Marchmont II took revenge over Selkirk for an opening day defeat with a 72 run victory at Cavalry Park in Edinburgh on Saturday.
The hosts batted first and progress was slow but at drinks they had only lost 2 wickets so were hopeful of pushing on. Selkirk bowling was tight and wickets fell at steady intervals. When D.Gardiner came on as second change and took 2 wickets in his first over, Marchmont II were 73 for 5.
Fielding was good on the day and with 8 batsmen out caught this was the best return of the season, M.Fenton taking three catches on the day.
N.Chetty, batting at 5, finished not out with 27 runs. Steering the lower order through the final overs he helped them add a very valuable 51 runs to the total.
D.Gardiner finished with season best figures 5 for 14 and K.Paterson found his range at the end of his spell to finish with 2 for 22.
Selkirk’s reply was surprisingly timid and tight bowling from the two Marchmont openers, S.Clayton and D.Prakash, made it clear that the modest target of 125 would require a diligent effort.
G.Fenton and M.Fenton both fell quickly to difficult deliveries and when W.Toms took a great catch running forward to remove K.Paterson the total required looked far off.
In hindsight, the removal of H.Murphy after drinks spelled an early finish. Where their hosts had soldiered on from 5 wickets down, Selkirk crumpled. The souters fell from 47 for 5 to 52 all out and gave the Marchmont change bowlers their best figures for the year. A.Hall (3-8) and K.Choudary (4-13) made short work of the lower order taking the last five wickets in a woeful 11 balls. H.Murphy (21) was the only batter in double figures.
This was a disappointing defeat for Selkirk and they will need a much better performance with the bat if they are to exact revenge on Haddington for a low scoring loss earlier in the season.