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St AUSCC (135 a.o., S. Frankland 39, C.Ramsey 6/23) lost to Arbroath (136 for 4, F. Burnett 53*, J. Farnham 2/10) by 6 wickets
A new fixture at a lovely ground and beautiful sunny weather - but a much changed team with few experienced batsmen could not put Arbroath under any sustained pressure. Dom & Phil opened up in a free scoring vein and Stan maintained the momentum against some very mixed bowling. However, their slow left armer was a handful on a spinning pitch and he cut through the middle order in brisk style, despite a decent knock from Vikash. Bowled out for just 135 in 35 overs a splendid tea was nevertheless enjoyed in the hot sunshine and we headed out for the second innings as the first few German goals were scored.
The pitch had plenty of life in it but none of the bowlers could counter the power of the left handed Burnett brothers whose 1st XI National League status was apparent to all who chased their many boundaries. Drew MacFarlane guesting from Largo bowled a beauty to get rid of one opener but only when the Captain retired after reaching 50 did any of the very pleasant Arbroath lads get a chance to bat, leaving an end open for Joe Farnham to wreak havoc (briefly) in a spell of 2.5-1-10-2, courtesy of catches by Patrick and a smart one down leg side by Dom. As an exercise in establishing whether we might enjoy a competitive standard of cricket in the Strathmore 3rd Division it was a thorough waste of time - but it does suggest that playing friendlies against teams free to include Scotland 'A' players is pretty pointless, too.
With the light fading and accurate bowling from Dundee, Dom and Stan slowly gathered runs without too many alarms until Dom fell in the 11th over for 21. Tom Hine introduced some much needed acceleration to the chase with some fine running between the wickets. He enjoyed the running so much that in a moment of some calling confusion he made it down to the strikers end then back into his own ground without getting run out - a remarkable feat! However, with a comfortable victory in sight, we contrived to make things interesting as Tom went LBW to Bailwal and Vikash was run out by Stan - his first victim of the year, but surely not his last :) Abdul then departed LBW to the very promising 11 year old Khalil, ensuring that the game went into the final over, Stan cracking a 4 to seal the game and his own 50.
- Patrick Jess