St Andrews University Staff Cricket Club

Match Reports 2006

On Sunday, Kinloch and St Andrews shared the home advantage on a hot sunny day. Stand-in captain, Ben Agate, won the toss for the second match in succession and on this occasion opted to bat first on a dry-looking wicket with a mown outfield.

Cam Hall and Matt Clarke opened the innings with expectations high, given the absence of key batsmen. Anwar and Arun found good line and length early on and pegged the openers back. An early caught-behind appeal for Hall in the opening over, turned down by the umpire, brought cries of disbelief from the fielding side, but the sound of bat on pad was later confirmed by the square-leg umpire. Clarke departed early on via a top-edge, and Sam Moss joined Hall for some very patient batting to good deliveries at both ends. Moss played with a solid straight bat but both batsmen struggled to find runs easily. Both survived until the 14th over when Moss got himself caught with the score on 31. Hall worked the ball around well and brought the score to 54 before departing, bowled by Blacklock, for a top score of 32. Arnab Bhattacharjee and Phil Jess got themselves in and scored a few, but were unable to punish the indifferent bowling of Smith and Armstrong. Vit Matuska then arrived at the crease in the 19th over with the score on 59 for 4 and proceeded to play forward defensive shots for 21 overs, supporting his partners and guiding the tail passed the 100 mark in the final over, and finishing not out for a stalwart 7 not out. St Andrews were always going to struggle given the batsmen on offer, and some loose bowling by Kinloch provided 35 runs in extras, leaving St Andrews on 101 for 9 after the full 40 overs.

After the break, Kinloch opened with Martin and Armstrong who both looked confident. Knowing that only 10 wickets would do, given the low target, St Andrews opened with Angus Stewart and Ben Agate. Stewart began with a maiden, and Agate, who unsettled Armstrong with some fizzing deliveries passed the outside edge got his reward in his 2nd over with a swinging yorker. Stewart worked hard and removed the number 3 batsmen in the 7th over, and with the score on 27 for 2, tails went up in the field. Cackett came on to replace Stewart but struggled to find his rhythm and so the captain turned to spin in the form of Sam Moss. Moss bowled beautifully, starting with three maidens and trapping the dangerous opener, Martin, leg before in the 14th over. Matt Clarke then bowled the next batsmen three overs later with a full toss which struck the top of leg stump. Amar then came to the crease and smacked a half-volley from Clarke for six at long-off, before trying the same thing too many times afterwards and getting himself out missing a straight one by Moss at the other end. With the score now on 80 for 5, and St Andrews needing just four more wickets, Alex Smith joined Moss for an all-out spin attack, and flighted the ball very well, deserving his wicket maiden and the removal of Varun at number 7. In the end, though, Kinloch always had the upper hand despite being made to work for their win, and finished on 102/6 for a 4 wkt victory. In the end, not enough runs with the bat, and a few too many half-chances in the field went down, but St Andrews made a game of it.