Selkirk and Edinburgh University Staff were evenly matched on Saturday with a penultimate ball bye securing a victory for the home side.
Selkirk batted first and Greg Fenton (32) and then Todd Decker (42) both brought some form in to the game, sharing a second wicket partnership of 75 before Dekker was caught at mid on and soon after Fenton lobbed the ball back to Uni Staff bowler Sithija Abey. Michael Fenton (25) and Daniel Heard (12) were the only others in double figures as the scoring ground to a halt.
Set 135 to win the home side made quick progress. Similar to the Selkirk innings only four batters ended in double figures with Abhijit Padhiary top scoring for the home side with 35, which included a spell where he made 25 runs from 11 deliveries faced. Blaine Gillie (3-18) eventually outsmarted Padhiary to collect his second of three wickets on the day. Daniel Heard (2-37) opened the bowling for Selkirk and was unfortunate to finish with just 2 wickets with most runs conceded off the edge of the bat. However there were flaws in the souters attack as Zankar Sevak (25) and Ali Aitzaz (23) both punished the bad deliveries. On a day of close margins giving up 16 extras would also prove to be decisive.
Going in to the final over the Uni Staff needed 3 runs for the win. Todd Dekker had taken off the wicket keeper gloves to bowl as the weakened Selkirk team had to wring all the cricketing resources available. With 2 wickets remaining the match would be won or lost by the lower order batters.
To the dismay of the Selkirk fielders Abey managed to slap the first ball over the infield and pushed for two but his partner didn’t make the return. So, while adding one run they also lost their 9th wicket. Abey missed the next ball but then edged past the wicket keeper to secure at least a draw. Bilal Shah then played and missed the next delivery. Under pressure Dekker had beaten the bat of both tailenders and did so again but this time the ball squirted under the gloves of the wicket keeper and the batters took the run they needed.
Selkirk welcome Boroughmuir to Philiphaugh next week looking a for a victory to ease the pressure as the season winds down.