Form 7 Boys A Cricket beat Fettes

The hottest day of the term was perfect for our latest fixture for the Form 7 boys’ bubble, and it was lovely to head over to Fettes to meet old friends whom we have not seen for so long! We played a pairs hardball game, and after winning the toss, we chose to bat first.

Having played (and beaten) Merchiston is this format before half term, we talked about the importance of valuing your wicket, being patient and waiting for the bad ball; pairs cricket is good in that it allows everyone to have a go and experience time out in the middle but the fact that you are not out if you play a poor shot does not quite focus the mind so much as sitting back in the pavilion when you have swiped across the line and been bowled! However, I was delighted with the way that nearly all our batsmen knuckled down today, playing each ball on its merit and looked to steadily accumulate runs rather than looking for the big shot. In our 20 overs, we only lost four wickets which was a terrific effort, and it was good to see us run well between the wickets, picking up singles and frustrating the Fettes’ bowlers.

Cameron batted well in his call up to the side hitting the ball powerfully, and Charles and James were most impressive at the end of our innings, scoring at a run a ball and just pushing the ball in to space very intelligently – it was very good to watch. Bruce Russell, the long time 1stXI coach at the senior school and former Scotland player, was full of praise for the way our batsmen applied themselves and played straight. A couple of us need to show a little more patience and hopefully have learned the importance of not straying out of the crease when playing shot, otherwise you will be stumped by the ‘keeper again! But we scored 114 runs, losing 4 wickets which meant we ended up with 94 which would be a tough target for the Fettes batsmen.

Our bowling attack is excellent, with everyone able to bowl straight and on a consistent length and I was really impressed and pleased with the way we went about things in the field today. It was great to see Thabo back on games and he bowled some lovely legspin, and once he relaxed and bowled slower, he proved a handful and got a well deserved wicket; Alexander also bowled really well, nice and straight and on an excellent length giving him a couple of wickets. Wickets continued to fall at a steady rate, but the highlight of the afternoon was a hattrick from Xander who got two wickets with his excellent left arm seam, hitting the stumps again and again, and then on the hattrick ball, Charlie took an excellent catch in the gulley and his team mates erupted! A memorable moment! In fact, our fielding was top class and with 13 wickets taken and the game way out of reach, we perhaps relaxed in the final couple of overs which allowed one of the Fettes boys to free his arms and hit over the top, but the game was long gone by then and it was a comfortable victory and one that showed real promise for the future.

To see the boys enjoying their cricket, continuing to learn and improve and work hard at their techniques is terrific to see. Hard work pays off!

Well played, boys!