Selkirk Cricket Club

Saturday 18th November 7pm in the Clubrooms

All welcome.

Selkirk travelled with in hope rather than expectation to the picturesque home of Division 2 over achievers Clackmannanshire County CC on Saturday.

Selkirk lost the toss and were put in to bat and started steadily with Greg Fenton and Kenny Paterson (Captain and Vice Captain respectively) opening for the visitors. When Paterson was bowled in the 7th over the pattern of the innings took form as Fenton continued to score off the bad ball and his partners were outwitted by the most effective bowling attack they have faced this year. At drinks the visitors were 53 for 4 and Fenton reached 50 shortly after with a drive to long off.

The Selkirk opener, likely to finish top of the Division 2 scoring charts this year, was feeling the pressure to add runs as he was joined by tail enders and was caught in the deep mid wicket by Sai Daddolu. The young County player was excellent in the field, taking three catches on the day and running out Kieran Toor (5) with a direct hit. All three of his catches came from the bowling of Naite Grauf who finished with 5 wickets for 16 runs. The County bowler also stands on a hattrick, taking the final two Selkirk wickets in consecutive balls. Fenton ended up with 69 runs from the total of 100 runs and a home victory was the most likely outcome.

That Selkirk will look ruefully on this game as another missed opportunity suggests that the home run chase was not straight forward. The openers Tariq Mehboob and Keith Hefer both gave early chances which were put down by Selkirk fielders. They knocked off 32 runs before Daniel Heard (2-29) bowled Hefer. Grauf then faced only three balls before Heard had him LBW. However, Daddolu and Mehboob looked to have taken the game away from Selkirk with a partnership of 43, at which point the hosts were 79 for 4.

This morning Blaine Gillie finds himself in the top 5 of bowlers in Division 2 having once again tempted and tricked opposition batsmen to end up with 4 wickets for 17 runs. Where other bowlers were cursing under their breath at teammates catching skills, Gillie was to benefit from three Selkirk fielders eventually taking their opportunities. The pick of these was a high catch taken by Heard running round to mid on to remove Daddolu. When Heard followed this up in the next over with an excellent direct hit from deep mid off to remove Moon Sharif it felt that there was still a game to be won.

A break in play for drinks appeared to benefit the batting side as the nerves were settled and the home captain Tom Hutchison (10), partnered by Dave Hunt (11), gradually picked up the handful of runs they needed. Hutchison fell when they were 3 runs short of their target but Hunt rounded off a modest all round performance by hitting the winning runs with a four to deep mid wicket.

Next week’s home game against Kirk Brae is now a must win fixture for the souters if they want to avoid a quick return to Division 3.

The much-anticipated return of the MCC to Philiphaugh (6/8/23), after a gap of 119 years, lived up to all expectations.

Having dismissed the visitors for 132 in the 37th over, Selkirk’s batsmen recovered from a shaky start to take the game right down to the wire, eventually finishing on 115-9 after 40 overs, just 17 runs short of the MCC total.

Visiting MCC captain Andy Wilson said his players had not only been impressed by the warmth of welcome they had received, but by the commitment and skill of the Selkirk players.

“It’s been a great experience,” he said, “and Selkirk is obviously a club very much at the heart of its community.

“These are exactly the kind of fixtures MCC sides enjoy playing, and I’m very confident we’ll return to Philiphaugh in the not-too distant future.”

That the match was able to go ahead at all was in itself a minor miracle, given the torrential rain of the previous 24 hours. Selkirk’s ground care team – Ronnie Dumma, Stuart McCall and Allan Hogg – earned high praise from both captains.

Batting first, the MCC found both the slow wicket, and the potency of opening bowlers Michael Fenton (1-25) and Daniel Heard (2-11) hard to handle, slumping to 12-2.

First change bowler Greg Fenton (2-20) maintained the pressure by picking up the wickets of Scotland u-19 player Patrick Ritchie (11) and current Scotland internationalist Jack Jarvis (8), leaving MCC still in trouble at 39-4 in the 16th over.

However, the visitors’ fortunes changed with the arrival at the crease of Fraser Watts, a well-known ODI specialist and a member of Scotland’s team at the 2007 Cricket World Cup in the West Indies.

In tandem with Pete Deakin (21), the pair boosted the MCC score to 105-5, with Watts eventually out LBW having scored 63 runs – an innings which deservedly won him the ‘Man of the Match’ award.

Watts lost his wicket to fellow Scotland internationalist John Blain (3-15), one of the home club’s four guest players on the day. The final two MCC wickets were taken by Selkirk vice-skipper Kenny Paterson (2-0), leaving the MCC on 132 all out.  

In reply, Selkirk found the MCC’s formidable bowlers a hot handful, and by the end of the 25th over were left struggling at 45-6. Jamie Glover (10), John Everitt (9) and Blaine Gillie (9) all did their best to stem the MCC tide, but the home team found themselves well behind the run rate.

A quick-fire knock of 44 by talented all-rounder John Blain gave the Souters fresh hope, but the home team eventually fell just short of the 132 target, with Paterson and Heard both still at the crease when the final ball was bowled.

MCC’s wicket-takers were Ben Davidson (1-16), James Thompson (1-6), Marcus Sharp (1-3), Stuart Davidson (2-6), Elliot Keenan (1-14) and Pete Maksimczyk (1-27).

Post- match presentations were made to MCC batsman Fraser Watts, as well as to the visitors’ umpire and scorer – William Ferguson and Allan Baxter. Marcus Sharp (MCC) and Daniel Heard (Selkirk) received ‘top performance’ awards after being nominated by the opposite team’s captain.

Many thanks to our loyal photographers Chris Highton and Grant Kinghorn.

Also thanks due to our match sponsors – Skip and Shirley Houston, joined in the photo below by both captains.

On Saturday, Selkirk returned to East League business with a crunch Division 2 match against Westquarter & Redding CC at Bailliefields, Falkirk. Read the report here.