The 1st XI were cheered on at Myreside by supporters gathered for the annual former players and supporters lunch, ably hosted by Club President John Reid, organised by club stalwart Andrew Chalmers and featuring a welcome guest speaker in the form of playing and coaching legend John Blain. While the assembled guests were wined and dined, our bowlers set about visitors Dunnikier who won the toss and elected to bat first. Gregour Carr set the tone early doors taking two wickets in the first over and two more in the third and seventh, on the way to an outstanding 5/25 off his ten overs, his second 5-fer for the 1st XI. Muhammad Khan for Dunnikier put on a solid 69 off 138 balls, anchoring their innings while others struggled to contribute. He was assisted by Hasham Abbasi at number nine who put on 48 runs with him and finished on 35*. Oli’s 3/15 and Oscar Kirkwood’s 2/23 rounded out the wicket-takers as Dunnikier made a total of 161 before being bowled out in the 49th over.

In reply, our top order set a good platform, Oli Hairs making 40 and Mike Carson 42, before each being run out, while Oscar and Tom Wylie (making his 50th 1st XI appearance) both scored in the teens before each being out LBW to Zaman Shafiq. Being 130/4 at this point with nearly half our overs still to bat, needing just 32 to win, was a very comfortable position to be in. A middle order collapse which saw three batters fall victim to Mohammed Sharif, each for a duck, and star bowler Gregour make only 3, left us on a rather less comfortable 140/8. The calm presence of Kenneth Rae and an assured performance from Farhan Khan at number ten saw us home, each finishing 13* and securing us a win by two wickets, maintaining our one hundred per cent Championship record.

The 2s travelled to the Polwarth Oval to play Tranent & Preston Village. Winning the toss, we opted to bat first. After the disappointment of losing opener Alex Turner in the first over, Daniel Bryen (26) and Dan Kirk (24) built a slow but steady 57 run partnership, ending in the nineteenth. Daniel’s wicket precipitated a dramatic collapse to fall from 57/2 to 70/7 little more than six overs later. Will Ellison (38) and Ethan Haire (18) put on an invaluable 60 run partnership to give our total a veneer of respectability, seeing us to 131 all out in the final over of our innings. T&PV’s openers, making 40 and 19, proved tough to dislodge, seeing off our opening bowlers. The Wizard of (Ben) Hogg made the initial breakthroughs, taking 3/29 in his 8 overs. Cal Macleod took 3/17, taking down the middle order. Despite determined effort from the bowling unit and great energy in the field (hat tip to Salaar Ali and Cal in particular), we couldn’t take the remaining wickets quickly enough to defend our total, losing by 3 wickets in the 40th over.

The 3rd XI played hosts to Morton 3s at Craiglockhart, seeking to make right a 90-run defeat in the first match between the sides in May. Winning the toss, captain Jaideep Singh opted to bat first. Two partnerships delivered the bulk of our runs. Jamie Tucker (30) and Lachlan Morris (38) put on 69 for the third wicket while Jaideep (28) and Caylin Pickett (37) put on 67 for the sixth. With contributions from across the team, we finished our 40 overs on 192/9. In reply, Morton struggled to build comparable partnerships in the face of excellent bowling from across our attack. Vikash Gautam set the tone, bowling tight and economically, taking 1/25 off his eight overs. Each of Caylin, Magic Maclean and young Kyle Waddell chipped in with two wickets and Vishal Chawan finished things off with the final wicket in his first ever over of bowling for Watsonian. Eddie Teall did a fine job behind the stumps and a special mention to Pranjan Patel who came down to support the team and ended up fielding as a substitute. All told, we bowled Morton out for 134 to win by 58 runs, propelling us to fifth place in Division 5. Onwards and upwards!

The 4th XI travelled to Whitestone Park to face Peebles County. Stand-in skipper Toby Tucker won the toss and asked Peebles to bat first. Peebles’ openers batted well. Kevin Bunten made 37 before being bowled by Alec Fair. Our captain took the next three wickets for the cost of just 9 runs in 8 overs including four maidens. John Boothman had the other opener Peter Caddick caught by an outstanding one-handed catch from Ujjwal Upadhyay for 31 and took the next wicket just two balls later. Duncan Robinson took a similarly pleasing catch for the seventh wicket, the last to fall as Peebles finished on 144/7 after their 40 overs. Our top order made runs but also run outs, the first three wickets falling that way (for which the skipper acknowledges responsibility for two) leaving us at 53/3 after 18 overs. Seven overs later things looked tough indeed with only six runs added for the loss of a further three wickets (59/6). Our tail played with intent, led by Hamish Tucker’s 35*, and closed the gap to only an 8 run deficit when we ran out of overs in the chase, finishing on 136/8.