Selkirk Cricket Club

FOLLOWING Saturday’s 44-run defeat by Westquarter & Redding at Bailliefields, Selkirk’s players now find themselves in a relegation dogfight, as they battle to preserve their East League Division 2 status.

The result drops the Souters to eighth place in the table, meaning that at least one win from their remaining two matches will be needed for them to have a chance of avoiding the drop.

Selkirk skipper Greg Fenton won the toss, asking the home team to bat first on a firm wicket that had been covered to protect it from the week’s heavy showers.  

It looked the right decision, for at the 20-over drinks break, following a brief stoppage for rain, Selkirk unquestionably held the upper hand.

At this stage the home side had been restricted to a score of 75-5, thanks to accurate bowling by Michael Fenton (2-17) and Kenny Paterson (1-26), plus some well-taken catches (the pick of the bunch being Gregor Robbie’s diving effort at deep extra cover).

However, from this point on Westquarter upped the tempo, with aggressive knocks from South African batsman Rory McArthur (27), ex-captain Umar Salik (31) and all-rounder Imran Muzhur (40no) taking the home team to a respectable 162-7.

Selkirk’s other wicket-takers were Greg Fenton (1-47), Blaine Gillie (2-19) and Bob Wilkinson (1-13).

Requiring a run rate of 4.075 an over to overtake the Westquarter total, Selkirk looked on course at 34-1 after eight overs.

The loss of skipper Greg Fenton (15), smartly caught at square leg by Salik, proved a turning point, as the next four batsman managed just 19 runs between them.

Only Michael Fenton (pictured below) stood firm – despite having earlier sustained a painful hand injury while wicket-keeping – with his 43-run innings including seven boundaries.

All of the Westquarter bowlers turned in solid performances, the pick of the bunch being Mazur (3-19), Adam Akram (3-17) and Sid Mankar (2-36). 

This Saturday, August 19, Selkirk face a tough examination away to Division 2 leaders Clackmannan County in Alloa, where the Souters will be desperate to secure as many batting and bowling points as possible.

AFTER a gap 119 years, Selkirk Cricket Club is once again preparing to play a fixture at Philiphaugh against Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), the world’s most active cricket club.

The previous match took place in 1904, when the Souters faced an MCC XI captained by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the famous writer and creator of Sherlock Holmes. The game was drawn, with Conan Doyle opening the batting and finishing second-top scorer with 35 runs.

This year’s historic contest takes place on Sunday, August 6, when the visiting MCC side will include a trio of Scotland internationalists – Fraser Watts, Stuart Davidson and Jack Jarvis – and will be captained by Grange CC’s Andy Wilson.

“It’s certainly going to be a red letter day for the Selkirk club,” said chairman Neil Gentleman, “and everyone at Philiphaugh is looking forward to it.

“The players have enjoyed competing for the first time in East League Division 2 this season, and to their credit have been managing to hold their own at this higher level.

“On Sunday the club is laying on a lunch for both teams, and a short presentation ceremony will take place after the match. We’re hoping as many members as possible will come along on the day for what should be an intriguing contest.”

Selkirk’s ranks will be bolstered by a handful of guest players, including former Scotland and Yorkshire all-rounder John Blain and ex-Selkirk skipper John Everitt.

The MCC was founded in 1787 and continues to play a pivotal role in advising on the laws of cricket, and promoting the game across the UK and globally. The club has 18,350 full and 5,500 associate members.

This year MCC is playing over 560 matches against schools, universities and clubs in the UK, plus more on its overseas touring programme. The club has over 3,000 active cricketers, and 21 of the MCC’s fixtures this summer take place in Scotland.

Selkirk’s match against the MCC will be a 40-over contest, and takes place at Philiphaugh this Sunday, August 6 (12 noon start).

MCC squad – A. Wilson (capt.), F. Watts, E. Keenan, S. Davidson, P. Maksimczyk, M. Sharp, J. Thompson, P. Ritchie, K. McLaren, P. Deakin, J. Jarvis, B. Davidson.

THE dark clouds that hung over Tranent & Preston Village’s Polwarth Oval ground on Saturday matched the Selkirk players’ mood after the visitors crashed to a seven-wicket defeat.

ESCA Division 2 title contenders Tranent took a stranglehold on the match from the word go, with Dom Da Silva (2-25) and Gregor Brunton (2-10) proving difficult to get away on the East Lothian Club’s artificial wicket.

Only two Selkirk batsmen – Greg Fenton (11) and his brother Michael (10) – managed to reach double figures, while vice-captain Kenny Paterson was the only visiting batter to show the patience required to stick around as Selkirk were dismissed for 60 runs in the 31st over.

Evergreen Tranent skipper Dougie Russell (3-2) mopped up the Selkirk tail, while the home side’s other wicket-takers were Raj Kamal (2-5) and Chirag Patel (1-15).

Despite the best efforts of opening bowlers Michael Fenton (1-9) and Daniel Heard (1-23), who both turned in whole-hearted displays, Selkirk’s low total meant the odds were always stacked in the home team’s favour.

Some enterprising stroke-play by Tranent’s R. Kulliyamarathingal (31no) steered the East Lothian club to victory in the 21^st over. Selkirk’s other wicket-taker was Greg Fenton (1-9).

This Saturday, August 5, Selkirk make the short trip to Shedden Park to face Kelso in an ESCA Division 2 fixture, while on Sunday the Souters welcome an MCC side to Philiphaugh for only the second time in the club’s history.

Dunfermline and Carnegie turned up with 10 players for their visit to Philiphaugh and not convinced that the game would survive the forecast thunder storms. However, the visitors prospered either side of a downpour to head back to Fife with full points. They can thank their hosts for the determination shown by home players to get the game complete, with a delay of over an hour between innings working in the Fifers favour.

Dunfermline won the toss and elected to bat and would benefit from the driest part of the day as opener Raja Khurram (26) punished the early bowling. Jordan Reid took a brilliant diving catch at extra cover to remove Khurram in the 11th over and two wickets following soon after gave Selkirk some momentum. However Vasu Reddy (63) had quickly found his range and was scoring easily, moving the total beyond 100 runs with 15 overs to come. Reddy signed off with a straight drive over the boundary for 6 (falling to Gregor Robbie on the next ball he faced). There were a few dropped catches to reflect upon and 146 was looking like a tough challenge with a downpour at the break slowing the outfield further.

The visitors were reluctant to take the field for the Selkirk innings, with bowlers cautious about the underfoot conditions. Their uncertainty was quickly forgotten as a strong LBW appeal was confirmed by the umpire to remove in form opener Greg Fenton (30). Selkirk top order then struggled to score runs, taking just 10 runs from 9 overs following the captain’s dismissal. With five ducks on the day the souters never looked likely to reach their target and the game was done within 30 overs as George Olney (5-7) picked off the lower order taking an incredible 4 wickets in 7 balls. With the delays caused by the weather, the last wicket didn’t fall until 8pm as Selkirk were all out for 86.

Selkirk travel to Carlton next Sunday and will hope to put on a performance fit for the surroundings at Grange Loan.

A barn storming century from captain Greg Fenton and a top performance in the field and with the ball earned Selkirk a bounce back league victory in Edinburgh against Kirk Brae on Saturday.

Travelling up minus 2 of their top three bowlers, Selkirk were expecting a tough challenge but batting first Selkirk made steady progress. The first wicket fell when Iain Purves called for a second run he may not even have made as a younger man but he had defiantly held up an end for the captain to make progress. Both Ian Gardiner and then Blaine Gillie tried to do same but the partnerships were only making a start.

Keiren Toor looked in good touch when he came to the crease with the score at 82 and with the captain they combined to frustrate the hosts and take Selkirk to three figures. With their partnership moving in to the 80s and Fenton getting his first century of the league campaign with a quick 2 it looked set for a strong finish. Taha Khan upset the finale by taking the wickets of Fenton (103) and Toor (32) in the same over. However a short cameo from Darren Fenton, including a six flicked over the leg side boundary from Khan’s last ball, added valuable runs to set the target of 190 runs for a home victory.

The Edinburgh top order were setting a good pace and despite the loss of a couple of wickets, they were on course. The opener Afaque Hussain, currently topping the runs scored in Division 2, took a liking to the bowling of Daniel Heard crashing 5 4s and a 6 off of his first four overs. Heard had the last laugh however when he removed Hussain, catching him off the bowling of Greg Fenton.

At 82-2 after 17 overs, Kirk Brae were still looking likely to get to their target. However, carnage ensued with a combined 7 over spell of bowling by John Henderson (4-21) and Blaine Gillie (4-22) which saw the Edinburgh side lose 8 wickets for the loss of 10 runs. Henderson and Gillie bamboozled the batters and with only one drop on the day, when the opportunities were coming quickly they were duly taken. Having solidly undertaken his opening batting duties Iain Purves did a turn in the field where he took a great catch at gully to remove the dangerous Gajander Singh, coming in to the game on the back of a quick fire 50 the previous week.

Selkirk are back up to the capital next Saturday as the second round of fixtures begin with a visit to Edinburgh CC who scored a 100 run victory over Kelso at the weekend.