St Modans XI, 15^th May 2011

University of St Andrews Staff 153 - 3 (28.2 overs) beat St Modans XI 150 a/o (40 overs) by 7 wickets

(Clemens 49*, Gordon 43*) (Miller 4-24, Bransden 2-32)

An intrepid team of ten made their way to Bannockburn to make history on Sunday, as St Andrews Staff embarked on their first league campaign with a match against St Modans.

After a stop at Stan's favoured Dollar Deli on the way, all arrived safely, and more importantly, early. Dominic's streak of winning the toss continued and St Modans were put into bat.

With Dave pressed into service as an opening bowler to partner Angus, St Andrews started off tightly before taking our first ever league wicket with the score on 20. Dave induced the hitherto strokeless opener into an ill-advised hoick, a spiralling top edge pouched safely by Stan at slip. The slow accumulation continued as the opening bowlers were seen off after 6 overs each, with Dominic and Stan forming a change partnership that continued to keep the run rate down. It was however, a runout that took the second wicket, Bev with a fine piece of fielding to catch the batsman short attempting a second and leave St Modans at 51 for 2 off 17 overs.

With the score only advanced to 59, Dominic took the third wicket courtesy of a fine catch by Stan, diving forward at midwicket. The very next ball Dominic felled the St Modans no. 4 batsmen, hitting the helmet with one that leapt off a length - that the same batsman went on to top-score with 49 showed perhaps this was a bad idea. Joe, returning from the wilds of Wales, and debutant Jonathan, combined to make up our 5th bowler's quota of overs, and during this spell Bev triggered another run out with a great throw to stop a quick single, leaving St Modans at 104 for 4.

With Stan unluckily going wicketless, it was left to the returning Angus to clean bowl the St Modans top scorer with a great delivery and leave the tail exposed for the final 5 overs to be bowled by Dave and Dominic. With Dave bowling full and straight to take 3 more wickets, and Dom chipping in with another wicket of his own, St Andrews finished the innings off with a farcical run out - both in the running and the fielding from Stan, Tom and Dave - to take the 10th wicket off the final ball of the 40th over.

In reply, Dave and Dominic got the team off to a steady, if remarkably unspectacular start, taking the score to 31 without loss off the first 10 overs before Dominic skied a catch to mid-off off an attempted drive. Dave unfortunately followed soon after for a well made 18, due to a self-induced run out , with Stan proclaiming himself blameless for once. Stan and Tom then proceeded to up the scoring rate as they put away any bad balls with ease, although Tom survived twice due to dropped catches. With Stan falling at the score on 80 in the 20th over, deciding to hit a rank long hop straight up in the air, the game appeared to be back in the balance. However, Bev and Tom had other ideas as they proceeded to take the attack to the bowlers, Bev clearly worried about being late for his ferry home. With boundaries coming thick and fast, including two wonderfully struck 6s by Bev, the target quickly came into sight, and fittingly the game was won with yet another 4 - Tom who finished on 49 not out from just 42 balls, Bev almost catching him up with 43 not out off 31 balls, both with strike rates more suited to a 20/20 match.

A good bowling performance, even if general fielding was below par again despite Stan's catching and Bev's run outs, was wonderfully backed up with a fine batting display by Tom and Bev after the top 3 had set a solid base. Even more impressively this was achieved with just 10 men - special thanks to James playing his first ever game of cricket, Joe on his return to civilised society, Jonathan in his first game for the club, and Philip who selflessly took on the mantle of keeping wicket. Even more importanly we now have points on the board - 25 of them in fact.

- Dominic Bransden