With Selkirk still needing 10 runs off the final over to secure a win, the odds looked heavily stacked in Boroughmuir’s favour at Meggetland on Saturday. The stakes couldn’t have been higher, with the Souters battling to end a seven-match losing streak in ESCA Division 3 stretching back to May 16.
For the previous 39 overs, Selkirk’s batters had fought hard to stay in the game against a punishingly accurate Boroughmuir attack.
Facing the final six balls of Selkirk’s innings were 35-year-old all-rounder David Gardiner and 16-year-old Shaun Wilkinson – a combination of youth and experience that was to prove crucial to the match’s outcome. A single off the first delivery by Gardiner was followed by a well-timed leg sweep for four by Wilkinson, who then hit a scrambled two before completing an even riskier single.
A second Gardiner run tied the scores on 128, leaving the 16-year-old to face the game’s final delivery. With his team-mates barely able to watch, Wilkinson managed to push the ball into the off-side and sprint home to clinch an astonishing win.
“In the previous two overs we’d only managed to add eight runs,” Shaun Wilkinson commented after the match, “so I knew that getting 10 off the final six balls was going to be a big ask. Dave was really encouraging, though, telling me to make sure I put bat on ball, and that we’d have to run everything.”
“When it came to the last delivery, I did my best to hit it and then sprinted as hard as I could to the other end. It was all a bit of a blur really, but I was buzzing when I discovered we’d won the match!”
Insets: David Gardiner and Greg Fenton
On winning the toss under leaden skies and with the outfield damp, Selkirk skipper Daniel Heard gave Boroughmuir first use at the crease.
Home opener Lawrence Dingre hit five 4s and a 6 in a quickfire knock of 31, before being bowled all ends up by Greg Fenton when going for another big hit. Crucially David Gardiner (3-36) then picked up the wickets of two top-order Boroughmuir batters in his first over, including that of the home side’s talismanic batter Gajander Singh, brilliantly caught at long-on by Daniel Heard.
Liam Skeldon (2-23) turned in his best display of the season to keep up the pressure, before Ewan Torrance mopped up Boroughmuir’s final three wickets for just four runs, leaving the city side all out for 128 in the 34th over.
Selkirk’s other wicket-takers were Daniel Heard (1-23) and Greg Fenton (1-29).
The accuracy and clever variation of Boroughmuir’s bowlers, allied to a lively pitch, presented a stiff challenge to the Selkirk batters. Opener Greg Fenton proved equal to the task, however, hitting 57 runs in a finely crafted innings that included five 4s and a 6. He was well supported by newcomer Kieran Westlake, whose patience and sound technique produced a vital 23-run knock to bolster Selkirk’s middle order.
The visitors’ fate ultimately rested in the hands of David Gardiner and Shaun Wilkinson, both of whom carried their bat for 12 runs. The pair held their nerve to compile a 26-run partnership to inch Selkirk over the winning line at 129-7. Cricket contests don’t come any more exciting, or played in better spirit.
This Wednesday, July 15, Selkirk take on Hawick & Wilton in a T20 fixture for the Ronnie Simpson Memorial Trophy, while on Saturday, July 18, they are at home to MDAFS 2 in an ESCA Division 3 fixture.
Match report and photo by John Smail.