Watsonians III succumbed to an opening day defeat as Holy Cross II reached their target with the loss of just five wickets.

New captain Oliver Gaywood lost the toss and was asked to bat on a drizzle effected Craiglockhart pitch.

Gareth Burnett, on his return to competitive cricket for Watsonians, led from the off with a quickfire 66 looking to set the homeside up for a decent total. However, his departure – and the introduction of Andrew Millington to the Holy Cross attack – saw a middle order batting collapse that made the score go from 103-2 to 104-5 in a matter of overs. Alan Borthwick provided some much need resistance and – with help from Mark Handyside, Adam Hastings and Jono Moore – he helped bring the total up to 169, leaving Watsonians just one run short of securing maximum batting points.

Opening the bowling for ‘sonians, Handyside forced both Holy Cross openers into mistakes early on and both were relieved to see chances dropped. James Budden and Nipun Mehta failed to offer up any more chances and went on to a partnership of 67 before Budden was struck by a stray full toss and had to leave the field for treatment. It wasn’t until the score had reached 95 that the first wicket fell and although Gaywood, Ollie Curtis, Euan Flannigan and Phil Rudd all managed to take a wicket, no bowler had repeat success in removing an opposition batsman.

Holy Cross reached their target with five wickets in hand and ten overs to spare.

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