Arbroath United XI, 28th August 2012

St Andrews University Staff 147-7 (44.2 overs) beat Arbroath 146-7 a/o (45 overs) by 3 wickets
(S. Frankland 46, T. Clemens 24*) (R. Kandi 2-18, S. Frankland 2-23)

St Andrews won an excellent and hard fought victory over closest rivals Arbroath to stay top of the league heading into the final round of matches.

Winning the toss and electing to field as is custom, St Andrews day got off to a poor start as the first ball was helped for 6 over fine leg, followed by an edge through the slips. With some very tight umpiring on wides the opening overs were not as economical as usual as Arbroath moved to 27 off the first 6 overs before the first breakthrough - Angus enticing a loose drive off Bridges to be caught by Henry at point. In the next over Rafnas removed the dangerous H. Carnegie, a short ball being fended off to be caught by Ben at short midwicket.

After wicket number three came courtesy of a run-out, following good work from Josh and Trip in combination, Arbroath set about consolidating and re-evaluating what a good total would be on a pitch offering some help for the bowlers, and with the customary grassy outfield.

An excellent spell of controlled bowling from Phil up until the drinks break kept runs at a premium, as well as picking up a wicket clean bowled. Stan wheeled away with similar parsimony, picking up the important wicket of B.A. Carnegie, smartly stumped by Trideep. With Ben and Josh providing excellent support bowling, runs were never easy to come by until some big shots at the end of the innings saw 31 runs scored in the last 5 overs. Ben and Rafnas came back to finish the innings, Rafnas clean bowling the dangerous B.C Carnegie for 41 and Arbroath finished on 146 for 7 - competitive but not insurmountable.

In response Dom and Phil started comfortably in putting on 20 for the first wicket before both fell trying to push the score along, Phil being well caught off a steepling drive, Dom hitting one back to the bowler to leave the score at 23 for 2 off 11 overs. Stan and Henry then put on an excellent partnership of 38 in 12 overs, consolidating before hitting some excellent boundaries until Henry fell attempting to hit over the top.

Trip provided another able ally before with the score on 98 he was run out after confusion over a quick single to midwicket. With 10 overs left, St Andrews required another 43 and with Stan going well looked set for victory. However, Stan fell for 46 to a good catch at square-leg, before Ben picked up a duck on debut courtesy of a sharply taken catch at short-extra cover. Josh and Tom then took St Andrews to the brink of victory with some quick running interspersed with aggressive hitting, putting on 31 in 6 overs before Josh was run out at by quick work from the bowler with St Andrews 2 runs short of victory. Tom calmly saw us home at the start of the next over to cap his return to the team with 24 not out.

A superb victory over some tough rivals, St Andrews making their highest run chase of the season thanks to a series of solid partnerships.

- Dominic Bransden