1st XV start season with narrow 24-21 win at Falkirk
Click here to read Bill McNie’s match report
http://www.stewmelrugby.com/match-report-v-falkirk-rfc-saturday-7th-september/
Next Saturday – 1st XV v Kirkcaldy, Inverleith, ko 3pm.
FP Golf Club – Autumn Outing to Roxburghe
The FP Golf Club had their Autumn outing yesterday to the Roxburghe course near Kelso and the fifteen members present were rewarded with about the best golfing day of the summer.
David Lowes with 85 had the best gross score of the day reflecting the difficulty of the course and David Macfarlane won the handicap stableford with 39 points. Bert Barclay won the nearest the pin competition at the 8th hole with the only shot that finished on the green. The two’s sweep had 3 joint winners. All agreed the course was a fantastic venue in superb condition.
Season over – 1st XI lose heavily to new Champions
Forfarshire 309 all out; Stewart’s Melville CC (49.3 overs); Stewart’s Melville 177 all out (49.5 overs). Lost by 132 runs. Match ball sponsors – Stewart’s Melville Rugby Club
The weather for the last league game of the season was for maybe the first occasion as good as could ever be hoped for, sunny, hot and no wind to speak of. Our visitors, Forfarshire, had secured the championship for the first time last week and seemed in celebration mode throughout fielding their very strongest team. No surprise then when Forfarshire won the toss and chose to take the opportunity of showing off their batting prowess. To the surprise of the few onlookers by the eighth over Forfarshire were three down for 27 runs, Chris Greaves, Roy Johnston and Umar Mohammed having fallen to Shaylen Pillay and Andrew Wallace. Given their batting strength all through their line up the confidence of the visitors was not diminished and their middle order led by current Scotland star Michael Leask who piled up 128 runs (18x4s; 2x6s) for himself took their score beyond 300 before they lost their final two wickets being all out for 309 which ordinarily would look far beyond Stew Mel’s capabilities. To capture all ten wickets was an achievement in itself but for the first time this season all four of our slow bowlers were scored off heavily. Shaylen Pillay had the best figures with 2 for 25 off 8 overs, Andrew Wallace finished with 3 for 48 off 9 overs.
Facing such a large total there was disappointment among home ranks when the normally quick scoring Kyle McCallum was out in the first over to the pacey Scott Cameron for 2. Greg Bissett and Kris Steel then held out against the visitors attack into the 16th over taking the score onto 36 when Kris was bowled by Umar Mohammed for 17 followed quickly by Greg Bissett out lbw for 14 to Brock Ditchman. By then the required run rate was an unlikely 7.6 an over and while not achieving that there followed an excellent partnership of 88 in 102 balls between Shaylen Pillay and Hayden Sweet (45 with 4 fours), Shaylen went on to score 62 off 83 balls with 9 fours before eventually being seventh out lbw to Michael Leask’s off spin chasing quick runs with the score then on 172 with 3 overs left. In a disappointing end to our innings we lost the last three wickets for the addition of only five more runs being all out when Sam Tait was comprehensively run out off the second last ball of the innings. In truth we were never likely to match Forfarshire’s Leask inspired scoring rate which would have been beyond most teams in the league.
Our final league record was 3 wins and 9 defeats leaving us in ninth place for the third successive year but two wins better off than relegated Aberdeenshire. We were perhaps a little unfortunate in that of our six no result matches five of these were against teams in the lower part of the league where we would have had hopes of success. Reaching the semi-final of the midweek T20 competition including wins against Grange, Watsonians and Carlton was a pretty good outcome but the season will be most remembered for its miserable weather and the number of cancellations.
Till next season.
View scorecard http://www.stewartsmelvillecricket.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Scorecard-SMCC-v-Forfarshire-24.08.19.pdf
Rugby – Pre season match v Musselburgh at Stoneyhill this Saturday
The Rugby Club have their first pre season match this Saturday, 10th August v Musselburgh at Stoneyhill. Entry is free to all spectators.
Cricket East Premier Matchday 15 – 1st XI lose at Goldenacre
Saturday 3rd August
Stewart’s Melville CC 77 all out (27.4 overs); Heriot’s CC 78 for 5 (26 overs). Lost by 5 wickets. Ball sponsor – Colin Brown
After last week’s weather cancellation the 1st XI resumed their East Premier League campaign against Heriot’s at Goldenacre having won the first match earlier in the season.
Captain Steven Parker won the toss and chose to bat first despite having won the first match batting second. Kyle McCallum (18 runs) and Mike Miller (20 runs) started profitably against the pace bowling of our former player Elliot Ruthven and Joe Kinghorn-Gray, ex RHC putting on 30 runs before Kyle stranded out of his ground was bizarrely run out by Hayes van der Berg after he had failed to take an overhead catch at mid off. Ben Wilkinson followed caught low down in the same position off Kinghorn-Gray with the score on 41. Shaylen who replaced Ben at the crease started confidently the score quickly moving onto 63 before he was caught behind for 15 off the bowling Michael Shean who had replaced Elliot Ruthven. The slow bowling combination of Shean and Scotland and Derbyshire player Michael Watt then appeared unplayable on a helpful wicket as we slumped to 77 all out with five of our bats failing to score.
Photo – Mikey Miller plays forward
Given the success of Heriot’s slow bowlers we opened with Greg Ruthven and Hayden Sweet with Kyle McCallum replacing Sweet after one over. Heriot’s reached 23 without loss and seemed on their way to a comfortable win when the pursuit of runs against a turning ball resulted in a succession of wickets so that the score became 44 for 5 and Stew Mel hopes of achieving something special were raised. Hayes van der Berg and Keith Morton then chose to pick their shots carefully so that after 26 overs Heriot’s achieved the anticipated win leaving Stew Mel to wonder how many more runs might have tested the home side more. Greg Ruthven bowled his 10 overs straight off taking two wickets for just 20 runs with Kyle McCallum one for 17 off seven overs and Sam Tait two for 27 off 8 overs making things difficult for the Heriot’s batsmen.
We have three Saturdays to go in the league season with home games to come against Watsonians, RH Corstorphine and league leaders Forfarshire. Aberdeenshire remain in the relegation spot two wins behind us.
View scorecard http://www.stewartsmelvillecricket.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Scorecard-Heriots-v-SMCC-03.08.19.pdf
Rugby Club 1st XV Fixtures 2019-20
The Rugby Club’s 1st XV play in Scottish Rugby’s National League Division 2 in the coming season.
The season starts on Saturday 7th September at Falkirk with the first home game on Saturday 14th September v Kirkcaldy (3pm).
View full fixture list https://smcfpclub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Rugby-Fixtures-2019-20.docx
Cricket – Grange win league Slog Fest in truncated match at Raeburn
Saturday 20th July
Grange 262 for two (22 overs); Stewart’s Melville CC 162 for two (22 overs). Grange won by 100 runs.
After heavy overnight rain Saturday’s league match was reduced to 22 overs a side starting at 4.35pm just 15 minutes before the cut-off by which time the ground was bathed in warm sunshine.
Steven Parker won the toss and elected to bowl, Grange opening with Scotland squad player Ollie Hairs only recently returned after several years down South and former Scotland bat Ryan Flannigan. The first three overs produced 16 runs without loss before Hairs who favours “slog sweeps” both sides of the wicket “teed off” with 2, 4, 6, 4 off the final four balls of Hayden Sweet’s second over. He continued in that vein for the rest of innings eventually scoring 179 not out off 81 balls with 17 fours and 12 sixes with only Shaylen Pillay and Andrew Wallace conceding less than two runs a ball from their bowling. The highly thought of under 19 Scotland cap Tom MacKintosh batting at no 3 scored a fine 48 in more classical style with 5 fours and one six). It didn’t go unnoticed that a very catchable chance was put down early in Hairs’ innings.
The Stew Mel response facing an impossible task was what in normal circumstances was to go along at very good rate of seven plus runs an over with Shayle Pillay opening with Kyle McCallum reaching 53 not out while Kyle made 36 (3 fours and 2 sixes) off just 24 balls. Ben Wilkinson at no 3 made 16 off 17 balls and Hayden Sweet 40 not out off 28 balls. So Grange duly collected the win points in their pursuit of league leaders Forfarshire while we are still seeking the further league win that will probably ensure league safety for another season.
Before the match a minutes silence was observed by the players and umpires following news of the untimely death of Watsonian’s groundsman and former Warwickshire and Scotland player Willie Morton which caused the withdrawal from our side of his Myreside colleague Kris Steel.
View scorecard https://smcfpclub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/2019-07-20-GRANGE-STEWMEL-match-scorecard.pdf
Cricket Club advance to T20 Cup Semi-Final with Carlton victory
Tuesday 16th July At Grange Loan – Carlton 138 for nine (20 overs); Stewart’s Melville 139 for 4 (19.4 overs) Having been responsible for Grange’s elimination in the group stages the 1st XI produced one of their best batting performances of the season last night to secure a six wicket win against a strong Carlton side with three balls remaining of their 20 overs to progress to the semi-final match of the T20 Masterton Trophy competition. Having won the toss captain Steven Parker elected to bowl first and the tactic seemed to have worked when seven Carlton wickets were taken for inside 14 overs for 81 runs conceded. One of Carlton recognised strengths is their ability to bat deep so it was frustrating but no surprise that Peter Neame and ‘Cheeky’ Gosain added 52 runs for the eighth wicket and achieved a final score of 138 which seems about par for the side batting first in the competition. Slow bowlers Greg Ruthven with 3 for 20 and Hayden Sweet with 2 for 23 were our leading bowlers as so often in this competition. Carlton have two of the quickest club bowlers in the Scottish game in professional Corne Dry and Scottish internationalist Ali Evans yet often choose not to bowl them together mixing up their bowlers throughout. Michael Miller went early to a superb catch on the boundary by former Scotland rugby full-back Hugo Southwell (picked the wrong fielder there) and Shaylen Pillay after an early flurry of runs fell to Ali Evans first ball of the innings in the fifth over having replaced Dry at the pavilion end. Thereafter Kris Steel and Ben Wilkinson consolidated things so that after 10 overs we were 49 for 2. From that point onwards both players raised the tempo scoring freely against all bowlers in a partnership of 80 runs when Dry back for his third over bowled Kris Steel with score on 98. Hayden Sweet joined Ben Wilkinson at the crease and together they carried on with the run before Ben was run out attempting a third run at 119 in the eighteenth over. Hayden Sweet continued in aggressive style and the scores were tied second ball of the last over with a massive six with the winning run being scored two balls later. A huge win for the club which brings a semi-final on Thursday evening against Corstorphine at Barnton. Scoreline: Carlton 138 for 9 (P Neame 45, C Dry 20; G Ruthven 3 for 20, H Sweet 2 for 23.) SMCC 139 for 4 (B Wilkinson 46, K Steel 30, H Sweet 26 no, S Pillay 15; S Gupta 1 for 16 (2 overs), C Dry 1 for 23 (4 overs), A Evans 1 for 19 (4 overs).) View scorecard http://www.stewartsmelvillecricket.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Carlton-v-SMCC-15-07-19-v3.pdf
Cricket update from week 11 of East Premier League
1st XI v STONEYWOOD-DYCE at People’s Park
Saturday 13th July
Stewart’s Melville CC 122 all out (41 overs); Stoneywood Dyce 124 for 1 (23.4 overs)
Lost by 9 wickets. Ball sponsor – Matt Coyle
Stoneywood continued their recent good run with a 9 wicket win over our 1st X1. The margin of victory was vast but local umpire Peter Redhead stated after the match that the toss was vital. Our lads were put in on an average wicket in dull, overcast conditions whereas the home side batted later on when the sun had arrived.
That said the home side were worthy winners and bowled us out for 122 in 41 overs. Hayden Sweet batted very well for 49 and his partnership of 45 with Steven Parker briefly threatened to get us back in the game. Our final total would have been lower but for an excellent last wicket stand of 26 between James Gordon and Asdaq Raja who hit four boundaries in his 18.
Stoneywood knocked off the runs in the 24th over with Lindsay 64 and Stander 34 unbeaten at the end. One final note from today’s game at Dyce was that 15 year old Ailsa Lister made her East Premier Debut for Stoneywood. Ailsa kept wicket, took 3 catches and is a member of the Scotland girls U17 squad. And all this after Kathryn Bryce scored 24 for Watsonians last week against believe it or not Stoneywood Dyce. How long before Stewart’s Melville have a young lady in the 1st X1 ?
Your reporter was staying in Aberdeen overnight with school pal John Forrest and actually had time to watch the last hour of the Aberdeenshire v Arbroath match. In an exciting finish Arbroath
prevailed by 15 runs which was the one bright spot of the day as we remain 2 wins ahead of Aberdeenshire with 6 games left.
View scorecard http://www.stewartsmelvillecricket.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Scorecard-Stoneywood-Dyce-v-SMCC-13.07.19.pdf
Lawrance Reilly
School leavers reception – June 2019
The FP Club and MES Guild held a reception at Inverleith for school leavers on Friday 28 June
