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St AUSCC (130 for 2, S. Frankland 62*) beat Forthill (129 for 7, M. Ashworth 2/17) by 8 wickets A St Andrews side seeking revenge for the 1 run loss a few weeks ago, departed for Forthill's ground in convoy behind Richie's ''Tank''. Rumour has it Richie managed to visit most of the area around Dundee before eventually arriving at the ground in a firm last place. With a line-up looking strong on batting, but perhaps arguably a little short of regular bowling, Tom proceeded to do what he does best by losing the toss, forcing us into the field for the first innings. The bright, low sun and the swarms of greenfly everywhere across the pitch made fielding tough on what was already the fastest outfield we've played on all season, but despite the odd big hit, opening bowlers Stan and Mark Ashworth kept things pretty tight. Just as C. Walker seemed to be warming up, Mark took the top of the off stump with a beautiful delivery in his second over. Andy Dick came on at the other end and despite being hit for a 6 off his first ball, he quickly exacted revenge by removing the Forthill number 3's middle stump with a quicker ball. Strong fielding backed up accurate bowling and saw the score creeping along, Forthill reaching 50 in the 10th over, but not before Mark had completed his spell 4 overs for 17 runs by taking a second wicket, Tom taking a simple catch at mid-off. The fast outfield allowed plenty of runs to be had and the score continued to grow, despite regular wickets falling to Dave Miller (bowled) and Phil Pass (caught by Dom at point (using his chest, legs, and arms)). Whilst his teammates hit out, Forthill's 13 year old opener continued to calmly play his shots, and despite a few near misses with shots looping over or falling short of fielders, he duly completed his 50 with a lovely lofted straight drive off Stan. However, his innings only lasted one more ball as he picked out Mark in the leg-side, who took a solid catch. The wicket brought the aggressive K. Singh to the crease who proceeded to tuck into anything short by Stan or Phil, and indeed a loose last over by Phil allowed the score to reach 129 for 7 after 20 overs - a score still looking a few runs short on a good pitch. The fast outfield allowed plenty of runs to be had and the score continued to grow, despite regular wickets falling to Dave Miller (bowled) and Phil Pass (caught by Dom at point (using his chest, legs, and arms)). Whilst his teammates hit out, Forthill's 13 year old opener continued to calmly play his shots, and despite a few near misses with shots looping over or falling short of fielders, he duly completed his 50 with a lovely lofted straight drive off Stan. However, his innings only lasted one more ball as he picked out Mark in the leg-side, who took a solid catch. The wicket brought the aggressive K. Singh to the crease who proceeded to tuck into anything short by Stan or Phil, and indeed a loose last over by Phil allowed the score to reach 129 for 7 after 20 overs - a score still looking a few runs short on a good pitch. With the Captain's words of wisdom echoing around the changing room ("No-one hit it in the air or that's it, you're out!"), the experimental opening partnership of Stan and Tom set about accumulating the runs required. Forthill's openers began steadily but anything slightly loose was pounced upon by Stan as the strike was nicely rotated with some excellent sharp singles. Four overs in, and with the score on 25 Tom flashed at a slightly wide one from Glen Carnegie (the destroyer of our innings in the last match between the two teams) and a good catch was taken by S. Cameron - the irony of which was not lost on the captain after his earlier changing room comments. Andy Dick strode to the wicket to join Stan in what would become a rapid 87 run partnership, the inexperienced attack of Forthill being routinely dismantled by both batsmen with shots all round the wicket; Andy particularly quick to dispatch anything short or down the leg-side to the boundary. Looking to get the game over quickly and with both batsmen approaching 50, Andy went for a big hit over mid-wicket, and although dropped in the deep, he only lasted another couple of balls, a laps in concentration seeing him inexplicably run out (albeit by a good throw) for an impressive 46. Stan, however, duly completed his 50 in the following over, and with only 15 runs needed for victory he rightly decided to bat on and finish the game, rather than retire. When the winning runs were hit in the 16th over, Stan had made it to 62 not out, and Dom had stormed to a magnificent 2 not out. An excellent match against a thoroughly competitive group of lads which turned into a surprisingly comfortable victory in the gathering gloom and certainly nice to get back to winning ways with positive contributions from everyone. We look forward to the visit of Arbroath on Sunday and hope to continue in the same vein.
- Phil Pass