Skipper Lewis Munro made a significant tactical switch by giving medium-pacer Luke Bain the new ball. This proved to be a wise call, as Luke bowled Dundee dangerman Jared Spies, dragging the ball onto his stumps for just 2 runs. The visitors’ innings lacked ambition thereafter. Luke continued to bowl an accurate line, just outside off stump, and he ended with the excellent figures of 3 for 16 off his 9 overs. Skipper Munro, having relinquished the new-ball duties, successfully entered the fray later and also claimed 3 wickets. The support bowlers—Izzy Bandars, Marcus Vila, Nathan Elliott and Manu Saraswat—all had a hand in restricting a largely lifeless Dundee batting order to just 116 runs.

Kenny Reid demonstrated clearly from the outset of our innings that this total was not going to be enough. Our Director of Cricket blasted his way to 58 runs off a mere 34 deliveries before he was trapped in front of the stumps and forced to leave the play. There followed a short run of batting errors, which saw three more wickets fall, before Ewan Davisson and Noah Kelly saw us through to a welcome win, which keeps us in contention at the top of the table.

Though fewer fixtures than usual have been completed thus far, it appears that the most likely contenders for honours this season are Freuchie, Strathmore, Huntly and ’Shire. Next weekend, we have no league fixture, but we will watch with interest the outcome of the meeting between Huntly and Freuchie.

Meantime, Lewis’ squad can rest and prepare for an important home match in two weeks against Crescent.

Last week I expressed the hope that our seconds would cause an upset by defeating Knight Riders, a team with a 100% record prior to Saturday’s game. It is especially pleasing to report that they did just that!

Arnav Saraswat is yet another talented undergraduate of our junior academy. He is a skilled, enthusiastic all-rounder who has displayed an encouraging ability to take wickets with his medium-quick bowling in a variety of matches, including success with the first eleven in Twenty20 matches. Arnav is a key member of our trophy-seeking junior squads. On Saturday, he took 4 for 29 in 9 overs and was well supported by Aayush Sinha, who recorded figures of 3 for 42. Wickets fell at regular intervals as the favourites failed to build a worthwhile partnership at any stage in their innings and were bowled out for 155 runs.

Chasing this total did prove to be a challenge, and the result remained in the balance throughout. However, Ashfaq Bashir, in managing to score the only half-century of the match, provided the match-winning innings, as our lads fought their way to a 2-wicket victory. This was undoubtedly the result of the week for our players and the seconds’ highlight of the season so far!

Do greater things lie ahead?

On Saturday, Chandu’s squad tackles Masterblasters on home soil. Hopefully, another win is possible!

Our thirds travelled to Methlick on Saturday and scored an impressive 214 runs at Lairds. Varinder Sood was at his swashbuckling best, scoring 72 runs in an innings that included 7 boundaries and 5 maximums! It does appear that very little actual running is necessary to partner Varinder! On Saturday, Muteeb Furdous also batted very well, scoring a half-century.

All safe with a good total in the book? Not really, as Methlick skipper Mike Hordley built an excellent innings of 80 runs to push his side very close to victory, only to be run out by young Joseph Scotting. Joseph’s reward for this was to be allowed to bowl the final over of the day.

It was encouraging to see Leo Wood in the wickets in this match; the big fellow has had a frustrating time in recent weeks, missing matches through injury. Let’s hope this is all behind you now, Leo, and that more victims await.

Pil, your side is doing so well . The people however are asking for your titanic presence , to once again , grace our glorious Meydan. On Sunday, you have a home match also against Masterblasters—a challenging fixture, perhaps, but most certainly another opportunity for success!

On Sunday, our fourth eleven followed in the footsteps of their clubmates and travelled to Lairds, this time regretfully with less success. There were a couple of noteworthy individual performances. Malcolm Pratt recorded the best bowling figures of the weekend, taking a remarkable 5 for 5, while Oscar Vila continued to look the part at the crease, compiling 20 runs.

However, thanks to a fine fifty by Deni Sarafimoski, the home side built a challenging total that was just too much for our lads.

The challenges come thick and fast for our new side; next week they face the undefeated Granite City.

We wish all three sides well in these exciting ties!