, Ian Shiels, Martin Ward, Tom Wheeler, Paul Leonard, and Phil and Neil Yelland.

A pictoral guide to renovating batting ends can be found at this link to Roseburn Nets Renovation. Also a chance to see an early emerging candidate for Worst Dressed Mufs Workman Mufta Award.

A call for volunteers to help out at Roseburn - first this Good Friday (from 9:30am) - UPDATE: WORKS NOW POSTPONED - to help with work to level out the saddles on the square - then, as previously posted, on Sun 30th March from 10.00am to help relay the batting ends.

We are delighted to announce that there will be Club Indoor nets next Saturday at the earlier time of 12-2pm - we had originally not booked anything given the Easter Holiday - but there's a sizeable contigent of Muffers still around so we have now booked this extra session. The following Saturday we return to 1-3pm.

We have a few pre-season fixtures lined up to get us into gear for the start of the 2008 campaign:

Saturday 12th April MDCC v St Michaels CC - Away at Dumfries
Saturday 19th April MDCC v Kelburne CC - Away at Whitehaugh, Paisley
Saturday 19th April MDCC v Largo 2 - Home at Roseburn - (grass)
Saturday 19th April MDCC v Dalgety Bay - Home at Roseburn - (artificial)

Volunteers are needed to help us with the job of renovating the Outdoor Nets at Roseburn. What we are doing is lifting the batting ends, refilling the underlying base material and then relaying the mats. This work will be undertaken on Sunday 30th March - meet at the Roseburn nets from 10:00am.

Mufs completed a somewhat less than successful campaign in the Cricket Scotland Indoor Sixes last Friday and are eliminated from the tournament. Fuller details posted at the Mufs Message Board by Vesty. Hopefully some lessons learnt out of the tournament experience but definitely a bit of fun had nevertheless.

Charlotte Bascombe has been representing Scotland at the World Cup Qualifiers in South Africa. Full details can be found at the Cricket Europe website. A young Scottish side found things tough but jolly well done anyway. And no run-outs for Pickles.

A reminder that Club Indoor Nets are on this Saturday 23 Feb, 1-3pm at Edinburgh Academy Sports.

* Bumper Pack of Yorkshire Tea Bags
* Tablecloth
* Money-off vouchers for Yorkshire Tea cakes and biscuits
* Plus a selection of other Yorkshire Tea goodies

Should help things along at Roseburn Park !!

While here.... a wee test for you in the attached test for dementia. Or just plain ol stupidity.

Mufs have been drawn against East Kilbride in the Lloyds TSB Scotland Trophy - fixture to be played on Sunday 8 June (reserve date Sunday 15 June). Full details can be found at this link to the Trophy draw.

A message from the USA bound, Master Lawrence...

"Hi all,

You're all invited to my farewell drinks (sniff!) ...
... on Wed 27th Feb in The Guildford Arms from 6.30pm (www.guildfordarms.com/images/guildford-map-web.jpg)

This will be the last chance to catch-up before I fly off to the land of the free, & I hope to catch up with as many people as possible!

Cheers,
Keith"

2008 ESCA League Fixtures are now published on the ESCA website. In the season openers, Mufs Ones have an early chance to gain revenge away at Heriot's 2s, Twos will host Marchmont (at Roseburn), Threes away to Grange 4, and Fours away to Musselburgh 2s.

A reminder that this Sunday 17th sees the last single hour Open net session at 5-6pm at Academy Sports.

Apologies for the delay - the AGM minutes are now available at this link to MDCC AGM Minutes. Transcripts of Captains' epic speeches to follow... get yer hankies ready.

While here.... one knocked up the attached Recruitment Flyer to post-up in the Cow Corner shop - but if you wish (go on, go on, go on) you can do your bit too for recruitment by posting this up as well at a location of your choice... best to place it somewhere where a passing cricketer might see it of course.

The Committee is delighted to announce that Melvyn Clench has been appointed to the position of MDCC First Team Skipper. I am sure all in the club will do their utmost to support Melv in his new role. This also means that we have a vacancy of Midweek Captain - expressions of interest please to us at murrayfield-dafscc@uk2.net.

The first of our Club Nets was held on Saturday 24 January at Academy Sports. There was a good turnout of 23 of which 16 paid their 2008 Subs (which made our Treasurer jolly happy). The next Club Nets are in two weeks time, that is, on the Sat 9th Feb at 1-3pm.

For those unable to wait for their next fix of cricket netting, then remember that there is also the Academy Sports Open Nets session at 5-6pm this Sunday 3 Feb - repeated also on the 10th and 17th.

Mufs first ever outing in the Indoor Sixes was certainly fun and frantic but unfortunantly our lack of experience of this format cost us as we were defeated by both Preston Village in a bit of thriller and then comprehensively by a strong Freuchie team. The perennial club weak point - running between the wicket - was prominently exposed on the night, lets say!! We have a chance of revenge and/or further comedy running most probably on Friday 22 Feb, with a repeat set of fixtures against these clubs.

Results:

Cricket Media Super Sixes - Results 25th January 2008

Freuchie CC: 116/1 in 10 overs (14 pts) R Birrell 26*, S Gourlay 26*, S Galloway 25*
Preston Village CC: 79/5 in 6.4 overs (2 pts) S Ramson Jnr 25*, G Galloway 2/17

Preston Village CC: 126/4 in 10 overs (14 pts) S Ramson Jnr 51 *, S Galloway 2/17
Murrayfield Dafs CC: 119/5 in 8.2 overs (5 pts) D Abraham 55

Freuchie CC: 138/5 in 10 overs (14 pts) S Birrell 44*, S Galloway 33, M Word 2/23
Murrayfield Dafs CC: 62/5 in 4.5 overs (4 pts) S Birrell 2/7

Back to Headlines

2008 Club Membership Subscriptions are now due (our membership year runs Jan-Dec). Fees are £60 for waged - £30 for unwaged/student. Paid members get free Indoor Club Nets. So bring your subs cash or cheques(made payable to Murrayfield-DAFS CC)along to nets or send to our Treasurer, Paul Hubbard, at 42 South Gyle Wynd, Edinburgh, EH12 9HJ.

Hats off to Tom Wheeler as he is taking to the stage again with the Holyrood Amateur Theatrical Society at the Pleasance Cabaret Bar from Friday 25 Jan to Sunday 28th - 7.30pm. A bit of a"press-release" of sorts from the ol' luvvy-dahling himself...

"The blurb for the show refers to "unforgettable entertainment in a relaxed and convivial atmosphere" - I think that translates as "the bar will be open". There'll be a couple of (very) short plays in the first half, and a bit of everything in the second - music, capoiera (which, for the uninitiated, is a sort of cross between dancing and acrobatics), and what might loosely be termed "comedy" from me. There's likely to be a topical element to my act - primarily because I won't get round to writing it until the last minute. And if I'm really struggling to get a laugh then I'll try recreating my running between the wickets at Heriots last season, that's bound to do the trick...

Tickets are 6 quid - happy for people to email me at imsorryihavent@cluemail.com if they want to pre-book - Tom Wheeler"

Because of the Indoor 6s on the Friday, then a few of us will be venturing to barrack... sorry... support Tom and his crew on the Saturday. Come on down to see a Maestro at work.

New (and shortest reigning... and undefeated!) First Team Skipper, Keith Lawrence, has announced that he is to stand down due to him taking up from March an environmental economist position that is based in Washington, US of A. This means there is a vacancy for the Ones Captaincy post again. Any interested candidates wishing to be considered by the Committee for this position should email us at murrayfield-dafscc@uk2.net by January 25th, thanks. One spiffingly good candidate has emerged already. We of course wish Nasty all the best in his new jolly exciting job.

Mufs have been drawn away against Penicuik in the reformatted Masterton competition - first round to be completed by May 29th. There is also a mini-Masterton tournament starting later where we have been drawn at home to Fauldhouse - First round to be played by June 20th. Full draw details and a fuller explanation of the changes to the Masterton can be found at the new ESCA website in a Masterton News article.

A reminder that the Club's first Indoor Net session will start on Saturday 26th January from 1pm to 3pm at the Edinburgh Academy Sports Centre at 10 Arboretum Rd - opposite Holy Cross's ground. See full list of dates at this link to Mufs 2008 Indoor Nets.

There has been some confusion regarding the general Open Nets that Academy Sports Centre ran last year on Sundays... Master Vesty's posting on the message board about this is not correct - the 6-8pm Sunday slot he mentions has been taken by Carlton CC - one went to see the manager today (Fri 11 Jan) to check-up and he said there has been very heavy demand for slots this year from clubs which has taken up the majority of free slots in the hall. However, there was the odd 1 hour slot free so we asked him to book these as Open Nets. These 1 hour sessions are:-

Sunday 27 January - 5-6pm
Sunday 3 February - 5-6pm
Sunday 10 February - 5-6pm
Sunday 17 February - 5-6pm

No doubt there will be a small charge to be paid at the Centre reception (I forgot to ask how much! - will check.)

The Club now has an account at Cow Corner - so 5% of the value of purchases made by our players at Cow Corner will be refunded to the Club. Just make sure you let them know you are from MDCC ! We would urge our players to support Cow Corner - a business run by fellow ESCA cricketers from Kirkbrae CC.

You will them at 90 Brunswick Street (off Leith Walk), Edinburgh and at www.cowcc.com.

Open 6 days a week:
Tue - Fri 11:00 - 18:00
Sat / Sun 10:00 - 17:00

Be afraid......Mufs 2s 2007 Season Stats finally now available at our Statistics page. Top run scorer was Chris Banks with 143 runs at a very creditable 20.43 average. Top wicket taker Stuart Coull with 13 wickets at 18.23 apiece closely chased by The Nightbus, Tony Simpson, with 12 at 14.50 apiece. Some horror stories amongst these stats though - but there's always next season to put it right!!

We were asked to post-up the following Edinburgh Sports Clubs Update Newsletter from the Council. Some food for thought in here for developing the club in partnership with the Council methinks.

We have booked a series of indoor net sessions at the Edinburgh Academy Junior School Sports Hall off Arboretum Rd - entrance is opposite Holy Cross' ground. These commence on Saturday 26th January 2008 from 1pm to 3pm. Full schedule below. There may be some additional midweek evening nets booked closer to the season start.

Mufs have entered the Cricket Scotland Indoor Media Sixes tournament, drawn in Group C with Freuchie and Preston Village.

Our schedule is:

25 Jan 7.30 Mufs vs PV
25 Jan 8.30 Freuchie vs Mufs
22 Feb 7.30 Mufs vs Freuchie
22 Feb 8.30 PV vs Mufs

7 Mar Finals Night.

There will be a "match fee" per night - probably £5 - to help cover some of the entrance fees. We need to know who is interested in playing - please email us at murrayfield-dafscc@uk2.net, thanks.

A happy New Year to all Mufs, past and present. Here's to success to all on and off the park in 2008.