Selkirk visited Haddington on Saturday and left almost empty handed thanks largely to the stubborn resolve of Haddington opening batter Alan Cruickshank and the neutralising conditions. Only 4 wickets fell in the two innings as the damp conditions were exacerbated by a steady drizzle.
Selkirk lost an early wicket but soon settled to the task as Michael Fenton and Todd Dekker looked generally untroubled by the bowling but watchful particularly of Nikhil Kadyan (1-14) who gave away few runs. Kadyan was ultimately successful after a short downfall of rain when a quicker delivery skidded off the surface through the defence of Dekker (41). Fenton was joined by Wilkinson who defended his end well while the skipper pushed past 50 with a drive past the bowler for a quick single.
Perhaps with an eye to how easy the home batters may also find conditions, Fenton began to push and was caught just inside the long off boundary by Kadyan. At this point the visitors were at 136 runs with 6 overs left and after some encouragement Wilkinson (26) and Iain Gardiner (17) batted to the close adding a valuable 36 runs setting their hosts the target of 173 for the win.
Haddington fielded the same opening bats as they had at Philiphaugh where both made a start but fell to the Selkirk opening bowlers. At Neilson Park on Saturday Cruickshank was to prove immovable and although Scott Logan gave away his wicket somewhat he had reached 45 by the time he spooned a full toss delivery from Kenny Paterson to Fenton at short cover.
With steady scoring and the occasional boundary Cruickshank was probably waiting for confirmation from those keeping the score that he had reached a half century. He had been joined by James Cardwell-Moore (59*) who took a quick liking to the conditions and the bowling to score regularly on the leg side in particular. Indeed, Cardwell-Moore received the first cheer as confirmation of his half century but Cruickshank (55*) quickly followed.
The Selkirk team tried to stay positive but although there were a few false shots and the ball did beat the bat on a number of occasions there were zero catching opportunities other than the one taken. It was a frustrating day to bowl and for the first time in a number of years the Selkirk bowling attack failed to take more than 1 wicket.
Selkirk host local rivals St Boswells next week at Philiphaugh.