Selkirk Cricket Club

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.

Selkirk welcomed Peebles County to Philiphaugh on Thursday hoping to get revenge for a loss in the same fixture last year. Both sides were weakened by availability but Selkirk welcomed back a couple of wandering players with Harry Murphy playing his first game of the year for Selkirk and Alex Beveridge making the trip home to see his family sponsor the match ball and pull on his whites.

Peebles won the toss and asked Selkirk to bat and in the absence of others Todd Dekker opened with Greg Fenton. Both looked to score from every ball and while Dekker struggled with his timing Fenton pulled away and reached 50 off 36 balls before lobbing a pull shot to A.Asmal. Dekker also reached his 50 and was starting to strike the ball cleanly. The Peebles bowlers struggled to pose a threat but Niall Burns did provide some edge, removing first Bob Wilkinson and then Harry Murphy.

Dekker reached 50 with a six to cow corner but was to repeat this on nine other occasions, the stand out of which was a hook over the square leg boundary in to the club car park. Dekker reached his first ever century with another 6 (this second 50 taking just 16 balls). Dekker (116*) punished the final bowling finishing 4/6/6 and setting the visitors 209 runs for victory.

Dekker’s feats will likely affect club 20/20 record book and on an evening of dominance the club will also need to check bowling achievements in 20/20 cricket to see if anyone gets close to the figures returned by Harry Murphy on Thursday evening. Murphy’s lolloping action and threat of turn was almost immediately successful as Pete Caddick (31) fended him off for a single. But Caddick’s partner D. Gray had less luck and was clean bowled. Murphy set up the hattrick ball by repeating the feat with No.3 and will still be thinking of the next ball shaving the off stump as he travelled back up north on Friday morning. However, he did then remove batsman No. 4 to have three wickets in his first over.

When Murphy delivered another wicket in his next over, Gregor Borthwick dashing in for a great catch diving forward at short mid off, he probably didn’t think he would be taken off. Peebles were struggling to score with only Caddick offering resistance but other bowlers were given an opportunity and Iain Gardiner took the wicket of Asmal.

However, captain for the night Daniel Heard succumbed to let Murphy bowl the final over and the bowler was rewarded with that craved fifth wicket as he bowled P.Walker (4) with his penultimate ball. Murphy also finished the game on a hattrick ball with the dismissal of J.Brophy to bring the Peebles County innings to an end. For the records Murphy finished with 6 wickets for the loss of just 7 runs from his three overs.

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.

Selkirk improved their league position on Saturday with a solid win against Marchmont II. This was revenge for the souters who had suffered a close defeat in Edinburgh at the start of the season. The weather threatened to have an impact on the game but there would be only one break in play.

Selkirk had won the toss and were hopeful of a quick breakthrough with opening bowlers Daniel Heard and Michael Fenton finding some form with the ball in recent weeks. Both Heard and Fenton conceded few runs and they combined to remove the opener Ramakanth Burra, Heard taking an excellent catch diving forward at square leg. Burra’s partner was dismissed L.B.W. in Fenton’s next over and there followed a very quiet period where the Marchmont batters struggled to score and Selkirk dropped a couple of catches.

The first change bowlers Greg Fenton and Kenny Paterson continued the tight bowling and were successful in consecutive overs to remove Alex Bushell (Shyam Karna taking a great catch at deep mid wicket) and Rakesh Sachdeva for 13 and 8 runs respectively. At drinks the score was 38 for the loss of four wickets and Selkirk must have felt confident about keeping their target in double figures. However Gareth Ilsley (20) and then Karan Nagpal (32*) attacked in spurts, both managing to add a couple of boundaries. While Heard bowled Ilsley, Nagpal carried his bat and hit a couple of valuable boundaries at the end, both well timed hook shots, setting the hosts a modest target of 119 runs for the win.

Nagpal opened the bowling for Marchmont and proved as difficult as the Selkirk openers to take runs from. However, once settled, Greg Fenton looked in fine touch and, picking up the pace of scoring, had reached 43 from 41 balls when Marchmont II captain, Tom Jeffreys, brought himself on to bowl leg spin. After Fenton blocked the first delivery, Jeffreys spun the ball onto the leg stump as Fenton attempted a sweep shot.

At the other end Keiran Toor (15) must have played and missed a dozen deliveries from Ashton Mascarhenas before he edged behind. By then, stand in wicket keeper, Todd Dekker joined him at the crease and had already raced to 37 including two sixes over the leg side boundary.

The Selkirk captain Michael Fenton (10) joined Dekker and with 22 runs required from 18 overs there was no reason for rushing but by the 2^nd ball of the 26^th over they had reached their target. Selkirk finished with 120 runs for the loss of two wickets but Dekker (46*) had ultimately missed out on a first half century for the club. He did however score the winning runs with a boundary and then a drive through the covers for 3.

Selkirk visit Haddington next week and will look to cement their position in the top half of the league.

Sponsoring their third match of the season Eck, Jean and Fraser Heard all joined the crowd watching the game on Saturday and Jean did the honours by handing the match ball to captain Michael Fenton.

At Philiphaugh on Saturday, Selkirk scored a very welcome victory over local rivals Hawick and Wilton. 

Hawick and Wilton won the toss and on the back of some strong batting performances asked Selkirk to bowl. The visiting openers Morgan Tait and Gareth Welsh started well and were taking their opportunities to score especially from Daniel Heard who was uncharacteristically conceding regular boundaries. However Heard had his revenge on Tait when he bowled him in the 10th over. Welsh was determined to keep on attacking but then gave away his wicket with a calamitous run out in Heard’s next over. Welsh hit the ball straight at Ian Gardiner who let it slip through his fingers but it had only dropped at his feet at which point Welsh was halfway down the wicket. Gardiner redeemed himself immediately with a swift pick up and throw to send the Hawick man back to the pavilion. At drinks Hawick had rallied somewhat to 65 for 3.

The scoring slowed with the introduction on Rory Banks and Greg Fenton to the attack – conceding just 10 runs in their first 9 overs together. Fenton (3-14) then delivered the key wickets of Declan Solley (13) and big-hitting Ryan Johnston (23). Callum Murray hung around to get to double figures but Heard (3-31) returned to finish of the Hawick and Wilton innings by bowling Murray with the last ball of the innings as the visitors were all out for 103.

Having had some success with the bat in midweek where the openers Greg Fenton and Keiran Toor shared a partnership of 60 to help defeat St Boswells in a 20/20 fixture, hopes were high of a repeat performance. Despite the often unplayable deliveries of Hawick opening bowler Johnston, Toor (31) and Fenton (53*) did not disappoint and improved on their Thursday efforts with 77 runs on the board before Toor succumbed to Murray.

Batting collapses are not unheard of at Philiphaugh but Todd Decker (9) backed up a creditable performance as stand in wicket keeper (with two catches behind the stumps) with a batting cameo to Fenton’s inevitable lead role. The souters reached their target with the first ball of the 22nd over.

Selkirk are at home again next week where they host Marchmont II and will look for a turnaround in the result from the start of the season where they were narrowly defeated.