2011 NEWS |
NEWS HEADLINES AT 31 DECEMBER 2011 |
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A Merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year to all the MDAFs family, both near and far.
Following the decision of Cricket Scotland to revert to a Regional Premiership and teh fall-out since - some northern clubs have decided to leave the East League and some Borders clubs have now joined - the ESCA Leagues have been restructured. The attached ESCA League document shows the effects. Our Ones will play in ESCA Division 1 afterall - and get to play our old friend Dr Gowtham Rai's Dunfermline CC. Edinburgh CC go into Div 2. MDAFS 2 are in Div 3 - joined by Gala from the Borders League, 3s in Div 5 and 4s in Div 7. Full story on the ESCA website.
MDAFS are competing in the Cricket Scotland Media Sixes tournament... up against the big boys - rather than competing in the ESCA Sixes! Please find the Tournament draw and rules - we play on Fri Jan 13 and also Fri Feb 10th - both 6.30 to 10.00pm- at the Mary Erskine Centre, Ravelston. Finals night is Friday 2 March.
We also have a 'friendly' indoor 6s game lined up against Livingston on 15 January at 6.30pm-8.30pm at the Bathgate Academy too.
MDAFS 2012 Indoor Practices will again be held at Academy Sports Indoor Centre, off Arboretum Road. Details as below:
Sat 11 Feb - 12-2pm juniors / 2-4pm seniors
Sat 25 Feb - 12-2pm juniors / 2-4pm seniors
Sat 3 March - 2-4pm seniors
Sat 10 March - 12-2pm juniors / 2-4pm seniors
Sat 17 March - 2-4pm seniors
Sat 24 March - 12-2pm juniors / 2-4pm seniors
Sat 31 March - 2-4pm seniors
Sat 7 April - 12-2pm juniors / 2-4pm seniors
The MDAFS Annual General Meeting was be held on Thursday 1 December at 7.30pm at the Ellersley Hotel, Murrayfield. The outcomes can be found in the Minutes of the AGM - main highlights are Sam Ferguson replacing Asif as 1st Team Skipper, Anand stepping up as Vice-Skipper for the Ones; Chris Richardson replacing Darryn Kidd as Threes Vice. Andy, Dan and Don continue as Twos, Threes and Fours skippers respectively. Club Subs and Match Fees also remain unchanged.
Please find a copy of the AGM Agenda
Finlay Ross, skipper of the MDAFS-Carlton U-15 Team and 3s bowler, has been selected for the Regional Development Centre winter training squad this year. In an email sent to us by Gordon Drummond he explains that "the Scotland u15 team is selected from the 3 squads so his progress has been magnificant over the last couple of years. This is down to the support and drive of you guys so congrats on that". Congratulations are of course more due to Fin himself for the way he has developed his game - in senior League games taking 14 wickets at 10.79 apiece- but all his team and club colleagues should also be proud of his achievement and what ever part they have played in his development.
And good news also for big-hitting U13 captain and 4s keeper Ben Falconer who will be part of the Edinburgh Development Academy based at Forrester Hill this winter too.
Thanks to Dan for pulling together the Threes 2011 Season Statistics. We're still waiting on stats from the other teams.... mind you we are still waiting for the 4s 2010 season stats!!!!
MDAFS 2 emerged as winner of the ESCA Fair Play Award for Division 3 (given West Lothian 2s, who had finished top, hadn't voted). Well done Andy and the "Happy Twos". Of our other teams, The Ones finished 8th, Threes 6th and Fours joint 4th. Full results at http://www.eastleague.org.uk/fairplay2011.pdf
Congratulations to MDAFS Fourth XI as Sgt Wilko's boys beat title rivals Drummond Trinity to win Division 8. Fantastic stuff. The Fours bat first at a soggy Roseburn and post 117 thanks to a wag of the tail led by Paul Leonard (16 not) - other main scorers: Raja with 11, Chri 12, Mouris 13, Brad 10, and Vinod 15. Then Paul and Touqeer have the DT reply in early disarray and despite some late resistance the DT reply falls 33 runs short. Touqeer finishing with 7-3-15-5 and Paul 2-16 off 8. Other wicket takers Adi and Brad. Top stuff and Hurrahs all round!!
Unfortunately for 2s and 3s the wet weather saw their games off, and with Edinburgh South easily winning (over on the artificial at Newfield!) the Southsiders overhaul the 2s to take the Div 3 runner up spot and claim promotion. Similarily for the 3s other results did not go our way so we miss out on the chance of promotion. Still all and all a great season with Ones consolidating in Div 1, Twos and Threes near misses for promotion, 4s promoted as Champions and with MDAFS Juniors top of the LJDG u-13 B League and the u-15 joint team with Carlton top of the U15 B League.
MDAFS Juniors were in action at the National Kwik Cricket Tournament at Dollar and acquitted themselves excellently with 3 wins out of 5 games.
MATCH SCORES
MDAFS: 241 - Drumpellier: 214
MDAFS: 258 - Strathearn: 165
MDAFS: 272 - Kinross 2: 223
MDAFS: 217 - Dunfermline: 218
MDAFS: 217 - Kinross 1: 254
Dougie Adamson reports... A great venue only spoiled by freezing cold conditions, reminiscent of Roseburn Park in early April. I think most of the boys were out on their feet by the last game, I took about 4 hours to defrost when I got home – really glad I wore a fleece!!
Player of the day: Hector
Shots of the day: Nairn's 3 sixes v Strathearn
Bowling of the day: Ramsay’s 2 in 2
Comedy moments:
1) Ramsay stopping the ball with his nose
2) Ewan’s first Tee shot (missed the ball, hit the tee and scarpered a single)
3) Sadhil’s nutmeg on the boundary
League week 18 saw the Ones play their final game of the season against Watsons at Roseburn having of course started one week earlier than the rest of the MDAFS teams (in a oh so predictably rained off game in mid-April v Cross!). And after so much recent gloom the Ones finished on a happy note with a hard fought win defending an under-par 110 (Asif 24, Sam 21, Adnan 22) by seeing Watsons dismissed for 78. Meanwhile at Linlithgow, MDAFS 2s defeated West Lothian 2s in just 22 overs of batting, having earlier restricted our hosts for 143-9 with Scotty taking 3-19, Kevin 2-15, Adeel 1-36 and Shielsy 1-14. The tone of the reply was set by the Beast of Sorrell, who hit 14 from the first over and finished with a superb 86 not out (beware a limping Richie!!). Saad Tahir hit a fine 28 in support of the rampant Beast, with Banksy 11 and Andy 9 not out. MDAFS3 were beaten by Div 5 champs Morton who set 175 and bowled out the Threes for 130 (ish). Fours remain top of Division 8 with a convincing win over Leith 3, with Leith bowled out for just 34 (2 wickets for Rommil, 3 for Raja (in 4 balls!) and Taqeer 2 wickets).
The next day... rising at the crack of dawn (some more bleary-eyed than others) were the Sunday friendly XI with a wonderful trip by land and sea to the Isle of Arran to play Sannox. And not only did we see sunshine, but we also managed to squeeze out a tight victory on a sporting pitch, plus managed to squeeze in the traditional big brekkie on the ferry over, a beer or two and some huge fish suppers on the ferry back (for those who didn't go for the special breaded fish!) and of course plenty of hilarity. A jolly good day out. More pictures to be posted up on the MDAFS FB Group soon !!
Next week sees the Fours in a straight shoot out with Drummond Trinity for the Div 8 title (both teams promoted), plus 2s will be promoted to Div 2 if they win, and 3s need to win plus results go their way to get promotion to Div 4. All in all its fantastic that the club is challenging on the last weekend on all these fronts - will it be a triple "Up the Mufs"??
MDAFS u13 (70 from 18 overs) defeated Grange U13 (49 from 18 overs) at Roseburn Park on Monday in a re-arranged Lothians U13 B League game. Star with the bat once again Ben Falconer with 32 not out (having earlier retired on 30) who takes his personal u13 run tally to a remarkable 199 for zero dismissals from 6 innings! Wickets for MDAFS for Ross Kneebone (with his and the Grange reply's, first ball; Ross finishing with 3-0-5-1), also 2 first ever hardball wickets for 10 year old Hector McIntosh (3-0-11-2), 2 for Nairn Ross (all in one over - 2-0-8-2) plus a super direct hit run out by Ben plus a well worked run out between Nairn and Ben. Tight bowling also from Louis Robinson with 3 runs only coming from his 3 overs. Thanks for Fin Ross for standing in to field for us as we only had 8 players!
Tuesday's senior game at Gifford had been cancelled due to the weather.
Heavy rain saw all Saturday league games called off - including a very early and controversial call by EL to even call off the game on the artificial wicket on Friday!!
On Sunday, Mufs Sunday XI took on West Lothian in a friendly at Boghall, Linlithgow. MDAFS posted 233 off 40 overs thanks to contributions all round but in particular a fine 64 not (retired at 50) from Adnan Akram, a brisk 41 from jnt kiwi skipper Sam, 33 from Anand "Stevie Blunder" Venkatesh, and 23 from Professor Hawkins. West Lothian finished well short on 139 off their 40 overs with MDAFS wicket takers being Mr X-Belly with 3-0-8-3, Mahesh 8-3-20-2, Ananad 1-1-0-1, Bharat 6-0-23-1, and Madhu 5-1-9-1. Mention to the luckless and wicketless Broon thanks to some clown at slip (ahem) and another less than spectacular piece of fielding at mid-on. Fuller report on the message board. Next Sunday sees the away day trip to Arran!
The Ones bad week got a lot worse with a quickfire defeat to struggling Glenrothes at Hippo Park while the rest of our teams were left to wallow in the mud as rain claimed all other games. MDAFS Ones slumped to 80 all out (Rowley 5-27, Greaves 4-24) in 36.2 Overs before being defeated in quick time (11 overs) by 9 wickets with Glens racing to beat the rain (MDAFS sportingly deciding to skip the tea interval). Glens Greg Hopcroft hit 37 not out and Khan 24.
At Roseburn 'The Happy Twos' put recent batting woes behind them with Maggy hitting 71 on his Twos debut (unable to travel to Fife!) as MDAFS posted a formidable 199 for 6 - given the pitch conditions - from our 50 overs. The other main scorers being Phil Hawkins with 31, and useful contributions in the ever increasing rain from Mr X-Belly with 19 not and Jazz (10) and Adeel (13 not out) also chipping in to get us to an imposing total. Skipper Andy scored a very patient 7, opening with Phil, before a twisted knee saw him retire (good tactics!) to bring Maggy to the crease. A sporting effort by the Broomhall guys to play through fairly persistent rain for the last 8 or so overs. However the rain would not relent and the game was called off at tea.
Meanwhile, on t'other side of the Park, the Fours had posted 122 all out in 37.4 overs on the Artificial but were saved by the rain with SMRH 3 in a strong position on 44/0 in 8 overs. Every attempt had been made to carry on in a ridiculous amount of rain so credit due to the 4s sportsmanship. Finally the Threes game at the Arboretum v Holy Cross also fell victim to the rain at tea time with the Threes on 134 all out - Saad 24, Westy 16, Vishwak 13 and Finlay 11 not out..
Sunday's Junior kwik cricket at Carlton was cancelled. In midweek a Carlton-DAFS U15 team defeated Watsonians U15 with Ben Falconer in the runs once again with 44 (caught off a chest high no-ball).
Back to Headlines
A rotten, one could say, wholly dross, batting performance against Holy Cross and their canny bowlers was the undoing of MDAFS' challenge for Parks Trophy glory. 82 was very unlikely to be competitive even on a tricky Newfield deck and lush, football like, outfield. Adnan Jaffrey, with 20, the only MDAFS batter to reach double figures. Charlie Ellis took 3-12, Rob Bainbridge 3-19 and Shannon Bonfield 2-12. MDAFS at least restored some pride in the field by making Cross work for their Trophy victory but bar a wee wobble the result was never really in doubt with victory achieved in 17.5 overs - man of the match Ellis with 21 and Keith Fraser with 23.
Grim news from up top as Ones lose versus Fauldhouse (FVCC 203 (Clench 3-25); MDAFS 93) and Twos lose to Drummond Trinity by 7 wickets (MDAFS 111 ao - good late hitting from Jasir and Tasir to get us past 100!) but more cheer from Threes and Fours with victories. Threes hit 144ao after recovering from 54-7 thanks to Bharat Nusum with 61 (sharing a 48 run stand with Finlay Ross - 10-ish?) and Ashiq Rehman with 21 and Mouris Bashir with 18. Preston Village are bowled out for 100 with skipper Dan claiming 4-34, Mohit Sanvat 2-13, Fin Ross an excellent 1-9 off 9 overs and Vikram 2-27. Fours post 135 at Largo winning by 25(ish) runs to stay top of Division 7.
Luke Hayes hit 143 out of 269 in his final game for MDAFS this year in a battle of the Aussies at Largo, as MDAFS emerge 19 run winners. Largo's Aussie, Matt Steering, also hit 135 for the home side. Also in the runs were Asif and Maggy with 30 and 31 apiece. Wickets shared around for MDAFS but special credit for some fine bowling to Rashid.
At Roseburn, contrasting fortunes for Twos and Fours as the Twos fail to finish Edinburgh South off allowing the Inch Parkers to reach 202, despite a 5-45 haul by Adeel, and then batting poorly (113 ao - Andy Lacey 31) in response to fall to a 89 run defeat. Meanwhile the Fours defeated Dunfermline by 4 wickets chasing 94 - and now lead Division 8. Four wickets for 15 for Adi and 25 runs for Raja. Threes marched to victory at Meggetland by dismissing Boroughmuir for just 89 with Bharat taking 4-28 and Alan Paterson 2-14 from their allotted 9 overs. MDAFS won by 4 wickets despite a wee wobble at 57-5 with Russell 26 not out, Darryn and Ashiq both 17 and Chris R 15.
The Parks Final versus Holy Cross is now on Wed 3 August at Newfield. On Tuesday MDAFS midweekers take on Edinburgh South in a 20/20 friendly.
Our Juniors were in kwik cricket action at the Livingston Kwik Cricket tournament, winning two out of four games (beating Livingston and Haddington) and just losing to Stirling off the last ball. This was a great effort as availability issues saw us include a 5 year old(!) and 2 other debutants! Two of our older lads - Charlie Bainbridge and Vignesh Ventakash played in a Edinburgh U-12 team on Sunday, making their debuts at this level, and played with some distinction according to Lothians Juniors Convenor Mr Polson. Well done lads all round.
BREAKING NEWS -- WED 20TH FINAL GAME POSTPONED TO WED 3 AUG (DUE TO WET GROUND) --
Following HX defeating Widows we now know our opposition for the Parks final on Wednesday at Newfield (just north to Inverleith and the Botanical Gardens) - please come down to cheer on the lads as we look to win this trophy again for the first time since 2004. Pictures from the Mufs Archive of the 2004 Parks Triumph here.
With the monsoon season still wreaking havoc, the Men from Atlantis (the Threes) defied the rain and Falkland to notch another victory by 90 runs thanks to another master-blast from Dazza with 77 in a total of 229. Other main scorers were Westy with 22, Sam C with 27, Vishwak with 26 and skipper Dan 26 (including a six into the river!). Wickets shared around with 2 for Bharat (2-20), Dan (2-29), Vishwak 2-24, Mouris 2-3 and Ashiq 2-14. All other games were rained off - only other ESCA games that went on were also on artificial wickets.
MDAFS midweekers cruised to victory over Holy Cross by 9 wickets at the Arboretum. Set 124 to win, MDAFS reached their target with only 1 wicket down and plenty of balls to spare as a range of players retired on, or near, their 25 retiral score: Amol, Phil, Madhu, and Anand. Photos available at the MDAFS Group Facebook page.
Next midweek friendly is v Woodcutters XI at Roseburn on Tuesday and then on Wednesday we have the Parks Final v Holy Cross at Newfield - please come down to cheer on the lads
With monsoon rains wrecking games up and down the land, the Threes emerged victorious by quickly downing Edinburgh Academy 2s at a soggy Roseburn Park. Accies were bowled out for 59 (S. Abdullah 30) with Alan Paterson following up his unbeaten century last week for the 4s with a haul of 6 for 24 this week for the 3s. Mohit Sanvat bowled excellently in partnership with Alan with figures of 3 for 33. MDAFs reach their target of 62-3 with Mouris Bashir hitting 20 (including a 6 off his first delivery!), Dazza 14, and Saad 19 not out. For Accies, Abdullah took 3-21.
On the artificial at Roseburn, the 4s were bowled out for 95 by Holy Cross who were 20-1 in response before the game was eventually abandoned. At Meggetland, the Ones game was abandoned after 8 overs v Boroughmuir. More play was possible at Falkland where the Twos reached reached a promising position of 130-odd for 5 off 34 overs on a very tricky wicket before play was finally abandoned. Top scorers Sutha with a brisk 29, Mr Belly with not a brisk 26, Phil with a gritty 21 (missing a 4 so should really be 25) and Nadeem with a promising 19 not out with Banksy 9 not. A fine tea including a selection of pies. Hurrah.
Sundays Junior kwik cricket was abandoned due to the wet conditions. On Tuesday MDAFS play Holy Cross at the Arboretum in a friendly 20/20.
Video evidence of the Haddington Lardy Ga Ga incident has emerged, courtesy of Taz, see: Lardy Ga Ga video.
Back to Headlines
MDAFS defeated Drummond Trinity at Roseburn on Thursday. DT bowled out for 87 with Mel Clench taking 3-7, Rashid 2-18, Adnan 1-22, Asif 2-8 and Maggy 1-4. MDAFS chased this down in 16.2 overs with Jaffrey 23, Ventakash 13, Mahapatra 17, Asif 20 not and Sutha 5 not. Holy Cross play Scottish Widows on Monday in the other semifinal. The Final is at Newfield on July 20th.
On a day where boxing hyperbole was going into overdrive, the 4s and 2s were celebrating knock-out shows. First at Leith where the 4s demolished Leith 3s by 279 runs with a pair of centurion heroes in Nadeem (109) and Alan Patterson (135 not out - one short of a PB) as the 4s amassed a heavyweight 366-7. Leith were left picking themselves off the canvass having been bowled out for just 87. Wickets shared around with Nadeem picking 3, Saj 2, Vinod 2, Gurjeet 1, and a runout to Alan.
Then at Neilson Park, Haddington it was a combination of knockout blows from our bowlers and then the Beast with the bat that floored the Hadders. However the main talking point was a prequel to the Big Fight that night being enacted on the Neilson Park pitch. In the blue corner, the Haddington opening bowler and skipper, in the red corner, weighing in at around 240 pounds, a local neddette, swiftly named Lardy Ga Ga who had rode onto the pitch on a creaking bike. As patience wore thin with the less than thin young lady, more taunting from the Haddington quick than even David Haye could utter led to Ms Lardy swinging and connecting with a right-hook that Wladimir Klitschko would have been proud of. Threats of police etc (or at least the groundsman inserting a mobile phone somewhere) managed to persuade the lady off the ground. However, what was obviously a cunning rouse by the Hadders almost worked as Mr Belly was nearly lured into giving a simple caught and bowled chance next ball.
Before the rumble in the jungle action, MDAFS had landed some hefty blows to the Haddington innings as 3 wickets each for Kevin, Taz and Adeel plus a knockout 40 yard runout direct hit from Scotty saw the home team sagging on the ropes at 80 all out at tea. Mercy was in short supply as the Beast of Sorrell laid into the opening bowling attack with savage blows to all parts in a whirlwind 30 before being bowled. Progress to victory was more sedate with Mr Belly falling for 7 before Phil (29 not) and Adeel (12? not out...plus big six into the tennis courts) saw us to a knockout victory.
Video evidence of the incident has emerged courtesy of Taz see: Lardy Ga Ga video.
Meanwhile back at Roseburn, the Ones were beaten by auld chums Holy Cross who posted 197-7 (Fraser 56, Mazher 31, Ellis 26, Russell 26 not - Maggy 2-26, Rashid 2-41). MDAFS never recovered from a poor start finishing on 141 all out with Maggy hitting 47, Asif 24 and Luke 22. 3-31 for the lesser bearded Bonfield and 3-31 for Two Dog Worsnop. Over on the artificial, the Threes were beaten by Largo, Dan's men posting only 117 and losing by 4 wickets. Top scorers for us Carl Trahms with 36, Saad 23 and 13 year old keeper, Ben Falconer in his debut 3s match, making 16. Two wickets to Mohit, and one for Sensid, Nusum and Frear.
On Sunday, MDAFS Ones managed to throw away a strong position in the chase of the East Academy's 255 total (100 for Tom Barrett). With Ameresh Mahaputra hitting a quick 80 and Luke in fine form (40) and a run-rate of near 7 an over, we were well on track. However, tight bowling allied to good fielding and poor batting saw the game rapidly turn on its head and from 179-2 MDAFS collapsed in a heap to 235 all out with 8 overs remaining.
Also on Sunday, our kwik cricketers were again in action at the RH Corstorphine Festival with 2 wins out of 3 - one a first ever for us against a Grange side.
Monday's President's Trophy match away at Fauldhouse has been conceded as regrettably we couldn't raise a full team. Our apologies to FVCC.
On Sunday our softball cricketers took part in another Kwik Cricket festival. With 3 wins out of 4 we came close to second place (2 runs short!) so finish in a creditable third place. Well done Nairn, Hector, Sadhil, Mark, Ewan, Ben McK, Archie, Tom and Ramsey.
Monday's u13 game at Penicuik fell victim to the rain. Wednesday's game saw Haddington beat our joint U15 team with Carlton comfortably. CMD posted 93 (Will Brown 30 and Finlay 14) but were overpowered by the strong hitting of Tufail and Hardwick who saw Hadders romp to victory in quick time.
With rain claiming the Twos game just after tea with Haddington, and the Ones and Threes crashing heavily, its was the Fours who flew the flag on Saturday with a nailbiting victory over Kirkbrae 2s.
Ones were defeated by Marchmont who posted 229-4 with Matt Loeffen in great form with 135 not out for the Cavalry Park outfit. Asif hits 72 and OMH a dogged 14 as we are bowled out for 152. At Roseburn, the rain forces a cancellation as Haddington reach 12 for the one wicket taken by Taz, in reply to the Twos 129 all out (Hawkins 22, Shiels 22, Jasir 19). Threes crash at Largo chasing 183 (3-20 for Bharat and 2-20 for Finlay Ross) we crash to 80 all out with Darryn top scorer on 22. So, saving the best to last the MDAFS standard bearers were the Fours with a 2 wicket win over Kirkbrae. Chasing 125 (Nadeem Anwer 3-23, Vinod 4-12), MDAFS are coasting along until the rain spices up the arti. Despite a fine 47 from Mouris we are in trouble at 7 down until a late assault by Sash with 17 not out sees us over the line with 2 wickets left.
The annual 'Beer and Sarnies' match at Merchiston Castle School on Tuesday was washed out. Next week we are playing our President's Trophy match now as a 20/20 probably on Monday. We were scheduled to play Boroughmuir at Meggetland next week in a friendly match - but Boroughmuir also have to play their President's Trophy match so our friendly with them is now cancelled.
Another big win for Murrayfield-DAFS u13s, once again set up by MDAFS skipper Ben Falconer with another retired innings of 30 runs– his 15 ball innings featuring 1 sixes and 5 fours. Dan Murphy hit 16 before a mini-slump saw MDAFS at 62 for 5. The innings was held together by an excellent knock of 19 by Lewis Mulholland and Robbie Dowie (12 retired) in only his second ever bat! A late wag of the young MDAFS tail with Nairn Ross hitting 11, Andrew Towns 9 not out and Vignesh Venkatesh 6 not out as MDAFS post 128 for 8 wkts off 20 overs.
Callum Harris and Blair McLaughlin both take 2 wickets each aided by a good fielding display by Watsons with 5 catches taken (no drops I can recall) and two well executed run-outs. The twenty extras conceded (16 wides) being less than the norm of late. Special mention to the Watsons keeper, Sarah Bryce, with a very tidy performance with the gloves.
The Watsons reply is immediately rocked by the loss of Milne to Venkatesh’s first ball. But with Sarah Bryce looking in good form and Georgia Henderson defending well, the MDAFS boys are held in check until a pull for 4 by Sarah is immediately followed-up by a yorker from Abhilhash Bharadwaj to end Sarah’s innings for 10. Callum Harris (9 runs) and Georgia get the total up to 30 before a double strike from Ross Kneebone reduces the visitors to 30 for 4 off 7 overs. Harris is then caught by Lewis Mulholland off Venkatesh from the last ball of a pacey over from Vignesh and it’s 32-5 off 9. Three wickets are then taken by Callum Hogg in two overs, including an extraordinary caught and bowled which somehow lodged between his legs and another catch for Lewis Mulholland. Louis Robinson next executes a stunning split-second pick-up, turn and throw down of the stumps with the batsman, Oliver, having only encroached a yard or so from his crease. The coup de grace was administered by Dan Murphy with the final wicket to dismiss Watsons for 60 off 18 overs. A highly impressive team display by MDAFS with bat and ball.
In the completed ‘after-match’ overs Ben Falconer, in his last u13 game for MDAFS, claims two wickets in the 20th over. With the bat this season Ben has amassed an impressive 167 runs in 5 innings with no dismissals – a 40 not out and 4 retired not outs (31, 33, 33, 30).
Juniors League Tables can be found at the Lothians Juniors website.
Rain saw the demise of Ones and Threes games on Saturday. Twos and Fours played on Sunday v Grange (Portgower Place) and v SMRH (Inverleith-Ferry Road) with both teams recording comfortable wins by 91 runs and 8 wickets respectively.
At Portgower Place the Twos were invited to bat first in a match reduced to 40 overs apiece. MDAFS openers Hawkins and Shiels put on 105 runs for the 1st wicket before the rapidly tiring (too many threes!!) Mr Belly was bowled for 52. Phil also passed his half-century (55) but a minor slump and a knee injury to Brad saw the innings falter until some fine batting from the late middle order and Jasir (30ish??) in particular saw us up to an good score of 216 for 8 off our 40 overs. Tea had been taken at the 39th over due to a rain break which had left us one over to complete which Jazz had usefully plundered 10 from. A quick change round and we have Grange in early trouble with strikes from Mahesh and Taseem and the victory never looked in doubt for us thereafter - Grange finishing 91 runs short on 125 with a late flourish from their skipper getting them over 100. Wickets shared around with 3 for Kevin, 2 for Mahesh, Adeel, 1 for Taseem and Jasir and a run out for Mouris who had came on as a sub fielder fresh from the 4s victory at SMRH.
The Fours made short work of SMRH 3s by dismissing them for only 63 and wrapping up a 8 wicket victory easily as this report from Mouris details.....
"The reverse leg of the League 8 started this week with MUFS 4s pitted against SMRH 3rd XI on their home turf at Inverlieth. The sky had wept enough for last 2 weeks, so finally it gave us a rare day of cloudy/sunny/bits of rain, with Don Willkie losing toss first time in almost 14 games and off to fielding we were. Collection of some returning stars (read The Return of Ian ‘Ricky’ Martin) and some borrowed from 3s (pre-selected before Sun!!!...webed) compiled our playing 11 which though still was short of one man who was fighting fire to save his house/flat, but ultimately leaving that one and rushing in to fight another one. A special mention here goes for Mdafs Junior Finlay Ross for offering his services as a Sub fielder for the first 6 overs. Thank You Fin.
SMRH started well in the conditions which favoured bowlers, (ball was swinging like a banana), the Return of Iain ‘Ricky ‘Martin started their demise, Iain along with his opening bowling partner Raja had SMRH 25 for 4, with both taking 2 apiece, Other bowlers chipped in as well and reduced SMRH to 40 for 7 with Brad taking 2 and Vinod 1, but a cameo knock from Number 9 of SMRH lifted their score to 63 before Adi wrapped the innings Thus leaving Christopher Brown aka brune aka Pawbroon wicketless and heartbroken once again, though he had a chance only to see Graham put down a sitter in the slips. But there is always a next time Brune (may be not for you lol).
Bowling Figures
A Raja 6-1-9-2
I Martin 6-3-13-2
B Mowatt 5-0-24-2
Vinod 5-2-11-2
A Chaudhary 2-2-0-2
C Brown 1-1-0-0
With Skies again looking in a mood to cry, captains decided to start the 2nd innings and not take Tea (I was totally against this idea), Mouris with quick 16, Graham with patient 14, and Ben with outstanding innings of 23 wrapped up the match inside 16 overs to have a second easy 8 wicket win in row for 4s." MB.
Also on Sunday, we hosted a kwik-cricket tournament at Roseburn Park featuring teams from West Lothian, Livingston, Grange (2 teams), Edinburgh Accies, Carlton and ourselves. MDAFS won 2 of our 3 games - just being pipped by West Lothian in the final over of our last game which meant West Lothian finished with a 100% record.
Scottish Widows defeated MDAFS Midweek XI in a friendly at Roseburn on Tues 14 June. MDAFS posted 105-8 (Anand and Andy both retired on 25) and Widows knocked the runs off for about 4 down. Game marred by nasty injury to a Widows bowler who dislocated his knee - we wish him a speedy recovery.
Murrayfield-DAFS u13s U13s took on Corstorphine U13s at Barton on Monday in a LJDG League match which ended in a convincing victory for MDAFS set up by a blistering 33 (retired) off just 12 balls by skipper Ben Falconer – his innings featuring 3 sixes and 2 fours. A late flourish by young Abhilhash Bharadwaj of 10 not out, including his first ever hardball league match boundary, saw MDAFS to 116 for 7 off 20 overs. Our total helped also by 38 extras being conceded by Corstorphine. Stuart Thurlow bowled tidily with figures of 4 overs 23 runs for 2 wickets but the main Corstorphine threat was Rory Oliphant with 3 for 9 off four overs.
In reply, Corstorphine immediately lost C Shiel run out first ball by a Robbie Dowie direct hit, but recovered well with A Poore hitting 10 off the rest of the first over. But when Poore fell for 11 to Kneebone (2-0-20-1) to a fine catch by Dowie the inexperienced Corstorphine reply faltered in the face of accurate MDAFS bowling. Honourable exception being Stuart Thurlow who finished with 16 not out when the final wicket fell for 46 in the 12th over. Four wickets (1.2-0-2-4), two catches and a run out for Robbie Dowie to cap a great debut performance. Also a wicket for 10 year old Hector McIntosh (1-0-8-1) in his first ever hardball game. Other MDAFS wicket takers Callum Hogg (2-0-3-1) and Louis Robinson (2-0-3-1).
On Wednesday, our joint U15s (Carlton-MDAFS) were due to play Edinburgh Accies U15 at Newfield. Accies could only raise 5 players so conceded the match to continue our winning streak. We played a friendly instead with those there with Carlton-DAFS (featuring Louis and Anas) beating Accies-DAFS (Fin and Ross). Bragging rights to Louis (14 - 3 fours) and Anas (17 - 3 fours) in their mini-battle of bat v ball versus Fin and Ross!
On Sunday 19 June we host the next round of LJDG u-10 Kwik Cricket matches at Roseburn Park - starting at 10am.
Apologies for the delay in updating website since the webmaster returned from his travels.... the chaps had kept the message board generally up to date anyway! This is just a quick round up of the last 2 weeks action:
League Week 8 - 11 June
All games rained off.
Midweek Cup - Active City - Wed 8 June
MDAFS crashed out of the Active City (ex Cow Corner) at the hands of Marchmont. Fine innings of 30+ from Maddu and Reyaz to get us up to 120 off 20 overs proved to be in vain as the veteran Marchmont openers of Will Collier and Stephen McGregor dump us out of the cup.
Midweek Friendly - Tues 7 June
A thrilling tie against Morton thanks to the iron legs of 'Big Bob' Willis. Video taken by the watching Mr Hawkings of a thrilling last over bowled by Stephen is available on the Club Facebook page! Earlier, Mr Belly and Madhu both hit 25 (retired) to set the base for our 93 runs off 20 overs. Broon and Chris R with 12 runs apiece... including an all run 4 for Broon! The marvels didn't cease with Chris taking 2 catches!
League Week 7 - 4/5 June
Another clean sweep with on the Saturday an easy win for 1s thanks to 131 not out from Luke Hayes. Great comeback win from the 2s who defended 134 to bowl West Lothian out for 92 and an 8 wicket win by the 4s. Then on Sunday the 3s defeated Edinburgh Accies as Dan reports:
"On a very cold day and a astro with very small boundarys I lost the toss and we were sent on to set a total. What followed was quite astounding to watch. The edinburgh accies opening bowler opened up to Dazza and im sure he wish he didnt as Dazza proceeded to pound 6 consecutive 4's off the opening over to score 24 runs off it. The carnage did not stop there as we were 59-0 off 4 overs. Dazza scoring his 50 off an incredible 17 balls!!!
We then lost Westy in the 5th over and then Dazza in the 11th over after scoring a brutal 87 runs off 32 balls!. A solid partnership between Ashiq and Saad took us to 139-2 before a quick flurry of wickets saw us at 145-5 and in danger of not batting our full 45 overs. A very good partnership of 58 runs between Ashiq and Bharat took us to 203-5 until another flurry of wickets saw us at 214-8. A good partnership of 31 runs between Dan and Adeel took us to 245-9. Then a good partnership of 40 runs between Adeel and Paul took us to a total of 285-9, Adeel hitting an excellent 61 n.o in the process.
Although a good score, the small boundaries meant we would have to defend well. Raja started off well collecting the opener in the 4th over. However the other opener and the number 3 proceed to put on 107 runs. The introduction of Dan saw the removal of the dangerous R.Williams and the other opener in the space of two overs. With their dismisals the run rate continued to rise and was at 10.0 per over for the majority of the last 20 overs of Accies innings. Russell finished things off with a quick three wickets and with all the bowlers chipping in we managed to bowl out Accies for a very commendable 232 in 43.5 overs."
Marvellous stuff and well done Dazza, Luka and Adeel with the bat!
Midweekers v HBOS
On Tues 24 April MDAFS Midweekers took on the might of HBOS and Mr.Scott in a friendly 16 over contest at a blustery and cold Peffermill. Mr Lacey reports (no score book to hand so details are from his memory).
"MDAFS 96/4 off 16 overs with Mel 25(retired), Vinod 24, Nathan 12* (roughly), Anand 12* (roughly), Chris R 7, and Stephen Willis 6. The HBOS reply came up 10 runs or so short. Scotty, retiring on 25, the main HBOS contributer. A couple of wickets a piece for Don and Phil as I can recall."
League Week 6 - 28 May
Ones continued their fine form with a narrow win over Grange 2 at Portgower Place. Ones scored 210 off 50 overs with top scorers Adnan Jaffrey (44), Asif(41), and OMH(34).In reply Grange finished 7 runs short despite still having time on their side - the last wicket a run out courtesy of a 50 yard direct hit by Maddam. With the ball Adnan Akram was the pick of our attack, bowling some unplayable inswingers in his 3-50 and was well supported by the other bowlers.
The Three's travelled to Prestonpans to take on Preston Village. Darryn Kidd made a well struck 43 before being bowled by ex-muffer Matt Boyd. Saad Tahir then progressed with some powerfully struck shots to make an excellent 58. Contributions from both Graham (17) and Bharat (21) had us at a healthy 168 for 5 before a lower order collapse saw us dismissed for 180, probably 20-40 runs short of a very competitive total.However with some excellent opening bowling from both Paul and Touqeer with Paul picking up 2 crucial wickets ensured that we kept the squeeze on Preston Village. With the run rate steadily increasing and wickets falling at regular intervals the task was too much for Preston who attempted to hit out with their tailenders and in the end were dismissed for 131.
Twos and Fours both lost. Twos lost 239-160 versus Broomhall (no details posted on message board (tut tut)) but Fours posted 134 all out off 31 overs against Drummond Trinity with Sam Chapman hitting a fine 72 and Mouris 26 the only double figure scorers. Drummond Trinity were reduced to 77 for 7 thanks to an excellent bowling spell from Brad Mowatt with 3 wickets. However an unbroken stand of 61 for the 8th wicket saw DTs home. Other wicket takers Gurjeet Singh with 2 wickets and Sam and Amir with one apiece.
JUNIORS
Midweek Juniors U15 - Wed 8 June
U15 game v Edinburgh CC was cancelled after 9 overs due to the rain making the artificial too slippery for play.
Midweek Juniors U15 - Wed 1 June
Murrayfield-DAFS/Carlton 130 for 8. Dan Murphy 33.
Haddington U15 94-6. Patrick Halliday 2-4.
Midweek Juniors U13 - Mon 30 May
Mdafs 113-4 defeated Haddington u13s (88 ao) by 25 runs - Ben and Dan both retired with 33 and 30 respectively and Nairn Ross with 2 wickets for 6 runs.
All four MDAFS teams defied both the weather and their opposition to record another clean sweep of victories this weekend. Fantastic stuff.
At Roseburn, Ones put Largo into bat and restricted them to 183-7, wickets shared around but special mention to a great spell from Adnan whose figures of 10-1-28-1 really didn't do him justice. Adnan hit a quickfire 53 to set us on the way to victory, ably supported by Luke with a patient 58 not out. Maggy with 29. Victory by 6 wickets with plenty of time to spare.
Over on the artificial the Twos were chasing the 256 posted by Drummond-Trinity. Chris Banks held things together as wickets steadily fell with a fine 79 but a superb unbroken 8th wicket half-century stand between Russell Beretta and Tahir saw us home, Tahir hitting the winning runs with a 6 smashed into the Rugby ground in front of jublilant team mates and the watching Ones and Fours etc. Fours defeated Holy Cross 3s by 108 runs at Campbell Park. Batting first, we hit 214-6 with top scorers Nick Hill 64, Chris Richardson with a first ever half-century for the club - finishing on 54 - and Brad with 38. Holy Cross are bowled out for 106 with Taqueer taking 4-16 and Alan Paterson with 2-33 plus 2 wickets for Brad too and one too for Amir.
On Sunday, the Threes completed the clean sweep with a 93 run over Boroughmuir 2s at Roseburn. Sent into bat we hit 197-9 from our 45 overs with Dazza clubbing 33, Westy 28, Raja 15 and Dan with 19 not out - but special mention to Finlay Ross for his fine 34. Finlay continued his fine form with the ball as he and Paul Leonard put the squeeze on Boro' from the off. In the end they were bowled out for 104, with three wickets for 33 for Raja B, 2-18 off nine overs for Finlay, 1-10 off nine for Paul, 2-3 off four for Lindsay and 1-5 for Ashiq. Another special 'junior' mention for Ben Falconer, the thirteen year old taking two catches and executing a superb direct hit run out. Top stuff all round.
More details on the MDAFS Message Board results thread.
Monday's U13 Junior game cancelled as Edinburgh CC had dropped out of the U13 League (and no-one told us... grrr).
Please note the webmaster is on his holidays from 24 May to 5 June (volcanic ash permitting!!) so please check the Message Board for details of news, fixtures, results etc etc. Yes, I know - shocking behaviour taking holidays in the middle of the season... tut tut, etc.
Luke Hayes hit a magnificent 90 as MDAFS defeated Standard Life in a Parks Trophy match at Newfield on Wednesday.
Batting first MDAFS posted a massive 177-3 off 20 overs with Maggy also hitting 39 not out in support of Luke's 90. Skipper Asif with 16 no. In reply, Standard Life chased well with Thornton teeing off in much the way Luke did until a superb final over of his spell from Bharat Nussum choked the life out of our opposition, taking 3 scalps for just 3 runs including the vital wicket of Thornton. Standard Life reaching a creditable 142-6 off their 20 overs.
More details on the MDAFS Message Board results thread.
Both our scheduled Juniors games were cancelled this week (u13 v Grange - weather; and, u15 v Preston Village/Musselburgh - opposition conceded).
MDAFS defeated old chums Heriot's at Goldenacre in the Sunday President's Trophy tournament run by ESCA - this is the first time we have entered this. Report by Sam....
"On a cold and blustery Sunday, MDAFs were set the task of getting through the first round of the Presidents Trophy against a Heriots team depleted of a few key players, one too hungover to play, one person ineligable because he played too many National League games and another turning up 10 overs into the MDAFS batting innings.
MDAFS went into Bat with L Hayes and A Akram starting. Hayes did not trouble the scorers however, being caught behind for a duck. K Trahms falling for a duck.With some controlled hitting, great big hitting and some good looking shots Akram and A Deshmukh set about the bolwers maintaining a 5 per over run rate. Deshmukh fell to a brilliant peice of fielding, which brought about the presence of M Akerkar to steadily push for singles and probe the infield, while Akram hammered the attack from the other end, eventually holing out for a well desrved 69 (no rude jokes here please!!!). Captain Chaos A Mohammad came out to join Akerkar, and in true Asif fashion, smashed a quick fire 30 something (losing a ball in the process). A few runs from the lower/middle order and a few quick wickets saw MDAFs at 187 for 9 after 35, on a wicket that should be a 220 in 40 overs. T Wheeler an D Wheeler (nee Frear) made the tail wag taking the total to 217 all out on the last ball. Some fina attacking shots from both players - a great effort.
After a great tea, MDAFS opening bowlers A Akram and the skipper, restricted the run rate for the first couple of overs. Willy the started what would be his 4th and most productive lap of the ground, bringing a wicket to Akram, and another in quick succession. Some tight bowling from A Scott, M Akerkar, T Wheeler, B Nssum and D Wheeler (nee Frear) choked the Heriots side out of the game with all bowlers picking up one or two wickets for few runs. Heriots eventually collapsed at 101. A sound victory, onward an upward!!!"
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Twos and Fours remain our 100 percenters with victories on Saturday against Edinburgh South and Leith 3 respectively. Ones were beaten at Fauldhouse - only scoring 107 batting first to lose by 8 wickets. Twos scored 248 at Inch Park, with Sutha hitting 74 and Banksy 43. Brad took 5-8 to rout Edinburgh South and ensure a 79 run victory for the unbeaten Twos. Threes were mauled by Morton. Chasing 204, MDAFS3 were skittled for just 41 by the pace and guile of Vigneshwaran who took 7 wickets for just 12 runs. More cheer for the 4s with another victory. The 4s posted just 78 in 23 overs but then dismissed Leith 3s for just 45 in 22 overs with Gurjeet Singh and debutant Nadeem Anjum taking 3 wickets each and Brad Mowat 2 wickets.
Apologies to Maiden... however Asif's impressive 20/20 six hitting form continued with three consecutive maximums at a soggy and chilly Roseburn Park as MDAFS defeated Bass Rock in the Parks Trophy. MDAFS posted 107 off 16 overs and Bass Rock finished about 12? runs short.
Unfortunately EACC could not raise a team (only 2 players) so they conceded the U15 match versus Carlton-MDAFS. We had tried to run a practice game instead but that was rained off when the heavens opened at 5.30 just as the lads started to arrive!!
A match dominated by some fine batting on a damp pitch and full sized outfield at Peffermill. Ben Falconer, the Murrayfield DAFS skipper, hit another rapid 30 before retiring as per the U13B rules. Dan Murphy also batted well (26) before falling to Charlie Kydd, who was the pick of the Carlton bowlers with figures of 3-1-4-3. Some rash strokeplay from the inexperienced and younger MDAFS players and accurate bowling saw wickets tumble until Ben resumed his innings at the fall of the 9th wicket. MDAFS posting 99 all out off 19.4 overs with an impressively mature Ben not out on 40 (four 4s and one 6). 12 wides and 5 no balls being bowled did not help a slow over rate.
With darkness descending and some disagreement remaining over the total to chase (88 or 99?? – the Carlton coach not accepting the ‘retiral AND resume’ batting rule), the Carlton openers, Ashral and Dent, set off brightly in reply. Dent is sharply caught behind for 6 by Ben off the bowling of young Nairn Ross (10yrs). Ashral (three 4s) continues on to 31 before retiral. Kydd is bowled by Hogg for 6 and Maudsley bowled by Towns for 0. A Whyte hits four 4s in his innings of 26 not out and Farrer 1 not out, as the innings is brought to an end on the 16 over point with Carlton on 96-3 - the light was rapidly failing at past 9pm!! Again many extras (15 wides and 2 no balls) did not help the progression of play again.
As to the result, the Carlton coach will no doubt claim a win by passing 88 (the MDAFS score at 9 wickets down when Ben resumed his innings). However rule 6 clearly states a batsman retires at 30 and resumes his innings in order of retiral. So the Carlton innings actually falls 3 runs short of victory as per our scorebook book!! Diplomatic accord may require the recording of the result as ‘match drawn – game abandoned due to bad light’.
With Ones, Threes and Fours winning and the Twos match at Goldenacre abandoned at tea (and what a tea, "fantashtic"- Mr Belly) then the clubs glorious start to the League season continues. More details on the Message Board; highlights of the Ones victory over Boroughmuir were Asif's 5 wicket haul and a great 9th wicket stand between Anand and Kashif.
Another victory for Carlton Murrayfield DAFS U15s at the cricketing paradise that is the Meadows. This time against the u15 of Edinburgh CC. And a very 'just' victory at that.
Batting first CMD lost Ben for 5 to a steepling delivery from ECCs Ali and then Arvind for 2 to the impressively bearded (for 15) tall quick, Hassain Arshad. Finlay Ross dug in with support from Anas Tahir and then Louis Robinson to simply keep out the openers; Anas perishing for 0 to a leg side heave. Fin departs caught for 20 (two fours) and Louis caught behind for 9. Olly Fenton is bowled by Danesh for a duck but another decent knock from Ross Kneebone of 10 keeps the innings ticking over - retired to allow other lads to have a bat at the end. Calum Everett of Carlton hit a sprightly 8 not out (including one four), ex-ECC Zain 2 and Alex Short run out 0 off the last ball. CMD finishing on 94 for 8 off 20 overs. 38 extras conceded by ECC helped our cause.
ECC are immediately pegged back off the seventh ball as Anas induces a big top edge for Arvind to take to dismiss Sahil for 1. With Aqib hitting anything loose well, ECC are progressing nicely until a double strike from Ross Kneebone to bowl both Aqib and then Ali next ball. Louis Robinson bowls Zain for 4 and a smart runout (after a couple of missed opportunities) by Anas to Ben saw Bilal dismissed for 3. Huzeif is stumped by Ben off Alex Short and then young Hassain very smartly stumped off a wide for a duck. in the descending gloom (9.00pm!!) the final ECC resistance falls with the dismissal of Adil for 10 caught by Olly Fenton off Fin Ross. The very impressive Carlton u13 Calum Everett (3-7-0) bowls a tight final over and ECC finish 14 short on 80 for 8. Only negative point in a David v Goliath style performance was the 31 extras conceded by CMD.
A very worthy and satisfying victory, well led by Captain Ross and Sgt-Major Falconer behind the stumps.
MDAFS u13s kept up the run of club victories with a 90 run victory over Edinburgh Academy. MDAFS posted 141-4 off 20 overs, our highest junior twenty over score yet and biggest margin of victory. Top scorer was skipper Ben Falconer with an excellent innings of 31 (retired not out), mixing powerful shot-making with crafty single-taking. Other top scorers were our other opener, Dan Murphy, with a fine 30 (also retired), Louis Robinson with a personal best of 26 including one six, and Lewis Mulholland with 16. Both Louis and Lewis also retired to give the all the other lads a shot at batting.
In reply Accies reach only 51-5 off their 20 overs. Wicket takers for MDAFS were Alex Watson and Louis Robinson with two wickets each and one for Callum. Two stumpings for Ben Falconer. Nine bowlers used to ensure all that wanted a bowl got one. An excellent performance at a sunny but chilly Roseburn.
Glorious sunshine and a glorious full start to the season as all four teams notch up comfortable victories in the first full round of ESCA fixtures.
After a wash-out at Arboretum last week, the Ones took on Carlton at Roseburn. Batting first MDAFS post 183-9 with vice-skip Sam Ferguson hitting an excellent 66 to turn the direction of the match after early Carlton dominance. Sam reached his half-century off only 27 balls. Other top makers for MDAFS were Luke Hayes with 23, Amol Deshmukh 23, and Adnand Akram with 20. In reply Carlton started positively but the introduction of the dazzling duo of Tom and JP saw the Carlton top order derailed - Tom took the honours with 4 wickets for 26 - JP, though wicketless, bowled with great control. The coup de grace to the Carlton innings was administered by Maggy with 3 wickets for just 4 runs in a 3 over post and One-For-Clench, esq took out the final wicket. A good 20 point haul.
Over on the artificial wicket at Roseburn MDAFS Twos posted 299 all out with debutant Brad Grikis hitting 31, Madhu and Sutha excellent knocks of 65 and 66, and a final flourish from Kashif with a quickfire 50 at the the tailend. Falkland 2 battled well to 236-6 - at one point looking well set, but the introduction of Chris Banks saw the wiley veteran claim 4 wickets for 12 and sent the Fifers to defeat. Debutant Kevin Edrich took 3-59 off his 10 overs.
At Falkland, MDAFS 3 hit 221 all out with top scorers Chris West 54, Ashiq Rahman 31, Bharat Nusum 48 and skipper Dan Frear 25. Falkland 3s reached 116 ao with MDAFS junior Finlay Ross claiming an excellent 4 wkts for 20 haul including a sharp ct'n'bowled.
Last but not least to round off the set, MDAFS 4s defeated Stewart-Melville 3s by 67 runs. The Fours posting 284-7 with Brad Mowat hitting 72, Said Bin-Tahir 61 and Mouris Bashir 43 plus 23 from MDAFS Junior, Ben Falconer. SMRH 3rds hit 217-5 in reply (bowling figures to be added).
Great stuff everyone!
Results Summary:
Ones (183-9) beat Carlton 2 (119 ao) by 64 runs.
Twos (299 ao) beat Falkland 2 (236 ao) by 63 runs.
Threes (221 ao) beat Falkland 3 (116 ao) by 105 runs.
Fours (284-7) beat Stewart-Melville 3 (217-5) by 67 runs.
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This was an excellent performance from the newly formed joint Carlton-Murrayfield-DAFS U-15 team who very quickly bonded into a strong unit in this opening League match v Watsons B at Roseburn Park on Wed 27 April.
Batting first in glorious evening sunshine, the Carlton-MDAFS innings was dominated by a 73 run second wicket stand between opener Tim Harvey and Ben Falconer. Ben batted superbly, accelerating the innings with clean hitting – including one marvellous six – and sharp running between the wicket, finally retiring on 33 (1 six, 3 fours) in style with another fierce drive for a boundary.
Watsonians however battled back well with a flurry of wickets claimed by Jones (2-11), Henderson (2-12) and Richardson (2-5). Tim Harvey, who had steadied the innings, finally fell for a patient 19 to Henderson.
A final flourish with the bat by Ross Kneebone (11) and Keshav Arvind (9 not out) saw Carlton-Murrayfield-DAFS to 125 for 7 off the allotted 20 overs.
In reply, Watsonians never got going in the face of excellent tight bowling and no batsman got into double figures – M Henderson batting at 10 top scored with 7. Watsons finishing on 50-9 having recovered from 28-8.
The bowling was shared around the Carlton-MDAFS team with 9 bowlers used. The pick of the bunch Sam Galloway with 3-3 from 2 overs, and other wicket takers Louis Robinson with 1-7 from 3 overs, Keshav Arvind 1-1 from two excellent overs of spin, and Ross Kneebone 1-7 from 2 overs. Three well worked run-outs were also executed by the team.
Man of the match undoubtedly goes to Ben Falconer not only for his excellent 33 but also an excellent wicket-keeping display with constant encouragement provided to his new team mates from behind the stumps.
Meanwhile over on the other Roseburn wicket, a strong seniors midweek team beat Currie and Balerno in a 20/20 friendly.
The Ones season opener at the Arboretum versus Holy Cross fell victim to the wet weather on Saturday. We got as far as getting the pads on to bat on an already sodden surface before another downpour put paid to any lingering hopes of play. The pre-season practices at Roseburn fell victim too. The season starts for all teams next Saturday. On Wed a MDAFS XI plays Currie and Balerno and our joint MDAFS-Carlton U-15 Team takes on Watsons B, both being played at Roseburn.
MDAFS midweek friendly fixtures (as at 25 April) are shown below. The organisers/skippers will vary from match to match - any general queries to Ian Shiels on 07730 074174. Sam F is leading the first match - note the team has been selected (trying to get as many of the likely Cup playing team out to get back into the swing of 20/20)
| Wed 27 April | Midweek XI | Currie and Balerno | Roseburn |
| Tues 10 May | Midweek XI | RBGE CC | Roseburn |
| Tues 24 May | Midweek XI | HBOS | Peffermill |
| Tues 7 June | Midweek XI | Morton | Meadows |
| Tues 14 June | Midweek XI | Scottish Widows | Roseburn |
| Tues 21 June | Midweek XI | Merchiston CS | Merchiston |
| Tues 28 June | Midweek XI | Boroughmuir | Meggetland |
| Wed 6 July | Midweek XI | HBOS | Roseburn |
| Tues 12 July | Midweek XI | Holy Cross | Arboretum |
| Tues 19 July | Midweek XI | Woodcutters CC | Roseburn |
| Tues 26 July | Midweek XI | Edinburgh South | Roseburn |
| Tues 2 Aug | Midweek XI | OCCC | Roseburn |
| Tues 9 Aug | Midweek XI | Morton | Roseburn |
| Tues 16 Aug | Midweek XI | Goblin Ha | Gifford |
| Thurs 25 Aug | Midweek XI | RBGE CC | Roseburn |
MDAFS Juniors have a full set of fixtures coming up this season with action at u-11 kwik-cricket level, u-13 League and U-15 league (joint team with Carlton CC). Details below. Outdoor practices also start up again on Friday 6 May at Roseburn Park - from 6.30pm to 8pm. Any queries to Ian Shiels on 07730 074174.
| Wed 27 April | Junior U-15 | Watsonians | Roseburn |
| Wed 4 May | Junior U-15 | Edinburgh CC ?? - tbc | away |
| Wed 11 May | Junior U-15 | Edinburgh Acad | Roseburn |
| Wed 18 May | Junior U-15 | Preston V/Musselbh | away |
| Wed 1 June | Junior U-15 | Haddington | Roseburn |
| Wed 8 June | Junior U-15 | Edinburgh CC ?? | Roseburn |
| Tues 14 June | Junior U-15 | Edinburgh Acad | away |
| Wed 22 June | Junior U-15 | Preston V/Musselbh | Roseburn |
| Wed 29 June | Junior U-15 | Haddington | away |
| Wed 3 August | Junior U-15 | Watsonians | away |
| Mon 2 May | Junior U-13 | Edinburgh Academy | home |
| Mon 9 May | Junior U-13 | Carlton B | away |
| Mon 16 May | Junior U-13 | Grange | Roseburn |
| Mon 23 May | Junior U-13 | Edinburgh CC | Roseburn |
| Mon 30 May | Junior U-13 | Haddington | Roseburn |
| Mon 13 June | Junior U-13 | RH Corstorphine | away |
| Mon 20 June | Junior U-13 | Watsonians B | Roseburn |
| Mon 27 June | Junior U-13 | Penicuik | away |
The Kwik Cricket tournaments we will be entering in is as yet to be confirmed - there are plenty this year including our own on the 19th June.
Full list of Tournaments:
|
15th May Clackmannan CC 22nd May West Lothian CC 29th May St Modans CC 29th May Edinburgh Academicals 5th June Haddington CC (TBC) 5th June Kelso CC (TBC) 12th June Grange CC 12th June Stirling CC 19th June Murrayfield DAFS CC 26th June Stewarts Melville CC 26th June Doune CC 3rd July Royal High Corstorphine CC 3rd July Hawick & Wilton CC 10th July Stenhousmuir CC 10th July Watsonian CC 17th July Penicuik CC 24th July Livingston CC 24th July Westquarter & Redding 7th August Manderston CC 7th August Carlton CC 28th August Club National Kwik Cricket Festival, Dollar Academy |
Details of the long awaited MUFTAs and a Social Night emerge from our very own comedy legend, Mr Tom Wheeler
A pre-season social will take place on Saturday 9 April at the White Horse pub on the Royal Mile, starting at 7pm. Free entry, all welcome. The evening will include the world-famous (ahem) MUFTA awards for last season. Details on how to submit your award nominations are on the Message Board.
Should be a fun night, and a pre-season opportunity for newbies to meet us oldies and get to know the thriving social side of playing for the Mighty Mufs.
News Update: Winners announced on Club Message Board
A new Astroturf will be laid on Sunday 10th of April from 10am. As most of the club use this surface, whether it be for league games, midweek friendly’s or training it would be great to see as many people as possible down to help with the install of this pitch. The more people we have the less time it will take and the quicker we can head to the Murrayfield for a well-earned beverage!
A reminder about our remaining Indoor Nets sessions - these are:
Sat 2nd April - 2pm-4pm Seniors
Sat 9th April - 12pm-2pm Juniors and 2pm-4pm Seniors
The skippers are working on pre-season friendlies still... if interested let Dan know - see Contacts page.
Please find a copy of a recent Newsletter sent out by Kiwi Dan
Back to HeadlinesThe Lothian Junior Cricket Indoor 8s finished up with two losses for our lads - a rather poor display with the bat (a very honourable exemption for Ben) with 15 (yes fifteen) wickets lost in our 12 overs saw our U-13s defeated by Carlton by 60 runs. Carlton only lost 5 wickets which accounts for 50 of the runs difference- lessons to be learnt! Our U-11s performed admirably and with great spirit against a very strong Grange U-11s team given the large age and experience gap between the sides. However the greater experience of Grange saw them to a comfortable win by 80 odd runs.
The Tesco vouchers for club and school sport scheme has started again so please get collecting at the till if you shop there! Please hand over vouchers to Iain Martin. Previous year's excellent efforts has seen us get some useful kwik cricket equipment!
MDAFS Seniors exited the Indoor Sixes tournament with defeat somewhat predictably at the hands of Grange, and then more painfully against an Academy side - at the half way point of our chase we were well placed thanks to good knocks by Luke and Maggy but fell away badly in the end to fall about 10 runs short chasing 118 or so.
An excellent team performance from MDAFS U-13s in the Lothian Junior Development Groups 8s tournament saw them to a 50 run win over Watsons. MDAFS scored 185-7 (Partnerships: Ross & Bharadwaj 35-1 Kneebone & Hogg 21-2 Bainbridge & Robinson 7-0 Falconer & Spence-McCarthy 26-4) and Watsons u13 135 with MDAFS bowling: Falconer 2-14 Kneebone 1-21 Robinson 0-12 Ross 1-9 Spence-McCarthy 2-4 Bharadwaj 2-8 Hogg 2-13 Bainbridge 0-4.
In the U-11 match we were outgunned by a strong Carlton team who scored 228-6 (bowling: Jindal 2-30 Skipworth 0-22 Newell 1-11 Kemp 0-17 Adamson 0-29 Ross 3-32 Bharadwaj 1-23) and we replied with 141 (Jindal 8 Skipworth 4 Newell 0 Kemp 3 Adamson 7 Ross 32 Bhardwaj 7). Next matches are not until the 20 and 27 March.
A young MDAFS under-11s team battled hard and bravely against Watsons at Westwoods in the Lothian Junior Development Groups 8s tournament. Watsons posted 183-3 (nb: start on 100, lose 5 runs per wicket) and MDAFS fell 14 runs short on 169-7, with an excellent 40 run partnership between Abhilhash (24 runs) and debutant Hector (in only his second try at cricket!) displaying great batting and running between the wicket. With us having only 7 lads Hector batted twice scoring an impressive 24 in total. Mark scored 10 including one six. The crucial difference between the sides being the greater number of wickets lost, so, something to work on at next Junior practices! (Sat 26 Feb).
Next games are on Sun 20 Feb, with U-13s now playing a re-arranged game v Watsons U13 at 12-45 and U-11s v Carlton (fixture times may be swopped!)
Our seniors kicked off the year's action with indoor 6s matches v Grange and the Eastern Academy in the Cricket Scotland Media 6s tournament, with success v the Academy (half century for Sam F) and a loss versus a strong Grange team.
Our U-13s were competing in the LJDG Indoor Tournament at Westwoods in a indoor 8s game versus Grange. We ran them close in a 8 run loss - 190 v 182. Grange were 1 run ahead in their last over and batted sensibly to close out the win, though a sharp single off the second last ball did almost result in a run out which would have left scores tied with one ball left, had the shy at the stumps hit! A really good game that could have gone either way. We were awarded a walk-over win (not any more, game re-arranged, see above!!) in our second game as Watsons could not raise a team.
Next U-13 fixture will now be the re-arranged game versus Watsons on 20 Feb.
Our U-11s will be in action on Sun Feb 13 at Westwoods at 12-45 - Iain Martin arranging this one.
LJDG Fixtures (Revised at 13-2-11):
LJDG U-11s
13 Feb.
1245 Murrayfield-DAFS v Watsonians
1345 Watsonians v Grange
20 Feb.
1345 Carlton v Murrayfield-DAFS (time tbc)
13 Mar.
1245 Carlton v Watsonians
27 Mar.
1245 Murrayfield-DAFS v Grange
1345 Grange v Carlton
LJDG U-13s
6 Feb.
1245 Grange v Murrayfield-DAFS
20 Feb.
1245 Murrayfield-DAFS v Watsons(time tbc)
20 Mar.
Final/Playoffs
Yes we need you to help with the collective effort to recruit new players. So please do your bit at your school, college, uni, workplace, pub, supermarket... where-ever!! To help you to help us please find attached a publicity flyer which advertises the indoor net practices which start up this Saturday 29th at the Academy Sports.
Juniors sessions start up again at the Academy Sports Indoor Hall from Saturday 29 January from 12-2pm. Details can be found in the attached Juniors Publicity Flyer.
This years annual Juniors membership will be £20 - the 2011 MDAFS Junior Membership Form is attached.
This year we will be again entering teams in the Lothians Junior Development Group competitions - indoor u-11s and u-13s in Feb/March; during the summer season we will enter the U-10 kwik cricket festivals again (hosting one of our own at Roseburn Park) and the LJDG U-13 B League, plus for this coming year we are exploring options to enter a joint team at U-15 level with another club. We will also be running the usual (likely to be) Friday evening summer practices too. So another busy year of juniors cricket and where help and assistance from MDAFS members and parents will be most very welcome. An ICC Intro to Cricket Course is being held on Feb 12 - being run by Scotland captain and CEC Cricket Development Officer, Gordon Drummond - please see the attached coaching course flyer.
MDAFS have been accepted into the Cricket Scotland organised Cricket Media Indoor Sixes Tournament that starts in January. Bar the East Academy Team we are the only non-SNCL team in the tournament so it's a feather in our cap that we are in it. Certainly a good challenge for the new leadership team as we take on...err.. SNCL Premiership Champions Grange as well as the Academy Team in Group D of the tournament. The first group A games start on Fri 7 Jan so I reckon we will be in action on Fri 28 Jan. Master Ferguson is leading the organisation I believe. Full details on the Message Board and at Cricket Media 6s section of the Cricket Scotland website.
PS apologies for (a) slight delay in posting articles (webmaster busy/feckless lazy bar steward -- delete as appropriate) - and (b) website being off line last couple of days .... due to a pedantic webhost and an out of date credit card expiry date. Having updated it online at said webhost, my pedantic credit card company then thought it was a dodgy transaction and froze my bleedin card... leading to minor embarrassment at petrol station this morning.... grrr.
While here... for the more social media inclined of thee... there is actually a Facebook Group for Murrayfield DAFS (one has posted up a few MDAFS photos into the Group) ... plus a growing number of Muffers old and new with such accounts. Always a delight to read of the latest scrapes that the likes of Vesty, Nasty, Wheels, Broon, Regan, JP, Daddy, Daybus, Elsie, Vimal, Belly, Kiwis, Reyaz, Scotty, Claypole, Peaky, Sutha, Murdo, Bish, Romil, Subo, Liddle, Maggy, Jeya, Danny, and many more etc etc etc,.... get into... or not.
Festive greetings to Muffers old and new all round the world!!
Highlights of the recent MDAFS AGM .... (which were broadcast live on Twitter/MDAFS)
Minutes will be posted when we get them.