’Sonians Fall at First Hurdle in Scottish Cup
After a largely disciplined bowling performance against Uddingston the previous day, Watsonians will have been disappointed to allow Heriots to amass 229 on a pitch that posed the occasional difficulty and where it proved difficult to bat with real freedom.
The control of length by the bowlers was lax at best and the 30 extras allowed to Heriots was especially generous in what should have been a tight fisted capital derby. Exempt from such criticism was 18 year old opening bowler Paddy Sadler, who returned the exceptional figures of 7-28 from his 10 overs, removing the Heriots top 3 (all clean bowled) with the new ball before returning to pick up the key wickets of Sean Weeraratna (70) and Adam Lockhart-Krause (73) in the batting powerplay, and a further 2 wickets in the penultimate over of the innings. Without Sadler’s intervention it is fair to say that Heriots’ total could have been rather imposing.
While 229 was an above par total on a typically slow Myreside deck, the highly touted Watsonian batting line-up (albeit without Ewan Chalmers due to University commitments) would have backed themselves to chase down. However, it was not to be. Sean Weeraratna was the pick of the bowlers picking up the key wickets of the inform Easton, caught in the slips by Steve Knox for a duck and the imposing looking Ryan Flannigan, caught behind for a flashy 16 that promised so much more. With the score at 81 for 4, things were looking bleak for Watsonians but a partnership of 117 between Craig Wright (67) and Euan Stubbs (69) threatened to take Watsonians home but with both falling to New Zealand U19 spinner Matt Thomas, who finished with 5-44 from his 9 overs, the run chase petered out leaving the home side 13 runs short, all out in the final over.
