Missing five key members of the side that had put an end to Boroughmuir’s unbeaten record the previous week, Selkirk repeated the feat at Edinburgh’s Roseburn Park on Saturday, where they recorded an outstanding 27-run win over East League Division 3 leaders MDAFS 2.
What made the victory even sweeter, was the vital contributions made by John Graham and Darren Fenton, two former players who agreed to come out of semi-retirement to ensure the Philiphaugh team could fulfil the fixture.
From left: Back – R. Dumma (umpire), E. Torrance, G. Borthwick, D. Fenton
B. Gillie, J. Graham, Sathya
Front – L. Skeldon, G. Fenton (capt.), M. Gillie, D. Gardiner, S. Wilkinson
Despite suffering from a painful foot condition, Graham hit 37 priceless runs to shore up Selkirk’s innings when wickets had started to tumble, before donning the wicketkeeping gloves as a worthy stand-in for the injured Mikki Badenhorst.
Fenton also left his mark on the match, first by scoring 15 vital runs, then later taking two excellent catches – the second of which secured the win and brought an end to the innings of MDAFS 2’s big-hitting tail-ender Venkatesh Rajendran.
An added bonus for the visitors was the arrival at the ground of ex-Selkirk captain & chairman Ronnie Dumma, who offered his services as umpire for the afternoon.
After losing the toss, Selkirk were asked to bat first, with the home side’s opening bowlers getting the most out a pitch that proved favourable to both swing and seam.
The visitors’ opening pair Greg Fenton (39) and David Gardiner (6) batted steadily to put on 46 in 18 overs for the first wicket. A key moment came when Fenton was dropped on 18, while Gardiner also dropped shortly afterwards.
The openers’ good work was carried on by John Graham (37) and Darren Fenton (15), and at the end of 40 overs Selkirk had reached a total of 131 for seven.
R. Beretta (4-19) had the best figures of MDAFS 2’s bowlers, the other wicket-takers being D. Green (2-21) and V. Rajendran (1-19).
Having scored 181 and 187 to win their previous two fixtures, MDAF 2 looked odds-on favourites to surpass Selkirk’s total of 131 and continue the club’s unbeaten run. The reality couldn’t have been more different.
Opening bowlers Liam Skeldon and David Gardiner both struck early to leave the city side reeling at 9-3, before first change bowlers Greg Fenton and Blaine Gillie continued the carnage as MDAFS 2 slumped to 15-5.
Although the home team managed to stage a late rally thanks to a belligerent 29-run knock by Venkatesh Rajendran, MDAFS 2 were always going to struggle to recover from such a disastrous start, and were eventually all out for 104 in the 36th over.
Selkirk’s wicket-takers were Gardiner (3-9), Skeldon (2-18), G. Fenton (2-19), B. Gillie (2-20) and Shaun Wilkinson (2-1).
This coming weekend Selkirk face local rivals Hawick & Wilton at Philiphaugh in a Division 3 match on Saturday, May 23, while the following day have a home tie against Perthshire high-fliers Strathmore in a Challenge Cup fixture.
Match report and photos by John Smail.