Selkirk Cricket Club

Selkirk succumbed to a three wicket defeat on Saturday on a day when they were hoping to bounce back after a disappointing visit to Edinburgh last week. With 17 wickets falling for 133 runs, a high individual score of 21 and only five batsmen in double figures it was a day for the bowlers.

Tranent and Preston Village have had some success at Philiphaugh and having won the toss and electing to bowl they made immediate inroads with Kapil Rana removing Iain Purves for no score in the second over. Greg Fenton (18) and Michael Fenton (13) steadied and were not overly troubled by the opening bowlers. Bowler Dominic Da Silva (4-29) arrived late for the game and Selkirk supporters probably would have preferred he was a bit later as he was immediately brought on to bowl and had success in his second over, Greg Fenton lobbing the ball to mid on.

Bob Wilkinson (7) played defensively to Da Silva but raised spirits with a boundary to mid wicket as Selkirk creeped in to the 40s. This proved to be one of only two boundaries for the hosts as Selkirk lost three top order batsmen with the score at 45. Michael Fenton and Wilkinson will both rue injudicious shots but Rory Banks, playing his first game of the year, found it difficult to accept an LBW decision which meant he was done without scoring. There was little resistance after that and there were almost as many extras as there were runs from the lower order. With no partnerships of any note Selkirk were bowled out for 66 runs with 10+ overs outstanding.

League leaders Tranent and Preston Village were understandably confident of a quick victory and Selkirk were needing to take all their chances and get some early success. The opening batsmen for Tranent and Preston Village, Ragesh Kullyamarathingal (21) and Rajesh Choudhary (14), both looked confident and capable but Michael Fenton (4-29) was presenting problems. In turn Kullyamarathingal and Choudhary both missed balls on the stumps and were given out LBW. At this stage the openers had quickly racked up 37 runs so the visitors had plenty of time and wickets to finish the job. That Selkirk bowlers Michael and Greg Fenton (3-13) made them sweat was testament to their efforts and suggested that there was always going to be a low scoring win for either side on the day. As it transpired the Selkirk total was insufficient for making the result any closer as S Bappidi (12) took the score past 67 with a shot for two through mid wicket and a single to backward square leg to finish.

Selkirk have another home fixture next weekend with the visit of local rivals Kelso, where a victory for either side will raise one above the other as the two sides sit in joint fourth position in Division 2. Kelso have Scottish Cup business on the Sunday so there is an early start of 11am for the Saturday fixture.

Selkirk travelled to Edinburgh on Saturday on the back of a series of victories but with selection problems this was going to be a difficult fixture to keep the run going.

Selkirk won the toss and elected to bowl and there were no early wickets as there had been in previous fixtures as the Selkirk opening bowlers struggled to get their range. The first wicket came through an alert piece of fielding from Lewis McCulloch as Azhar Abid was run out. Kenny Paterson (3-46) replaced Michael Fenton (1-46) and proved more difficult for the batsmen taking two wickets in successive overs. With the bat Nick Murray was looking solid and when joined by Toby Lush they picked up the pace. At drinks the Edinburgh side were four wickets down for 88 runs.

A drop by Iain Purves at slip was to prove costly as Murray passed 50 and started to dominate bowlers. He was finding the gaps and was dismissive of some scruffy bowling, including a hook for six on to the high school wall from a Michael Fenton no ball. Making her debut for Selkirk, Ashley Robertson was calm under pressure to take a high catch from Harry Waterston off the bowling of Blain Gillie (4-38), who again took the most wickets for the souters. Gillie took the final wicket when Murray was eventually dismissed caught behind 2 runs short of his century.

To get near their target of 185, Selkirk would need their top order to stand firm against a strong bowling attack. The quality of bowling from Joe Gibson but more significantly from Toby Lush was causing problems for the opening bats. In the foruth over Greg Fenton was surprised by a short ball from Lush which he edged on to his helmet and, although the wicket keeper fluffed his attempt, Nick Murray was poised to grasp the fumble as it popped up nicely. Whilst Gibson failed to make a breakthrough Lush continued to have an impact bowling Kenny Paterson in his fourth over and taking two wickets in his 6th over including the important wicket of Michael Fenton (12). At the end of his spell Lush had 6 wickets for the loss of only 5 runs.

With a result in the offing the game did not stop for drinks at 20 overs and at 39 for 7, getting to 50 was looking like a challenge. With Lush bowled out the Selkirk top order could only watch longingly from the boundary as the change bowlers made hard work of finishing off the tail. Neil Gentleman held up his end as Iain Purves (25) gently manoeuvred the score forward with the consolation target being 75 runs, where the first batting point is awarded to the defeated side. However it was not to be as Purves stepped in front of his wickets and was given LBW with the total at 72.

Selkirk have little time to lick their wounds with the visit of Melrose on Wednesday evening for a 20/20 fixture followed by the visit of Tranent and Preston Village to Philiphaugh on Saturday.

The Hawick middle and lower order almost pulled a victory out of the bag for the visitors at Philiphaugh last night but they were left to rue a top order capitulation as Selkirk retained their winning form in this friendly fixture, arranged to contest the Ronnie Simpson Memorial trophy.

Selkirk had promised to post a big total as, batting first, Greg Fenton (50) carried on where he left off from the weekend with another half century. However the pace of scoring was significantly reduced when the home captain was caught on the boundary by Pierce Solley. Hawick were to take all of their catches as they restrained the scoring. Zac Stewart was the pick of the bowlers taking 4 wickets , including the top three batsmen.

The target of 120 reflected a ‘could have been better’ assessment of the Selkirk innings, however they were to be grateful for the 14 runs Bob Wilkinson and John Henderson nerdled from the last three overs.

There was little doubt about the bowling performance of the evening with Michael Fenton (3-6) carrying on his current form. The only runs being scored from his four overs being an edge through the slips by Ryan Johnstone first ball and a top edged four from Evan Alexander. At the end of the third over Hawick were 2 runs for 4 wickets down, Daniel Heard helping himself to the wicket of Robbie Pringle with his first ball.

Having had such a poor start Hawick were dragged up by Johnstone (47) and David Montomery (21) who ensured the game would go to the wire, with the help of a couple of sixes for each, Johnstone’s thump over the fence and on to the football field being the pick of them. Kieran Toor appeared to settle the nerves by taking the wickets of Johnstone and Montgomery in the 14th over but 37 runs from the last six overs was doable.

Bruce McTaggart (15*) and Charlie Welsh (16*) dominated Toor in his next over, the bowler conceding 13 runs. At the end Hawick required 12 runs from the final over to steal the game but Toor opened up with 3 dot balls. McTaggart then opened up a glimmer of a chance with a one bounce four to the short mid-wicket boundary. The game was in the balance but swung in Selkirk’s favour as Toor tied up McTaggart with the penultimate ball of the innings. McTaggart smashed the final ball, this time straight over the mid-wicket boundary for a meaty consolation six, Hawick finishing one run short of the Selkirk total and two shy of what would have been a unlikely comeback victory.

Selkirk are on the road on Saturday for an away fixture in Division to at Royal High Corstorphine CC.

Selkirk completed a third consecutive Division 2 victory over Carlton 3rds on Saturday with the home bowlers on top from the start. The hosts won the toss and elected to bowl first and opener Michael Fenton took a wicket with his third ball. The second wicket fell when David Simpson was adjudged to have hit the ball twice but, appearing to have done this to prevent the ball hitting the wicket, he may well feel aggrieved that he had acted within the laws of the game. Selkirk were no way near as profligate in their fielding this week but Michael Fenton (2-15) was left head in hands as John Henderson made a looping ball to gulley look difficult.

Returning to the side following a forced week off, Kenny Paterson was deployed to good effect at short cover and was to take two neat catches there to remove first Samantha Haggo for no runs and then Andrew Lang for 10. The home captain, Greg Fenton, brought himself on to bowl the last over before drinks and looking somewhat surprised by the pace, Chris Sale missed a ball on the stumps and was dismissed LBW for 17 runs.

For the visitors Dan Potter (15) was hitting the ball sweetly and when he hooked Greg Fenton down to the mid wicket boundary for 4 it gave the visitors some hope of having a decent target to bowl at. Potter was however clean bowled two balls later and Greg Fenton (4-8) combined with Kenny Paterson (2-18) to take the final 4 wickets for 14 runs.

There was going to be an early finish regardless of the result and when Greg Fenton edged the 4^th ball to gulley, only to be dropped, there was a sense that there was an opportunity here for both sides.

The Selkirk openers took a grip of the game with some lusty shots from both, Greg Fenton smashing a six down to cow corner and Muhammed Bilal driving to the long off boundary for two fours. With the total already at 46, Bilal (16) was dismissed by an excellent piece of fielding by Andrew Lang at short mid wicket, taking a sharp catch at ankle height.

Any hope the visitors had of getting back in to the game was promptly dismissed as Michael Fenton clattered 14 quick runs, including a six over the deep mid wicket boundary. This was however his last shot as Tom Ritchie took immediate revenge by clean bowling the Selkirk batsman.

At this point the hosts were only 3 runs short of their target and the new batsman Keiran Toor was ultimately sent on to watch his captain finish the game with a single blow, clipping the ball past the leg side fielders for his sixth boundary of the day, finishing unbeaten on 35 and sealing an 8 wicket victory.

Selkirk host Hawick at Philiphaugh on Thursday evening for the Ronnie Simpson memorial trophy before travelling to Edinburgh on Saturday for round 4 of their Division 2 campaign with a visit to Royal High Corstorphine CC, who will be buoyed themselves by a resilient run chase to defeat Kelso on Saturday.

Selkirk backed up their opening day victory with a win in Fife on week 2 of their ESCA Division 2 campaign. Their hosts, Dunfermline and Carnegie CC, were bowled out cheaply the previous week and were engaged in intensive batting drills when the souters arrived. With something to prove in this part of their game, it was no surprise that, having won the toss, the hosts chose to bat.

An eventful first over saw top order batsman, Raja Khurram, hit a 4 off the first ball to backward square leg, miss a couple, and then push the fourth delivery through the covers. Khurram turned what was an easy single into a kamikaze 2 and Daniel Heard and opening bowler Michael Fenton combined to run the Fifer out. Not the planned start for the hosts but they recovered quickly and Alfred Hearnshaw (42) and captain George Olney (16) were scoring around 5 runs an over off the opening bowlers. Fenton’s first spell figures were muddied by 3 consecutive fours from Hearnshaw off of his last three balls. Both opening bowlers were also frustrated by a series of dropped catches.

Selkirk captain Greg Fenton brought himself on to bowl and this appeared to work the trick as the batsmen struggled to score. However the breakthrough was to come at the other end as Blaine Gillie found his range in his second over and took two wickets in consecutive balls to remove Olney and Chris Hill. Hearnshaw smashed Gillie’s hat-trick ball for four but then edged behind to give bowler 3 wickets in four balls. At drinks Dunfermline and Carnegie were 85 with four wickets down.

Yasar Arfat (11) and Stephen Rowley (19) both looked capable of making big scores but Gillie (4-33) added to his tally by removing Arfat and Michael Fenton returned to take Rowley’s wicket, both being caught behind by the wicket keeper. Fenton’s opening bowling partner, Daniel Heard also returned for a second spell and picked up a couple of wickets including a third catch behind the stumps for Greg Fenton.

With the top four bowlers bowled out the captain turned to Gregor Robbie and Jamie Hughes to finish off the tail. While the latter had the ignominy of having the only six of the day hit off of his bowling Robbie (2-8) rolled back the years with a couple of wickets. This included catch of the day from Keiran Toor on the mid wicket boundary, the oldest and youngest of the Selkirk team combining to remove Bruce Callan (11). Having promised a total somewhere nearer 200 the Fifers set Selkirk 148 runs for a win.

Selkirk started well with both Greg Fenton and Harry Murphy picking the right balls to score from, the pick of the early boundaries being a straight drive for four from Murphy. This was however to be his last scoring shot as he was bowled by Hill who had recovered from his golden duck to partner Arfat as opening bowlers.

Greg Fenton was joined by Michael Fenton at the crease and they were scoring over seven runs an over to take the total to 111 at drinks. Both players rode their luck at times and the Fifers will have similar groans to those of their visitors in the first innings about dropped catches and decisions that they felt didn’t go their way. On the day, the difference between the teams was the quality of the shots from the Selkirk pair and the demoralising effect this had on the hosts. Both players looked strongest off the back foot and scored easily down to third man and backward point but arguably the shot of the day was a straight drive, this time for Greg Fenton, sending the ball rattling down to the pavilion.

The biggest cheer of the day came as Greg Fenton passed 50 sweeping down to deep fine leg. From then on there was an air of inevitability about the result but some doubt as to whether both batsmen, now increasingly throwing the bat at the ball, would get themselves out or whether Michael Fenton would have enough time to get to his own half century. The answer was provided in short measure as Greg Fenton took 11 runs off the last over to finish 76 not out, leaving Michael unbeaten on 40, a partnership of 116. Carlton 3rds visit Philiphaugh next Saturday and Selkirk will hope to keep improving.