Selkirk had a confidence boosting victory in their first ESCA Division 2 fixture at Philiphaugh yesterday. It was to be a low scoring affair in the damp conditions with a drizzle persisting throughout the day.
Selkirk won the toss and elected to put Edinburgh CC 2nds in to bat. Bowling was accurate from the start and not having had any warm up games the visitors looked vulnerable early on.
M.Fenton (2-10) and D.Heard (1-12) kept the scoring down and had three wickets between them in the opening 8 overs. The visitors steadied through W.Ulah (21) and D.Choudry (7) and were hopeful of some respite with the change of bowlers. However, at first change, D.Gardiner was even more miserly and in his fourth over he removed the stubborn Choudry. A.Ashraf was run out next ball when Ulah stood his ground rather than accepting the captain’s invite for a quick single.
At drinks Edinburgh were struggling at 38-6 but Annand (12) looked capable of supporting Ulah to build a score they could try and defend. Although progress was still slow, Annand had picked a couple of wider balls from Paterson to cut to the boundary taking the score past 60. However, the Selkirk veteran got his revenge when Annand was caught off of his bowling by B.Gillie.
All figures were good for the home bowlers, not least of all the captain G.Fenton (2-3) who brought himself on for a couple of overs and removed the top Edinburgh scorer Ulah. Paterson (3-28) had a good shout for bowler of the day as he took the last wicket to end the innings at 67 runs scored.
With the bat Selkirk showed intent from the first ball with G.Fenton taking a quick single. H.Murphy was to prove immovable on the day and held up his end while the captain and M.Fenton scored quickly to bring the game to a quick close. G.Fenton (24) holed out to H.Butt at mid on in the 6th over and M.Fenton (25) similarly mistimed a shot to W.Ulah in the 11th over.
By then Selkirk were only 3 runs short of their target. H.Murphy (7*) and B.Wilkinson (0*) were very tentative in their approach to getting these runs. The visitors will be very frustrated by their inconsistent bowling and the extras conceded on the day (11). It was perhaps unsurprising that the total reached 68 with a ball beating the batsman but also the wicket keeper for a single bye.
Selkirk take a trip to Dunfermline and Carnegie CC on Saturday 6th May for their next fixture and return to Philiphaugh for a Thursday evening game on 11th May against Manderston CC.
