Selkirk travelled with in hope rather than expectation to the picturesque home of Division 2 over achievers Clackmannanshire County CC on Saturday.
Selkirk lost the toss and were put in to bat and started steadily with Greg Fenton and Kenny Paterson (Captain and Vice Captain respectively) opening for the visitors. When Paterson was bowled in the 7th over the pattern of the innings took form as Fenton continued to score off the bad ball and his partners were outwitted by the most effective bowling attack they have faced this year. At drinks the visitors were 53 for 4 and Fenton reached 50 shortly after with a drive to long off.
The Selkirk opener, likely to finish top of the Division 2 scoring charts this year, was feeling the pressure to add runs as he was joined by tail enders and was caught in the deep mid wicket by Sai Daddolu. The young County player was excellent in the field, taking three catches on the day and running out Kieran Toor (5) with a direct hit. All three of his catches came from the bowling of Naite Grauf who finished with 5 wickets for 16 runs. The County bowler also stands on a hattrick, taking the final two Selkirk wickets in consecutive balls. Fenton ended up with 69 runs from the total of 100 runs and a home victory was the most likely outcome.
That Selkirk will look ruefully on this game as another missed opportunity suggests that the home run chase was not straight forward. The openers Tariq Mehboob and Keith Hefer both gave early chances which were put down by Selkirk fielders. They knocked off 32 runs before Daniel Heard (2-29) bowled Hefer. Grauf then faced only three balls before Heard had him LBW. However, Daddolu and Mehboob looked to have taken the game away from Selkirk with a partnership of 43, at which point the hosts were 79 for 4.
This morning Blaine Gillie finds himself in the top 5 of bowlers in Division 2 having once again tempted and tricked opposition batsmen to end up with 4 wickets for 17 runs. Where other bowlers were cursing under their breath at teammates catching skills, Gillie was to benefit from three Selkirk fielders eventually taking their opportunities. The pick of these was a high catch taken by Heard running round to mid on to remove Daddolu. When Heard followed this up in the next over with an excellent direct hit from deep mid off to remove Moon Sharif it felt that there was still a game to be won.
A break in play for drinks appeared to benefit the batting side as the nerves were settled and the home captain Tom Hutchison (10), partnered by Dave Hunt (11), gradually picked up the handful of runs they needed. Hutchison fell when they were 3 runs short of their target but Hunt rounded off a modest all round performance by hitting the winning runs with a four to deep mid wicket.
Next week’s home game against Kirk Brae is now a must win fixture for the souters if they want to avoid a quick return to Division 3.