At Philiphaugh on Saturday, Selkirk scored a very welcome victory over local rivals Hawick and Wilton.
Selkirk’s players line up for a photo call after retaining the Ronnie Simpson Memorial Trophy at Philiphaugh on Saturday. They defeated Hawick & Wilton by nine wickets in the sides’ ESCA Division 3 match. Back row, from left – B. Gillie, R. Banks, B. Wilkinson, K. Toor, I. Gardiner, G. Fenton. Front – S. Wilkinson, T. Dekker, M. Fenton (capt.), D. Heard, G. Borthwick.
Hawick and Wilton won the toss and on the back of some strong batting performances asked Selkirk to bowl. The visiting openers Morgan Tait and Gareth Welsh started well and were taking their opportunities to score especially from Daniel Heard who was uncharacteristically conceding regular boundaries. However Heard had his revenge on Tait when he bowled him in the 10th over. Welsh was determined to keep on attacking but then gave away his wicket with a calamitous run out in Heard’s next over. Welsh hit the ball straight at Ian Gardiner who let it slip through his fingers but it had only dropped at his feet at which point Welsh was halfway down the wicket. Gardiner redeemed himself immediately with a swift pick up and throw to send the Hawick man back to the pavilion. At drinks Hawick had rallied somewhat to 65 for 3.
The scoring slowed with the introduction on Rory Banks and Greg Fenton to the attack – conceding just 10 runs in their first 9 overs together. Fenton (3-14) then delivered the key wickets of Declan Solley (13) and big-hitting Ryan Johnston (23). Callum Murray hung around to get to double figures but Heard (3-31) returned to finish of the Hawick and Wilton innings by bowling Murray with the last ball of the innings as the visitors were all out for 103.
Having had some success with the bat in midweek where the openers Greg Fenton and Keiran Toor shared a partnership of 60 to help defeat St Boswells in a 20/20 fixture, hopes were high of a repeat performance. Despite the often unplayable deliveries of Hawick opening bowler Johnston, Toor (31) and Fenton (53*) did not disappoint and improved on their Thursday efforts with 77 runs on the board before Toor succumbed to Murray.
Batting collapses are not unheard of at Philiphaugh but Todd Decker (9) backed up a creditable performance as stand in wicket keeper (with two catches behind the stumps) with a batting cameo to Fenton’s inevitable lead role. The souters reached their target with the first ball of the 22nd over.
Selkirk’s Todd Decker hits the winning run off a ball from Hawick & Wilton bowler Calum Murray.
Selkirk are at home again next week where they host Marchmont II and will look for a turnaround in the result from the start of the season where they were narrowly defeated.
