1s on the charge

Murrayfield DAFS v Watsonians 2s

Saturday 23rd July 2022 Roseburn Park (Grass)

By Michael Buchan

Murrayfield DAFS (20) - 198 for 7 off 45 overs R Mohammed 50, B Peters 41, X Abbey 2-15

Watsonians 2s (5) - 102 all out off 24.5 oversO Robertson 40, V Tyagi 3-9, J Rubly 3-30, T Ritch 2-20

Murrayfield DAFS won by 96 runs

After a couple of big wins in the previous two rounds the 1s were looking to use that momentum against a Watsonians team fighting for promotion. Thanks to our skip losing our eighth toss of the season we were put into bat on a cloudy but humid day on a very challenging Roseburn wicket.Our ever-reliable opening pair of Tom and Garuda played a more traditional opening partnership as they were up against consistently accurate bowling on an inconsistent and difficult wicket. After a couple of well-struck boundaries helping to provide a steady run rate Garuda was bowled in the 12th over for a well fought 10. I joined Tom at the crease as we tried to deal with some good bowling on a very tricky pitch. After almost seeing off their opening bowler Tom was gone in the 16th over for a spirited 10. I was joined by Carl who showed good intent with a much-needed boundary, however, his intent was ultimately his downfall when he swiped across a straight one in the 21st over bringing Ravi to the crease. Ravi’s stay at the crease was short-lived as he was struck lbw on his second ball. It looked like a typical Dafs collapse was on the cards. Phil came to the crease and battled nicely scoring a few boundaries against their leggy helping the run rate to climb. I however was struggling to push on and chipped one back to the bowler in the 30th over after scoring a very gritty 19. So, Phil was joined by Roshan who struggled slightly early on but then decided to launch their leggy back over his head for a maximum and four more the following ball. Roshan continued to score freely timing the ball as good as anyone, looking like he was playing on a different wicket. Phil on the other hand missed a full toss and was bowled for a very well-made 23 in the 27th over. Therefore Roshan was joined by the man who loves Darren Sammy, Brad. Roshan proceeded to play more attractive cricket resulting in a well-deserved 50, although was caught soon after in the 41st over bringing our skipper Viv to the crease. Brad quickly took a liking to their bowling hitting two massive sixes, one of which nearly finished off an oblivious elderly couple. Brad kept the runs coming with some brutal hitting resulting in several more boundaries, he finished 41 not out with Viv chipping in with 6 not out. This was a special batting display by the team as the 1s managed to bat the full 45 overs, a rare but welcome occurance. So with a fine batting display and a healthy amount of extras (32) the 1s set a very competitive score of 198.Viv got us off to the perfect start taking early wickets with the ball, taking two wickets in two balls in his first over with one of their batters being Roseburned. With tight bowling from both ends creating good pressure the third wicket fell with Viv taking a pretty simple catch off his own bowling in the 6th over. Tom Ritch decided to join the party taking two wickets the very next over, one of them including a screamer from Jared who snatched the ball out of the air diving to his left. So a great start from our two quicks left Watsonians 17-5 at the end of the 8th over. However, after those early wickets their two batters at the crease started to build a partnership as they steadily increased the run rate but our bowlers remained persistent. Jared got the breakthrough on the third ball in the 15th over after an extremely close ‘chance’ a couple balls before. We found out that this brought a quite destructive batsmen to the crease who spiked their run rate but we believed the chance would come after a couple wayward swipes, and after going for a couple of boundaries Tom Grey replied nicely taking the wicket.As one of their batters played a good innings it was important that the 1s continued to take wickets at the other end so that no partnerships could pose a threat. Brad did just that bowling a good length and taking the 8th wicket with a fine catch by Carl at fly slip, leaving Watsonians 97-8. Jared efficiently wrapped up the innings taking two wickets in the 25th over with a catch off his own bowling and an lbw. An impressive victory by 96 runs. Some figures that deserve to be praised are Viv’s 6/3/9/3 and Jared’s 6.5/1/30/3. So a relentless bowling and fielding effort matched the superb batting (Roshan and Brad especially) for a great performance and a massive win for the 1s.