St Andrews University Staff Cricket Club

Match Reports 2006

On a hot summer's day, a strong St Andrews squad (Stan, Roy, Matt, Mark, Sam, Patrick and Angus) headed off to Doocot Park in Perth to take part in Almond Valley's annual sixes competition. The format for the day was simple: five teams (three from AV, Dundee Uni Staff and us) playing each other once and each side to bowl five overs with everyone, barring the wicketkeeper, having to turn over their arm. Otherwise normal rules applied and the overall winner would be decided by the total points gained - 2 for a win, 1 for a draw - with the possibility of a bowl off if there was a tie at the end of the day.

St Andrews first game was against 'Dad's VI', a team made up off AV old boys. Stan won the toss and opted to bowl first so that the team could get a feel for the format. We started off strongly with Sam picking up a wicket in the second over and Matt taking another during a fast and hostile third over. Stan picked up another and Patrick kept it tight, keeping the opposition down to a below par total of 34. With Mark thumping the ball all over the Park and able support from Stan, St Andrews saw off this total easily with two overs to spare. It was an excellent start to the day by everyone and set the tone for what was to follow. In our second match against AVCC, we batted first. Making full use the fast outfield, Mark (28) and Stan (29) showed that it was possible to play proper cricket shots and still score fast. Despite Stan being run out in the last over and Mark being caught superbly by Pedro Mackenzie on the square leg boundary of the last ball of the innings, we set an impressive total of 60. This was the highest score of the day by any team and AVCC never looked like they could get close to it. More tight bowling by everyone meant that we cruised to an easy victory and went level on points with Dundee, our next opponents.

The way the day was going, the match up against Dundee appeared to be the crucial game to see who would come out on top as overall winners. St Andrews lost the toss and were put into bat. Mark batted well, but struggled to hit the ball with the same force and authority he had shown in the previous two matches. He struggled particularly with an over by Pravin that was a succession of balls wide of the off stump, generously allowed to pass by the neutral umpire. In the end, Mark was caught behind in the last over allowing Matt to come in and face one ball, which he turned away effortlessly for a single. Remarkably, this was the only ball faced by any St Andrews' batsmen all day apart from the two openers. At the other end, Stan hit top form and smashed the ball to all parts of the ground in reaching the day's highest individual total of 38 and guiding St Andrews to a total of 53. It seemed like a decent total to defend, especially the way we had been bowling up until then, and Angus got us off to a solid start. However, having bowled with pace and accuracy in the first two games, Matt lost his rhythm completely. Pravin and Miller took full advantage and with a number of wides chucked in as well, the over went for over 20 runs. This meant that Dundee needed only a run a ball off the last three overs, and despite accurate stuff from Roy and Patrick, they reached the target with a couple of balls to spare.

It was a disappointing defeat to the 'auld enemy' and it seemed as if our chances of victory had been lost. All Dundee had to do was to win their final game against Dad's VI, perhaps the weakest in the whole competition. However, a combination of creaking bones, bad catching and wayward bowling by Dundee allowed their opposition to set them the stiff task of hitting 54 to be outright winners. Again, Pravin and Miller set about the bowling leaving Dundee needing 12 off the last over to win. Extraordinarily, Miller, who was batting superbly, decided to retire and allow the big-hitting wicketkeeper to come in to try and knock off the runs. It turned out to be a dreadful choice as the two Dundee batsmen only managed to scrape a few singles and ended up losing the game comfortably. The door was open for St Andrews once more.

In their last match, St Andrews were up against the Secretary's VI who had also won their two previous matches. Whichever team won would face a bowl off against Dundee. Stan won the toss and elected to field. With Matt retired to the beer tent, the bowling was tight and a superb piece of fielding by Patrick helped keep the score down. With the ball drilled back at him of his own bowling, Patrick dived full length to stop it and managed to somehow lunge back towards the stumps and run out the dangerous John Mackenzie who was stranded well out of his ground. Roy captured a vital wicket with his first ball and, despite some lusty hitting, we held the opposition to 53. For the third game running, 54 was the target and this time there was to be no cock up. Once again, Mark and Stan (28) set about the bowling at a furious rate. With two overs to go only 11 more runs were needed, allowing the two exhausted batsmen the luxury of walking singles and coasting to another well deserved win.

This result meant that we were equal on points with Dundee and there had to be a bowl out to see who would be the overall winners of a fantastic day of cricket. The bowl out followed the format of a penalty shoot out with alternate balls being sent down by the two teams. Angus cruised up to the crease, sending down a gem of a ball that clipped the top of middle stump. Dundee looked worried and their response was way wide. Sam stepped up and, with the consistency we have all grown used to, sent down another straight one that clattered into the wicket. Although none of the rest of us hit the stumps, only one Dundee bowler managed to redress the balance. We won without Mark having to demonstrate his prowess with the ball. Amidst scenes of much jubilation, the St Andrews team collected their winners plaques from our wonderful hosts of Almond Valley. Stan was also given the player of the tournament award, but this was a superb team effort with everyone contributing to our first competitive victory for three seasons. After the loss against Kinross in the Small Clubs Cup, a game we should have won, and a disappointing effort in the Ferrier Cup, it was great to stem the losing tide and it was particularly pleasing to finally get one over on Dundee. Congratulations to everyone.