For two seasons in a row Selkirk fell a handful of runs short of victory in the season opener, in both games a stubborn rearguard action dragged them close. As last year, Michael Fenton (72) kicked off his campaign with a hard-earned half century before dragging on to his stumps when going for glory in the final over.
Selkirk Captain Daniel Heard pictured with opposite number George O’ Neil after the coin toss.
The visitors, Edinburgh South 2, elected to bat and made a solid start with neither opener looking overly threatened. George O’Neill (16) got bogged down after a sharp start and struggled to score against Captain Daniel Heard but the latter had to wait until his 6th over before forcing an edge behind. At the other end Praful Pant (46) was slower to get going but was largely responsible for taking the total on to 99 before lobbing the ball to Blaine Gillie at mid-on off the bowling of Rory Banks (3-22). With Pant gone the scoring slowed and boundaries dried up. The visitors scrambled to 139 runs from the full 40 overs.
In the field it was a mostly positive report but there were some disappointing missed catches, including a difficult chance for Michael Fenton which acted as a motivator for his batting contribution to come. Todd Dekker had a great day behind the stumps taking four catches, the pick of which a low grasp where the ball stuck kindly in to the web strap, giving Bob Wilkinson a first-ball wicket. Every bowler pitched in with at least 1 wicket, Banks topping the figures with his three.
Rory Banks shows his delight after bowling Edinburgh South batter D. Penrose, one of his three victims on the day.
Set 140 to win it was going to require a good effort from the home batting line up and probably a contribution similar to that of Pant’s in the first innings. The openers saw out the first half-dozen overs and things seemed on track but the removal of Greg Fenton (21) and David Gardiner in subsequent balls looked ominous.
Opener Greg Fenton hit a quickfire 21.
When Selkirk lost 5 further wickets for the addition of only 15 runs, including an obligatory calamitous run out, it was all but impossible to see anything like the close finish which enthralled those watching. Michael Fenton, his pride bruised by the earlier drop was patiently providing resistance.
Behind the stumps Charlie Barrat stood up close for almost all bowlers regardless of pace and this undoubtedly contributed to the nervousness evident in the Souters’ middle order. Heard was removed just after drinks and this meant that the tail was on its way with 74 runs required for an unlikely victory. Gregor Borthwick kept up his end to take the score towards three figures and veteran John Henderson then did the same to get to within 20 runs, 53 runs being added while they were at the crease.
Michael Fenton was in imperious form, scoring 72 runs and taking Selkirk to within a whisker of victory.
At the other end Fenton was doing the top order job, playing some perfectly placed shots, including the shot of the day, a flat six to square leg. Having taken 50 balls to get to 16 runs he raced to his half century and took 11 runs off the penultimate over, taking a single off the last ball so that he would be facing with 5 runs required. It was not to be however and a low bounce ultimately did for him with the bottom edge of his bat rattling the ball on to his own stumps to end the game. This was the third wicket of the game for Edinburgh bowler Vipin Gupta and gave him the top figures for the day with his wickets coming at the cost of just 17 runs from 5.2 overs.
Some good signs for Selkirk, though, and they will hope to build on this at home again next week with the visit of Tranent and Preston Village.