Grey lifts 1s from the gloom as Roseburn hoodoo ends

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Murrayfield DAFS v Leith FAB

Saturday 11th June 2022Roseburn Park (Grass)

By Phil Hawkins

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Murrayfield DAFS (20) - 103-1 25.5 oversGrey 37*, Ramapriya 24, Barton 22*

Leith FAB (2) - 102 all out off 35.5 oversPeters 47, Grey 3-27, Yelland 2-22, Tyagi 2-23

Murrayfield DAFS won by 9 wickets

[/vc_column_text][vc_zigzag][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Tyagi had called the troops down early to ensure everything was ready for what was to be a very important game for the 1s. It was fair to say that they had had a very indifferent start to the season.It had been a long time since the 1s last won at Roseburn and we were against a newly promoted Leith side who had so far lost all 3 of their previous away games so it was a great opportunity particular as Tyagi had been able to select one of his best sides with the return of Sam “I live in the shire now” Fergusson and Neil “I don’t play at Dunnikier” Yelland. Hawkins was also back from his travels down south to the dark side and was now supporting a lovely black eye after forgetting how to catch in the cup match against Drummond Trinity on Tuesday, one Asif Mohammed’s comments from many years ago ringing in his ears “you catch like this Hawkins”.So, with everything set up and the used pitch looking pretty decent after a good roll from the ever reliable Steve Mulholland (cheers Steve) the next step was a bit of a warm up. Step up resident Yogi in the club Mr Garuda Ramapriya who took us through our paces with a number of different stretches and poses. The 2 Toms initially decided they were too young to participate as I quote from the Tom of the biscuit variety “I don’t need to stretch as I don’t get injured”. When they realised they were missing out they soon started participating.  This was definitely going to be on the menu for all in future weeks.Then before we knew it Tyagi was walking out to the middle to do the toss with their skipper. Such has been the record for both Barton and Tyagi in the last couple of seasons we didn’t hold out much hope of winning the toss and getting to bowl first on Roseburn, however much to everyone’s surprise we won and Leith FAB - fielding an ex MUF were put into bat.After an inspirational team talk from the skipper (“Lets win lads”) it was himself that opened the bowling in a slight change from previous weeks with Tom R taking the 2^nd over. Both bowlers started solidly and did not give the Leith openers any freebies. However, both batters were looking solid in defence and rotating the strike well with the score moving onto 24-0 after 8 overs, a decent score on Roseburn. Then from nowhere we had our breakthrough. The number 2 hit one to point and was run out at the bowlers end. I have deliberately been very vague with describing this dismissal so we can go into detail of how the captain saw the incident. This is what appears on the scorecard:This is all the more spectacular given that Tyagi was bowling. So Tyagi runs into bowl, the batsman hits it to point and Tyagi sprints Roadrunner style to point grabs the ball launches it high into the air and then in similar roadrunner style gets back to the stumps catches the ball and removes the bails. Superman you say? Hardly… I can give a much more accurate version of events. Batsman hits it just past point where Grey making a great sliding stop with the batsman already having made a call of yes. After a bit of indecision from the batter he is stranded and Tom calmly throw the ball to Vivek who try to whip the bails from stumps only to realise he isn’t next to the stumps (doh) and then after a quick shuffle across destroys the stumps to leave them in a complete mess. You have to love the skipper’s enthusiasm, but the batter wasn’t in the first frame of the tv pictures 😊.So that left Leith 28-1 and the door was ajar. The other opener soon followed going for a big shot as Tyagi and Grey combined again with the latter taking a nice catch with Leith now 28-2. Numbers 3 and 4 went about trying to rebuild and found runs very hard to come by with a combination of tight bowling from our openers and the new pair of the Yogi master and “Dylan”, I’ve seen some excellent attempts at Yelly’s name in previous seasons including “Alan” and “Yellend” but this has to be a particular favourite. Despite going for eight in his first over Dylan used all his local knowledge to strangle the opposition as Mr Yoga bowled a very zen length with a lovely bit of away movement. You could tell the opposition batters who liked to keep things moving based on previous scorecards were getting frustrated and after one decided not to walk we eventually got the other batter who miscued another catch straight to Grey off the Yogi master. Then at the other end the number 4 skied one to Sam at Mid off the bowling of Bob “Dylan”. The top run scorer in the league came in at number 5 and looked to settle everything down, unfortunately for him their number 6 didn’t have quite the same temperament looking to swing at every ball. His only real issue was that despite being very well built he wasn’t remotely close to hitting one and did well not pull something in the process such was the power of these attempted hits.It wasn’t long before he departed as the impressive Grey was brought into the attack and quickly obliged as the number 6 finally made contact with one only to hit it straight to Garuda at gully who took a nice catch. Then 2 overs later Grey had the key wicket of the Leith number 5 with a great slip catch from Finlay Sutherland Ross who loves a slip catch as long as your name isn’t Dylan or Alan or something along those lines 😊. Leith were now 52-6 and really struggling.Next in was ex clubman Brad Peters, after a very “warm” welcome it was clear he was going to play in the way that we were all familiar with, trying to hit the leather off the ball, easier said than done with the track and the way we were bowling. It wasn’t long until he offered his first chance as he miscued straight to mid on for what looked like a very straight forward catch. Unfortunately, Tom of the biscuit variety couldn’t cling on, he was clearly dreaming of the different shapes he was going to use on the dancefloor for his impending night out. In next was another ex MUF called Tahir Ahmed, he made a couple of appearances in 2015 before moving to Glasgow apparently.It was quickly clear after seeing the first few balls of Tahir it looked like the final Leith total would have to rely on Brad. It wasn’t long before Tahir departed bowled by a lovely ball by Grey leaving them 60-7. Then there was another chance as Grey tempted Brad into the slog sweep which he got hold of but not enough to clear the boundary, Roshan ran round and couldn’t take the chance. Not the easiest but I’m sure Roshan would have expected to take it. So another life.The Leith number 9 soon departed trying to smash Dylan out of the park and only proceeding to hit it high to Roshan who took the catch easily this time leaving them 65-8. The number 10 provided Brad with a bit of company as he started to make us pay for dropping him with a large array of mainly “agricultural” shots to all parts which were mostly affective. When he was on 20 he decided not to walk when there was a clear deflection, as you can imagine I bumbled behind the stumps saying “I’m terribly sorry but do I believe you have hit that fine sir” but to no avail.Tyagi brought himself back into the attack and soon bowled their number 10. Brad now wasn’t even running singles with the number 11 in. He then took 26 off 2 overs from Grey and 1 from Tyagi and we were all getting a bit concerned they were looking like they may post a semi decent score on Roseburn. Tom R was brought back into the attack and after being dispatched for 6 through deep mid wicket, he struct the next ball as an edge looped up behind square with Lewis taking a nice diving catch. Leith all out for 102 and Brad a very annoying 47, more than we would have liked but a great effort by everyone in the fieldThe chase by us was very un-Murrayfield like and as a result there isn’t great deal to say on it. Grey continued his great match with a fluent innings alongside Mr Yogi himself and both players took the attack to some quite wayward bowling. There were a few scares with a close appeal for caught behind off Grey and another close LBW appeal at the other end. However, both survived and registered our first opening 50 partnership of the season. Leith turned to spin to try and get some control and managed to get the first wicket when our humble yogi leader attempted to hit one out of the park which wasn’t there, it bounced pretty low and he was bowled for a well made 24. That left us 54-1 and surely the obligatory collapse was just round corner. Barton clearly had other ideas as he strolled to the crease. He quickly got into his stride and along with Tom continued the positive approach as the score ticked along. It was clear for all to see that he wanted a quick finish so he could make use of his beloved card machine and hear the beep to say his match fees have been paid. The next 10 overs saw us get to the target with ease with some lovely boundaries by both players including a four to fine leg by Barton using his wooden leg, well at least that what the incompetent umpire Hawkins thought, luckily the scorers weren’t paying much attention to his signals.So, there it was, a very simple win by 9 wickets for the 1s which is pretty unheard of to be honest. Grey finishing on 37 not out and Barton 22 not out. Leith were definitely not at their best but our tight bowling did the damage early and then the positive intent of our openers helped by some wayward lines and a large number of extras definitely contributed to an easy chase.So well done to Tyagi and only his 2^nd win as captain, hopefully this is the springboard needed to go on a good run now and move our way back up the league.[/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image="5991" img_size="full" alignment="center"][/vc_column][/vc_row]