The 1st XI’s second match on their return to the East Premier League saw Forfarshire visit Myreside. Batting first, our opening partnership of Oli Hairs and Mike Carson set things up with a stand of 54. Following Oli’s dismissal for 38 the wheels rather came off and a disappointing total of 144 was the result. After an excellent start reducing the opposition to a score of 2 runs for 3 wickets, Forfarshire made a steady recovery before being reduced to 117 for 7 wickets. The outcome was then undoubtedly in the balance. A dogged response from the later Forfarshire batsmen in support of their number 3, who completed a fine undefeated half-century, defied our bowlers and they saw their side home with three wickets to spare. A disappointing result when a victory had looked a possibility.

The following day the side hosted Huntly in a Scottish Cup second-round tie. Winning the toss and batting first, runs flowed from the start with Oli Hairs and Mike Carson adding 106 before Oli departed for 69. Ollie Pillinger joined Mike at 135 and a partnership of 162 followed, in the course of which Mike completed his 13th century for the 1st XI (he also has two for the 2nd XI) and thereby equalling the number recorded by former professional James Henderson and only two behind Jimmy Martin’s record of 15. Thereafter, Ollie took centre stage and completed his century - while enjoying a partnership of 89 with Donovan Du Randt - before going on to make 154 from only 95 balls, with 7 sixes and 19 boundaries. In recording a first century for the club, Ollie became the youngest member to do so. At the end of our 50 overs the total had mounted to 413 (for 8 wickets - only the fourth occasion on which 400 has been exceeded.

In response, the Huntly side lost their first six wickets in reaching 67, before an 82-run partnership held up our bowlers. A further 40 runs were added as spin accounted for the final three wickets, two for Oli and, in a recently rare spell, one for Mike! Callum Martin bowled his permitted 10 overs on the trot for a return of 4 for 30 in his first spell of the season as victory by 224 runs was recorded. RH Corstorphine will be the opposition in the quarter-final at Myreside on 24th May.

At Barnton the 2nd XI opted to bat first on winning the toss against RH Corstorphine (RHC) 2nd XI. The early-order batsmen struggled, with only Alex Turner of the first seven reaching 20, and - with the score at 105 for 7 - it was looking to be a difficult afternoon for the team. However, Rory High (47 not out) and Will Ellison (27) then came together and put together a partnership of 82 as a challenging total of 205 was ultimately posted.

Rizwan Dharani, Farhan Khan - on his debut for the season - and Rory made early inroads before the RHC middle order steadied the ship and made progress in the run chase. Abid Shinwari and Oli Robertson then took a hand, with three and two wickets respectively, as the RHC innings subsided and the final wicket fell with the total on 150 - and a third successive victory was achieved.

Inverleith was the venue for the 3rd XI’s fixture against Stewart’s Melville 3rd XI who decided to bat first on winning the toss. The first wicket fell with the score on 38, which then became 75 for 7 as Vikash Gautam, Vishal Chawan and Ethan Haire took wickets at regular intervals. From that point on, the opposition mounted a recovery with partnerships of 35 and 48 before finally being dismissed for 158.

In reply, Jamie Tucker fell with the score on 20 before Vishal (31) and Kevin Singh (32) set up John Boothman (43 not out) and Simon Moulds (15 not out) for an undefeated partnership of 60 to take the team home to a comfortable seven-wicket victory and remain unbeaten.

The 4th XI met Edinburgh South 5th XI at home and, on being invited to bat first, proceeded to rack up an impressive total of 276 in their 40 overs for the loss of only four wickets. The scorecard records partnerships of 93, 85, 20, 38 and an undefeated 40. These featured Fraser Kinloch (84) and Patrick Crunden (40) for the first wicket, Fraser and Duncan Robinson (50) for the second, Duncan and Lewis Scott (15) for the third, Duncan and son Oli (50 not out) for the fourth and, finally, Oli with Loukis Mallis (7 not out).

Our bowlers were immediately in control as the Edinburgh South innings stuttered in the chase and five wickets were down with only 45 on the scoreboard. Something of a recovery followed as 60 for 6 became 116 for 7, before the final three wickets fell with the total on 137 - 44 of which were attributable to extras (35 being wides!). Wicket-takers were Abhinav Ramesh (3 for 22), Pranjan Patel (2 for 13), Lewis (2 for 10) and Fraser (1 for 3).

At Myreside the 5th XI took on Kirk Brae 3rd XI who decided to bat first on winning the toss.
Our bowlers took wickets on a regular basis - with the exception of one of the opening batsmen - and the position was looking promising with the score at 79 for 7. Thereafter, a partnership of 74 and another of 29 for the last wicket took the Kirk Brae total to a challenging 183. Other than only two other batsmen in double figures, the Kirk Brae opening bat was almost solely responsible for the total with a century (102) and his was the last wicket to fall. Toby Tucker with 4 for 17 and Aryaman Apte 4 for 29 were the main wicket-takers.

Unfortunately, our batting line-up proved to be no match for the opposition bowlers with only three batsmen making it into double figures - numbers 10 and 11 being two of them! Thanks to a generous contribution of 49 extras, our innings closed on a total of 126. Altogether, a disappointing outcome following the comfortable victory in the previous game.

West of Scotland were the opposition at Craiglockhart for the Women’s XI’s second match in defence of their Women’s Premier League title. West won the toss and decided to bat first. After their 40 overs, they had totalled 166 for 9 as nine bowlers were used in an attempt to restrict the scoring. Anne Sturgess, Tessa MacDonell and Caitlyn Bruell each took two wickets, with Kirsty McColl, Millie Bailey and Rose Holt also contributing one each.

Opening the batting, Anne made a half century (54), apart from which only Isla Robinson (24) and Millie (18 not out) reached double figures later in the innings as it closed with the total on 122 and so defeat by 44 runs.

Interestingly, extras accounted for 63 runs (50 of which were wides) in the West innings but only 22 (11 wides) in our innings. If extras are excluded, the runs off the bat were: West 103 against our 100 - and if only wides are excluded the scores would be 116 v 111.

The first match in Group 2 of the Masterton Trophy saw Morton visit Myreside in mid-week. Morton won the toss and decided to bat, made a quick start but then struggled to maintain the scoring rate and after their 20 overs had reached 132 for 8. Oli Hairs and Ben Hidderley both took two wickets (the latter his first for the club), Tom Wylie and Gareth Weatherall also chipping in with a wicket each.

Oli and Ollie Pillinger opened up in what appears to be their now customary fashion with a boundary-laden century partnership. Oli made 67 from 20 balls (with 62 in boundaries) while Ollie ended unbeaten with 53 from 22 balls (42 in boundaries) as the target was reached in less than 9 overs for the loss of only two wickets.

The next group match is against Edinburgh South at Inch Park on Thursday 21st May.

Saturday 16th May saw the four games played resulting in a full house of victories.

Arbroath was the venue for the 1st XI seeking a first league victory of the season. Invited to bat first, the first wicket to fall was that of Oli Hairs for 12 before Ollie Pillinger proceeded to record another half century, before being dismissed with the score on 96. For the first time this season Tom Wylie showed some form with a half century and shared a partnership of 70 with Oscar Kirkwood (28) which took the score to 207 for 5. A late flourish from Tiaan Kuhn (32 from 20 balls) helped towards the final total of 254.

After an early wicket from Tiaan, Arbroath progressed to three figures before losing their second wicket. A further four wickets fell for the addition of 48 runs before a partnership of another 48 runs took the score to 196, and another two wickets fell before the 200 was reached. Donovan Du Randt finished off the Arbroath innings with the final ball of the match and so secured a welcome 37-run victory. Donovan had two wickets, as did Tiaan, Callum Martin and skipper Gareth Weatherall.

Murrayfield DAFS elected to bat first against the 2nd XI at Myreside and were soon in trouble against our spinners. Evan Howe, opening the bowling, proceeded to dismiss the first four opposition batsmen before stand-in skipper Rory High chipped in with the next two wickets after something of a recovery. Vishal Chawan was next to contribute a couple of wickets, before Rory and Will Ellison closed out the innings after only 26 overs for a meagre 79.

Following the early loss of George Baltzer, Jamie Tucker, Kevin Singh and Alex Turner saw the side home to a fourth win on the spin for the loss of only two wickets within 15 overs.

Over at Craiglockhart, meanwhile, the 3rd XI won the toss and batted first against Carlton 4th XI. Skipper Jaideep Singh was dismissed early and three wickets were down for 62, of which Fraser Kinloch made 20. At that stage Simon Moulds joined Sukhrajveer Singh and together they added exactly 100 before being separated. Simon contributed 22 to the partnership, and shortly thereafter, Sukhrajveer fell for an outstanding 95 - including 10 boundaries - when a century looked likely. The lower order was unable to push on and the innings closed on 183.

In the Carlton response, only their skipper and opening bat (with 23) reached double figures - apart from extras which contributed 21 to the total! - as our bowlers took total control, with the last 6 wickets falling for only 14 runs for a final total of 86. Mike Maclean was the leading wicket-taker with 4 for 19, while Aryaman Apte, Hamish Tucker and Loukis Mallis also chipped in. And so, a fourth comfortable consecutive victory mirrored the winning league run of the 2nd XI.

At Roseburn Park the 4th XI challenged Murrayfield DAFS 5th XI and elected to bowl first on winning the toss. Our bowlers made early inroads to the opposition batting line-up and from 19 for no wicket the score subsided to 54 for 8 as Ujjwal Upadhyay, Abhinav Ramesh and Kevin Weavers held sway. A couple of dogged late-order partnerships lifted the score to 94 all out. The three bowlers noted earlier each took three wickets, the other falling to Toby Tucker.

Patrick Crunden (30) and David Evans (37 not out) were the main contributors to our response as the Murrayfield DAFS total was passed with only two wickets down in less than 16 overs for a second successive comprehensive victory.