Dominant 2s Retain Top Spot
On a day that began in glorious sunshine and soaring temperatures the 2nd XI were welcomed to Raeburn Place to renew rivalries with a Grange 2s side who had stormed to the 2nd Division title and promotion back to ESCA top flight the previous season.
After the side had worked up a few beads of sweat in the pre match warm ups, skipper Breach lost the toss with Grange choosing to bat first on a belter of a track.
It was a familiar face from the past that greeted ‘Sonians out in the middle as Kenneth Rae opened the batting for Grange in partnership with stand in Captain Parkinson. Zan Sevak and Learmonth took the new ball with both struggling to find their usual consistency in the opening overs and with a lightening fast outfield the few shots played by the Grange openers raced towards and across the boundary rope.
It was Andy ‘FAB’ Learmonth who picked up the first wicket swinging a full delivery through Parkinson’s defences to remove his leg stump and Learmonth quickly followed this up with Keith Flannigan snaring the dangerous Simon Taylor at first slip with a smart piece of catching (aided watsoniancricket.co.uk is told by Nasser Hussains early morning tuition on SkySports).
Runs however continued to come at a fair rate during the first 10 overs with Grange pushing past 50 for the loss of 2 wickets and Grange looked confident and worthy of posting a challenging total if they continued to bat in this manner, especially at the time when Kenneth Rae and Henry Edwards looked well set. It was the double change to the attack and the introduction of Vijay Saisubramanian and Richard Crosby who began transfer the control of the match firmly towards the Myreside men. Whilst Rich bowled with pace and aggression, Vijay offered his usual mixture of flight and guile.
The runs began to dry up and the wickets started to tumble, Vijay (3-23) bowling two victims and persuading one to offer a sharp catch to gully and Rich C’s pace and bounce the undoing of five batsman as he induced further scalps for the slip cordon and keeper Fleming whilst also being rewarded after a number of strong leg before questions had been declined. Richard has maybe made headlines for his batting so far this season however in finishing with figures of 5-16 he proved himself as a genuine allrounder as Grange were dismissed for 98 runs in under 30 overs.
Possibly conscious that a number of batsman maybe haven’t had some decent time in the middle during the first month and a half of the season captain Breach made significant adjustments to the order sending out Fleming and Yellowlees to open the innings. It was a cautious start by the pair however some quick running between the wickets allowed the runs to tick over at a sedate pace in the opening exchanges.
Yellowlees went caught at slip chasing a slightly wider delivery which bought Cairns to the middle for his first knock since his unbeaten 161 at Glenrothes. With the captains strict instructions to “see it through” still ringing in their ears the pair garnered runs at what was described as a ‘Breach-esque’ pace however it ultimately proved effective as the tempo was upped by Cairns and soon followed by Fleming to ease ‘Sonians home with 9 wickets and 20 overs to spare. Cairns finishing 53 not out to top up his 2s average to probably something astonishing and Fleming also finishing with a solid, workmanlike and scampering 39 not out.
I say there was 20 overs to spare, in fact 5 mins after the victory was secured it began to rain, then it got heavier, then it kept on coming and by the time the last of the visiting ‘Sonians left the bar a couple of hours later it still hadn’t stopped and several ducks where wading on areas of the outfield. 20 points secured, just in the nick of time.
So the Second XI remain top and still by the merest of margins from closest challengers Edinburgh Accies (who travel to Craiglockhart next Saturday) and an in form Carlton 2nd XI. Tough tests lie ahead in each of the next 3 weeks that lead up to the half way point of the season, we switched off at times on Saturday and let our tempo dip a little. If we want to keep winning we know we have to keep working hard and stay focussed every ball.
