Weekend Sport – Sat 22nd June. Cricket – 1st XI at League Leaders Forfarshire

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Saturday 22nd June

Stewart’s Melville CC   208 for 8 (50 overs);   Forfarshire  211 for 3 (41.3 overs).  Forfarshire won by 7 wickets. Ball sponsor – Dr Ian Adam.

The 1st XI took on unbeaten league leaders Forfarshire at Broughty Ferry on a day when the sun shone and in front of a noisy crowd of about 300 enjoying the home club’s Food and Drink garden party with a musical accompaniment from the large marquee imported for the occasion.

In the end Forfarshire won comfortably but Stew Mel performed commendably with three batsmen posting half centuries batting first after captain Steven Parker won the toss.  Kyle McCallum (55) 9 fours, Ben Wilkinson (51) 4 fours, 2 sixes, and Shaylen Pillay (65) 2 fours, 1 six, took the game to the opposition despite aggressive bowling from Forfarshire’s opening bowlers Bryce Allchin and  Scott Cameron and 28 overs of disciplined spin bowling  maintaining a scoring rate of about four runs an over throughout on an excellent surface.

Kyle McCallum

Ben Wilkinson

Given Forfarshire’s previous batting exploits this season the final total of 208, good as it was, was not enough to frighten the home side and after Shaylen removed young opener Jack Hogarth with the score at 37, Craig Wallace, younger brother of our Andy Wallace, and a current Scotland regular and their captain Umar Mohammed took control of the game going along at about five runs an over without ever looking anything less than assured at the crease until a sharp throw from Shaylen  took out the middle stump at the far end with a direct hit running out Wallace going for a second run.

Having taken the score onto 183 by that time it had become a question of when the Stew Mel total would be passed.  There was a further success of sorts when Forfarshire’s other current Scotland player Michael Leask was caught on the boundary by Callum Steel from Hayden Sweet’s off spin.   That encouraged brief hopes that we might extend the match beyond 45 overs and into bonus point territory but that was not to be as Forfarshire finished things off in the 42nd over with Mohammed still there on 73 not out.

Consolation came early with the news that bottom of the league Aberdeenshire (one win to date) had been bowled out for 45 by Carlton who required only 12 overs to complete the win.  Aberdeenshire come to Inverleith next Saturday which becomes a season defining match for the 1st XI.

Weekend Sport – Sat 25th May. Cricket – Second 1st XI loss to Corstorphine

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Saturday 25th May

Stewart’s Melville CC 69 all out (33.3 overs); RH Corstorphine 72 for 3 (20.5 overs). RHC won by 7 wickets.

Match Ball sponsor – Steve Kerr

 

The 1st XI lost to RH Corstorphine for the second time in a week again being bowled out for a low score.

On this occasion they will feel there were some mitigating factors given the less than perfect batting conditions the side batting first would face. The start was delayed by half an hour to allow a very damp and soft pitch, particularly so at one end, to dry out somewhat.

Unfortunately on this occasion captain Steven Parker made the wrong call and we were put in to bat. Calum Whitefoord, an exceptionally quick bowler and professional Mohammed Saad provided a formidable opening pair and Whitefoord in particular wreaked havoc bowling a fairly full length and capturing the wickets of Kris Steel (caught behind), Shaylen Pillay (lbw), Hayden Sweet (bowled) and Greg Bissett (bowled) scoring only 4 runs between them. At the other end Kyle McCallum (9) and Ben Wilkinson (0) went to Saad and all that left us 15 for six. For the remaining bats the object of the exercise was simply to accumulate a respectable total knowing that former Scotland off spinning star Majid Haq had still to come on. Ultimately a total of 69 was achieved with Mikey Miller top scoring with a patient 19 runs.

Without achieving an early breakthrough with our bowling the result was never in doubt as RHC picked their way through 21 overs for the loss of three wickets.

View scorecard http://www.stewartsmelvillecricket.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Cscorecard-SMCC-v-RHC-18.06.19-1.pdf

Sport – Former Pupils in Under 20 Rugby World Cup in Argentina

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The FP Club have been represented by three recent school 1st XV players in the Under 20 World Cup currently being played out in Argentina, Conor Boyle the squad captain, Ross Thompson and Jack Blain.   Currently all three play their club rugby in the upper echelons of the leagues but both Conor Boyle and Jack Blain turned out for the FPs in their last year at school two seasons ago.

At the weekend with a much changed side Scotland went down by 52 points to 33 to New Zealand in their second group match.    The final Scottish try was scored by winger Jack Blain following a kick to the left corner from Ross Thompson who came on as replacement stand off in this match.   All three FPs played in the first match v South Africa which ended in a 43-19 defeat.

Next up: Scotland Under 20 face Georgia Under 20 in their final pool stage fixture on Wednesday 12 June (kick-off 2.30pm BST) at Racecourse Stadium, Rosario – streamed live at world.rugby/u20, a match they will be anxious to win to retain their current under 20 ranking.

Weekend Sport – Sat/Sun 8th/9th June – Cricket. Wet Saturday, Scottish Cup Loss on Sunday

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Saturday – EPL. Watsonians 34 for 3 (14 overs) v SMCC (Match abandoned)

Sunday – Scottish Cup. RH Corstorphine 142 for 8 (50 overs); SMCC 40 all out. (21.1 overs) Lost by 102 runs.

Hayden Sweet dives to save a run v Corstorphine

Following recent wins against Heriot’s CC and Grange there was disappointment on Saturday when having removed Watsonians three main run scorers Place, Carson and Chalmers for 13 the rain came in leading to the abandonment of play after 14 overs with Watsonians in the process of a mini recovery.

Sunday’s match at Inverleith started out in similar fashion. Having won the toss captain Steven Parker inserted RHC on the inevitably slow pitch and Stew Mel captured the first three wickets for 15 runs. Thereafter RHC set about the recovery process and their numbers 4 and 5 professional Mohammed Saad who played for Pakistan A against the England Lions team during the winter and Australian Sam Flett, took the score to 88 before Flett was out for 39.   RHC grafted on eventually taking the score to 142 in their full quota of 50 overs with Saad getting 55.  In amongst this a notable event occurred with Stew Mel’s Callum Steel taking a hattrick before finishing with four for 30 from his seven overs.

It was accepted that 142 would be a challenging total in the conditions and after opener Patrick Ritchie was an early run out in a misunderstanding with his partner Greg Bissett the batting continued on a downward cycle with only Andy Wallace 12 not out and Hayden Sweet 10 reaching double figures.  So no Scottish Cup run this year.

On Saturday, league business brings us Corstorphine again, this time at Barnton (12 noon).

Weekend Sport – 1st June 2019. Cricket – 1st XI defeat Heriot’s … another rare win over local rival team

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Cricket:    Heriot’s CC    152 all out (46.4 overs);    Stewart’s Melville CC    153 for 5 (48 overs).     Win by 5 wickets.

1st XI v Heriot’s CC 1 June 2019

Following their recent win over Watsonians in the T20 Masterton Trophy the 1st XI cricket team secured another rare win against local rivals, this time in the Prenier League against Heriot’s CC at Inverleith giving the club a two out four record for the season so far in the league.    On this occasion the Stew Mel bowlers restricted the usually free scoring opposition to around three runs an over while taking wickets throughout.

Taking a line through our batting in chasing down 169 against Stoneywood Dyce at Inverleith three weeks earlier there were hopes that we could do so again. Patrick Ritchie and Kris Steel had to face the difficult fairly quick opening period against our former player Elliot Ruthven and Joe Kinghorn-Gray who moved from RH Corstorphine for this season. Steel was out in the 10th over to Kinghorn-Gray and Ritchie in the 15th to the first change Michael Shean. Ben Wilkinson (42) and Shaylen Pillay (28) set up our response. There was some concern among home supporters when Elliot Ruthven removed both in close proximity during his second spell but after a slow period between overs 30 and 40 Hayden Sweet (21 no) and Greg Ruthven (26 no) stepped up the pace and stayed together to achieve a win in the 47th over which most East cricket observers would have deemed unlikely. All in all a great performance and well done.

This week matches are scheduled against Grange on Thursday evening in the T20 (6.15pm) and against Watsonians at Myreside in the league on Saturday (1pm) with a Scottish Cup 1st round match on Sunday at Inverleith v RH Corstorphine (12 noon start).