Selkirk Cricket Club

In the final round of fixtures for the first half of the season Selkirk hosted high flying Bass Rock at Philiphaugh on Saturday and were ultimately outmatch as their visitors returned to North Berwick with full points.

The East Lothian side won the toss and put the souters in to bat. There were glimmers of starts for most of the top order but the introduction of spinners Thomas Cullen (3-9) and Gus Fraser Harris saw the demise of the top 4. In consequetive overs G.Fenton (9) and David Gardiner (12) fell L.B.W. and bowled respectively. Cullen then had took the wickets of both Todd Dekker (17) and Rory Banks (16) as they looked to make progress. Dekker was caught a couple of yards inside the square leg boundary and Banks was sent packing by a fantastic catch taken at first slip.

Marcus Lyall replaced Fraser Harris and duly delivered the wickets of Blaine Gillie (4) and captain Michael Fenton (19) leaving the hosts well short of a competitive total at 85-4. It took a stubborn performance from Iain Gardiner (15) and Bob Wilkinson (30) who came together with 9 overs remaining, to give Selkirk a chance. Gardiner grew in confidence and took runs when he could and Wilkinson played the heavy hitting role when he could. Adding 48 runs was essential to give the hosts a chance against a side with 4 batters in the top 10 of Division 3 run scorers.

Ex-Scotland internationalist opens the batting for Bass Rock and defended well against Greg Fenton (1-8) in the first few overs. Salmond’s opening partner Michael Hagan didn’t face a ball from Fenton until the 6th over and fell on the next delivery when the bowler took a sharp catch straight back at him. Salmond was joined by Fraser Harris who also struggled to get Fenton away edging the ball through the slip area on a couple of occasions. When Blaine Gillie (1-24) trspped Salmond L.B.W. in the 13th over confidence was high in the field.

However, Nick Murden (27) replaced Salmond and defended well and played most of his scoring shots with solid drives to wide mid off. On the day Fraser Harris (56) was the stand out bat and scored at pace which meant that by the time he lost his wicket the visitors were a couple of big shots short of their target of 133. Cullen provided the finishing touch off the first ball of the 36th over, smashing the ball for 4 to the mid wicket boundary.

Selkirk need to dust themselves down and get ready for a border double header this week with the visit of St. Boswells on Thursday evening for a 20/20 game (6pm start) and another home game against Hawick on Saturday (12pm start)

Selkirk had a morale boosting victory at home on Saturday with some welcome runs for most of the top order. Having won the toss and elected to bowl the captain stepped up with a wicket in the first over to remove Kakail Nuristani. The bowling was restricting runs but Yassar Ali was playing a patient game and was joined by Rob McAuliffe at the fall of the next wicket and they were always looking for opportunities to score.

McAuliffe took a liking to the change in bowlers and began to open his shoulders exemplified best by a sweep shot for six to the square leg boundary. The Edinburgh batter is scoring well this season but does take some chances and was dropped a couple of times. Before and after drinks the home bowlers took the upper hand as Ali (20) was lbw to new recruit Todd Dekker (1-19) followed shortly after by Blaine Gillie (2-12) and Rory Banks (2-17) taking wickets in consecutive overs.

The big wicket was going to be McAuliffe and Michael Fenton delivered his opposite number as a top edge was gratefully taken by Dekker. This saw the visitors with a total of 89 runs and 3 wickets remaining. Selkirk spurned the opportunity to keep the score as low as possible as another drop allowed the tail enders to drag their side to the 29^th over, setting a target of 122 for the souters.

Selkirk have relied greatly on the batting of their opener Greg Fenton this year and the target for the home team was by no means an easy task. Following the removal of his opening partner Fenton was joined by Dekker at the wicket and there was an immediate impetus to the innings as Dekker (19) pushed for extra runs, forcing 3 where others would have settled for 2. The home batter also showed some style with some well placed shots and had shared a smart partnership of 40 runs with Fenton when he was dismissed. Rory Banks (19) replicated the partner role to Fenton and again pushed for runs and played some fine shots, pick of which was a cut shot to the boundary.

Banks was dismissed with the score at 89. It was left to the captain, Michael Fenton (15), to partner his brother Greg to the victory and leave enough of the strike so the opener could pass 50. He did this with a four off the last delivery of the game as he stroked the ball over the fielder to cow corner. Selkirk give up their pitch to the common riding sports on Saturday and travel to Westquarter and Redding on Sunday this week.

The souters welcomed the Edinburgh University staff cricket team to Philiphaugh on Saturday looking for a third straight league victory but a batting capitulation spoiled the mood in Selkirk. With this win the university staff team scored back to back victories against border clubs having defeated Hawick and Wilton last week.

Selkirk lost the toss and the visitors chose to bat. Bowling was mostly tight and the Edinburgh side struggled to get going. However Stuart Geard (26) and Abhijit Padhiary (30) both batted well and their efforts ensured that they reached three figures as the visitors were ultimately bowled out for 104 runs.

With the ball Bob Wilkinson was the lead wicket taker with three for the loss of just six runs. He removed the only other batter to finish with double figures, Shaun Thorpe (12) who drilled a straight drive into the hands of Greg Fenton. It was a reprieve for the ex-captain who earlier had dropped the easiest of catches popped back to him by Padhiary off of his own bowling.

A target of 105 was the challenge. Against a side conceding an average of 152 runs per game this appeared distinctly doable but the souters fell way short. No Selkirk batter reached double figures and the visitors could be forgiven for their joyful whoops in the field as player after player trudged back to the pavilion.

Having all failed with the bat Bilal Shah (3-13), Sithija Abey (3-6) and Zanker Sevak (4-11) all improved their Saturday afternoon work by sharing all of the wickets. The game was concluded just after drinks when Iain Gardiner scooped the ball to Shaun Thorpe at mid off.

Selkirk travel to Edinburgh next Saturday for a game against Boroughmuir who are ironically also looking to do the border double having dispatched Hawick and Wilton at the weekend.

The Green at St. Boswells was resplendent on Saturday and a local fixture had attracted supporters of both sides for this match. Selkirk won the toss and elected to bowl and it was quickly apparent that it was going to be a surface hardest for the batters. St. Boswells opener Rich Young was first victim, scooping a delivery from Michael Fenton to Daniel Heard at square leg. Scott Ruthven came to the crease probably earlier then he hoped but with recent form locals were expectant. Ruthven was cautious to start and had lost a couple of partners by drinks as Greg Fenton (4-14) began to apply the pressure.

Dropped on 12 by Iain Purves, Ruthven remained cool and played some stylish cuts and drives to reach his half century. He was destined to carry his bat as wickets fell around him and unfortunately for the hosts, his final 8 partners succumbed with regularity, adding only 9 runs between them to the total. In a contrast to previous outings in the league most Selkirk catches were taken on the day, including two excellent high catches for Bob and Shaun Wilkinson. The St Boswells innings ended on 77 all out with the last ball of the 35th over.

Although the total was low it was still a challenge in the conditions. However, Greg Fenton served notice early that he wasn’t going to hang about, scoring 30 runs in the first 4 overs. Along with his partner Blaine Gillie they bumped past 50 within 7 overs. Kathryn White managed to deceive Greg and then Michael Fenton in the 8th over creating some tension for the visitors. However, Rory Banks kept his nerve and with a four to deep mid off had the visitors 2 runs from their target. David Gardiner did the honour of scoring the winning runs off of Ellie Wilkie (2-8).

Selkirk have two games this week with a trip over to Melrose on Wednesday evening for a 20/20 fixture (6pm start) and the visit of Edinburgh University Staff next Saturday (25th May – 12pm start).