Rain gets the better of Wildcats
A heavy summer rain shower got the better of the ‘Sonians Wildcats at Myreside as they took on Carlton U13s on Monday evening.
Here Mike Cousin summarises the cricket that took place before the rain.
Captain Adam Hastings won the toss and asked Carlton to bat first on what began as a sunny evening. With the match being played on the main square with a lightening fast outfield, bowling accuracy and fielding ability were always going to be critical.
The opening bowling pair of Adam Hastings and Jamie Cousin opened the innings well. Adam picked up the wicket of one of the Carlton openers in his second over with Andrew Cockburn taking a well judged catch on the boundary. After this point Carlton took control, with both batsmen playing excellent strokes all round the ground. They were aided by some uncharacteristically ragged fielding from Watsonians especially on the boundary rope.
Both batsmen then retired and Watsonians began to regain control of the game. This was due to some excellent bowling by Murray Blair, Calum Young and James Kidd. It was also aided by a good “in-out” field, with fielders both stopping the boundaries and being tight on the singles. When the rain arrived Carlton were 103-1 after 18.4 overs with the game very much in the balance.
Overall it was a mixed performance from the boys, who must learn to keep their enthusiasm levels up when things are not going their way. Once again the number of extras conceded (29, with 18 wides) was a factor in the game slipping away form them for a time. On the positive side, the boys worked hard to get themselves back in to the game and every week are understanding more and more how to set a field for one day cricket. Finally special mention goes to Alex Boyd, who bowled an excellent spell of 4 overs for 22 runs during the period when we were really under the cosh. With a little more luck he would have returned even better figures.
The game will hopefully be replayed later in the “summer”.
