Selkirk travelled to Edinburgh on Saturday on the back of a series of victories but with selection problems this was going to be a difficult fixture to keep the run going.
Selkirk won the toss and elected to bowl and there were no early wickets as there had been in previous fixtures as the Selkirk opening bowlers struggled to get their range. The first wicket came through an alert piece of fielding from Lewis McCulloch as Azhar Abid was run out. Kenny Paterson (3-46) replaced Michael Fenton (1-46) and proved more difficult for the batsmen taking two wickets in successive overs. With the bat Nick Murray was looking solid and when joined by Toby Lush they picked up the pace. At drinks the Edinburgh side were four wickets down for 88 runs.
A drop by Iain Purves at slip was to prove costly as Murray passed 50 and started to dominate bowlers. He was finding the gaps and was dismissive of some scruffy bowling, including a hook for six on to the high school wall from a Michael Fenton no ball. Making her debut for Selkirk, Ashley Robertson was calm under pressure to take a high catch from Harry Waterston off the bowling of Blain Gillie (4-38), who again took the most wickets for the souters. Gillie took the final wicket when Murray was eventually dismissed caught behind 2 runs short of his century.
To get near their target of 185, Selkirk would need their top order to stand firm against a strong bowling attack. The quality of bowling from Joe Gibson but more significantly from Toby Lush was causing problems for the opening bats. In the foruth over Greg Fenton was surprised by a short ball from Lush which he edged on to his helmet and, although the wicket keeper fluffed his attempt, Nick Murray was poised to grasp the fumble as it popped up nicely. Whilst Gibson failed to make a breakthrough Lush continued to have an impact bowling Kenny Paterson in his fourth over and taking two wickets in his 6th over including the important wicket of Michael Fenton (12). At the end of his spell Lush had 6 wickets for the loss of only 5 runs.
With a result in the offing the game did not stop for drinks at 20 overs and at 39 for 7, getting to 50 was looking like a challenge. With Lush bowled out the Selkirk top order could only watch longingly from the boundary as the change bowlers made hard work of finishing off the tail. Neil Gentleman held up his end as Iain Purves (25) gently manoeuvred the score forward with the consolation target being 75 runs, where the first batting point is awarded to the defeated side. However it was not to be as Purves stepped in front of his wickets and was given LBW with the total at 72.
Selkirk have little time to lick their wounds with the visit of Melrose on Wednesday evening for a 20/20 fixture followed by the visit of Tranent and Preston Village to Philiphaugh on Saturday.