Wet pitch Ritch shows the way as the Fergussor roars
24th June 2023 @ Roseburn Grass
Murrayfield DAFS 109ao (44.2 overs)
T Ritch 24*, S Fergusson 24, E Xtras 19, F Ross 17
beat
Leith FAB 69ao (29.1 overs)
V Tyagi 4-34, T Ritch 2-10, J Rubly 2-15, S Fergusson 1-0 (off 0.1)
by 40 runs
It's gonna be hot and wet! That's nice if you're with a lady, but it ain't no good if you're in the jungle. The Jungle being Roseburn Park…
Going into this match the MDAFS 1st XI hadn’t shown much gusto with the willow – plenty of low scores, some tight run games, but just not enough runs on the board. With Leith having 0 wins to their name, the pressure was on us to perform and not let this be the “banana skin” we slip on.
It had been a glorious week of hot weather, mixed with a few thundery showers that had resulted in a pitch that we all thought might be best to bowl on – that had been proved accurate as Skip lost the toss and we were sent in to bat. Eyes rolled, “typical” was the catchword of the hour and with Lewis and Olly strapping on their pads to face up to whatever Leith FAB could throw at us – we were underway in round 9, ESCA Div 1.
It didn’t take long for the Leith bowlers to put some of the milk back in the fridge, as Olly “most likely to be sledged by his Mrs” Pickard fell in the 2nd over, clean bowled by N Khan… having only clipped 2 runs to the board. Replaced by Spicy/Spikey Mikey Buchan, the batsmen both tried to rebuild on a pitch that had variable bounce, plenty of swing and some seam movement on it – proving to be just as tricky as we initially thought. Runs were slow in coming, the overs ticked by and with the score on 13 in the 9th over, Lewis got cleaned up by M. Krishnan for 8 off 26… GRITTY.
His replacement – yours truly, comes to the crease in an all-too-familiar scenario of having to start again. The pitch assisting the bowling side, the discussion between Spiky/Spicy Mike & I was one of hardened resolve, “we don’t let these guys get on top of us.” 2 for 13 off 9…. Lessssgo. Oh dear… a mere 3 overs and 4 runs later, Mike lost all of his spice and missed a straight one to… you guessed it, N. Khan. A gritty 1 off 18 balls. The pressure is now well and truly on us to try and salvage some runs from this innings – to their credit, the Leith bowlers used the facilities well, but there needed some work to be done to get the score up.
Enter former Leith FABber, Brad “I’M BACK” Peters to the crease and again, the initial discussion was to get the eye in and try to score some runs, however they may come. This was the start of the first of the partnerships to claw us back – scoring didn’t come freely, only 2 boundaries coming from the next 11 overs, but at least we were still at the crease… creaking our way past 40, 3 down into the 21st over. Watchful & picking the gaps where we could until Brad was cleaned up by S. Verma for another gritty 1 off 16… closely followed by yours truly in the 22nd chasing an outswinger from the much-loved Tahir caught behind for 24 off 48 balls – you seeing the theme here? Hard to score runs eh?!
Skipper Tyagi and P. Hawkins were now both at the crease, warily watching the overs slowly tick b… oh wait, no the Skipper ended up getting caught out in the 23rd over, not troubling the scorers… a horrific place to be, 43/6 after 23 overs. With Hawkins the set batsman… as much as one CAN be set in this scenario, in walked our first batting hero of the day – Finn “I’d rather be having a Tennents” Ross. 6 runs later – unfortunately, Mithun got one to fire up of the pitch, Hawkins doing everything he can to get out of the way of it – clipping the glove and through to the keeper for grafting 5 of 17 balls.
At 49/7 off 29 overs, I can hear you thinking “they’re done here… absolutely poked, lowest score of the season incoming”. Cometh the hour, cometh the man, the tall man… Tom Ritch, AKA Big Man, AKA Shagger, AKA Squashies, AKA Ritch Tea Biscuits, fresh off a bit of a battering the week before was keen to make amends so he and Finn set about their work with slow, but steady progress… and over the next 10 overs between them they managed to get us to what was now a probably par score of 81 before Finn sent one too many to the skies and was caught out for 17 off 44 balls in the 39th – an important innings partnering Tom to get us to that total. Jared “Russian Currency” Rubly came in at 10 and did a good job of rotating the strike between himself and Tom adding 28 runs to the total over the course of the next 4 overs – lots of running and a 2 boundaries for Tom. Jared fell in the 45th with a fairly rapid 10 off 11 balls and Sakib “Ooh Ahh Ullah La” Ullah faced up one ball – sent to the skies… caught.
With a lovely-as-usual Nadeem Anjum tea and some juice/hydration onboard, spirits were high – despite the weather getting warmer and the wicket playing a little better, it felt at though a combination of that score and Leith toiling at the bottom of the table meant we were still in control so off we trundled out onto the RBG for the afternoon session.
Unfortunately, as we have come to expect from some teams – the scorebook is completed somewhat “averagely”… Mel Clench, avert your eyes. But ultimately, Hero of the Day, Squashies took the shiny nut and had a crack at the Leith Openers, going for a boundary in his first over… we’re sure nightmares of the week before were haunting him, but following a good first over from his partner in opening-bowler crime, UIlah – Tom knocked over wicket 1 in his second over, clean bowled. Batsman 1, not doing too much with a 5. The next 5 overs were bowled well – tight, using the wicket and making sure the basics were controlled – Linius et Lengthus Kiddius. Those 5 overs going for only 6 runs showing just how hard it is to get away on that wicket. In his 5th, Squashies prevailed again and had the No 2 out trapped in front for what we can only describe as a rare LBW decision…
2/13 off 9… here we go… not on the ropes, but still a long way to go, the mood was buoyant, the chat was awful and the opening spells from our quicks showed as 12 overs, 4 maidens, 2 for 19. With that, the skipper rang in the first bowling changes of the day to himself (classic captain move) and Russian Currency. No 3 and No 4 settled into their work and grafted well given the conditions, but always scoring under the rate – gradually we applied pressure and in the 16th whilst trying for a ridiculous “no run there” run – Ooh Lah Ullah La struck with a brilliant run out and we had them 28 for 3.
3 overs pass, 3 runs scored and Skipper grabs another with a no-look caught and bowled effort. No doubt protecting the money-maker more than attempting a catch, but it says “catch” in the book. 4 down, still 80 odd to get. Another 8 runs on the board and another wicket down, caught by Brad off the Skippers bowling and now we’re all getting a wee bit toey… we’re in this… we’re in the fight. But as we all know, cricket sometimes throws a slower ball at you that you have to negotiate… enter S Gavas (Sachin). He knew what was needed, he had seen the conditions and threw caution to the wind and started to play some fairly big shots and ultimately he ended up as the highest scorer of the day (30). We’ve been here before though, skipper knew that we just needed to rotate the strike and with Jarod bowling incredibly tight at the other end it was only a matter of time before we start knocking into the tail.
The next 2 wickets to fall, happened in quick succession both off the bowling of the skip – caught by our able bodied sub fielder Hruday and the other clean bowled we had them dead to rights at 49/7 off 24. Just 3 more wickets to go – and it only took 5 more overs with Jared taking 2 scalps himself both bowled and I got to have a crack at the tail as well – 1 ball… 1 wicket (humble brag). We had them skittled for 69 inside 30 overs and 20 points in the bag!
Almost a picture perfect day for cricket was had, with beers on the grass after – dare I say it too hot? In Scotland? No… surely not. Glad to be part of the Saturday Slam… UTM