Freuchie XI, 2nd June 2013
University of St Andrews Staff XI 230/7 (40 overs) beat Freuchie XI 185/ao (37.4 overs) by 45 runs
(D. Bransden 92, S. Frankland 63) (S. Frankland 4-22, D. Miller 2-21)
On a gloriously sunny afternoon we enjoyed a high scoring victory against a youthful but impressive Freuchie XI.
With the usual billard table like outfield, Dom was not overly worried about losing the toss and our innings
started rapidly, with Alyn taking the arboreal route to scoring 14 off 8 balls before nicking an out swinger
to the keeper. Tom started as he left off here two years ago, making a rapid 19 before cutting another wide
outswinger to point, leaving us 45-2 in the 7th over.
Dom and Stan then put on an outstanding partnership of 108 for the 3rd wicket as Freuchie rotated their bowlers
in the hope of forcing a false shot from the slow surface - however anything which missed a fielder shot away
to the boundaries, much to Stan's delight! A very even scoring rate took us to 150 in the 30th over and wickets
fell as we sought an acceleration in the last 10. Stan went for a splendid 63 but Dom powered on, putting on a
brisk 39 with Sam and finishing a tantalising 8 runs short of a well deserved century. Freuchie's young attack
stuck to their task and generally fielded well which made our total of 230 for 7 look strong but not impregnable.
Following an excellent tea, we headed out into the heat, hoping to make rapid inroads into the Freuchie line up.
However the sloping ground made bowling tricky and the fast outfield was put to good use by the Freuchie youngsters
who showed considerable ability with the bat following Dave's early break throughs, courtesy to two good catches
behind by Dom. Alyn and Angus were unable to force a wicket as the score climbed at a slightly alarming rate
and it was left to Pete O'Boyle on debut to bring some control to the game. A bit of luck was required and duly
arrived as Tom deflected an extra cover drive out to Aakash who threw down the non striker's stumps from 40 yards
- a cracking bit of fielding which disturbed the concentration of the set batsman who slogged one straight up in
the air next ball, giving Pete his first wicket. Stan came on and after a slightly expensive first over, exerted
his usual amount of pressure, taking the off bail of R. Birrell with a "Graeme Swann-like delivery" and proceeded
to hoover up three tail end wickets courtesy of catches by Sam, Alyn and Angus.
A comfortable looking victory in the end but one which depended much upon Dom's ability to bat through the innings
with Stan the only other batsman to break 20 runs in the innings.
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