The Green at St. Boswells was resplendent on Saturday and a local fixture had attracted supporters of both sides for this match. Selkirk won the toss and elected to bowl and it was quickly apparent that it was going to be a surface hardest for the batters. St. Boswells opener Rich Young was first victim, scooping a delivery from Michael Fenton to Daniel Heard at square leg. Scott Ruthven came to the crease probably earlier then he hoped but with recent form locals were expectant. Ruthven was cautious to start and had lost a couple of partners by drinks as Greg Fenton (4-14) began to apply the pressure.
Dropped on 12 by Iain Purves, Ruthven remained cool and played some stylish cuts and drives to reach his half century. He was destined to carry his bat as wickets fell around him and unfortunately for the hosts, his final 8 partners succumbed with regularity, adding only 9 runs between them to the total. In a contrast to previous outings in the league most Selkirk catches were taken on the day, including two excellent high catches for Bob and Shaun Wilkinson. The St Boswells innings ended on 77 all out with the last ball of the 35th over.
Although the total was low it was still a challenge in the conditions. However, Greg Fenton served notice early that he wasn’t going to hang about, scoring 30 runs in the first 4 overs. Along with his partner Blaine Gillie they bumped past 50 within 7 overs. Kathryn White managed to deceive Greg and then Michael Fenton in the 8th over creating some tension for the visitors. However, Rory Banks kept his nerve and with a four to deep mid off had the visitors 2 runs from their target. David Gardiner did the honour of scoring the winning runs off of Ellie Wilkie (2-8).
Selkirk have two games this week with a trip over to Melrose on Wednesday evening for a 20/20 fixture (6pm start) and the visit of Edinburgh University Staff next Saturday (25th May – 12pm start).
