1stXI beat Strathallan by 144 runs

Cargilfield 166-5 (J St Clair 37no, X Hutchinson 23no)

Strathallan 22 all out (T Miller 4-2-3-3)

The sun shone today in rural Perthshire today and although it was not a very competitive afternoon if truth be told, the 1stXI produced a very good performance and played some excellent cricket, dominating with the bat and the ball and winning comfortably against what was an inexperienced Strathallan side.  That said, we did play very well in a number of aspects of the game, and once again, we managed to get everyone involved and to contribute to the team effort which will be important when we face one or two sterner tests later in the season.

Having arriving late due to a road closure which resulted in a considerable detour, we decided to bat first and today Charles and Alexander went in first and put on an excellent opening stand of 50 in seven overs: they both struck the ball nicely and ran well between the wickets, that is until Alex ran Charles out for a very impressive 21 - a pity he was cut off when going so well, but we were always looking for the quick single which is great and sometimes the odd run out will result. Alexander was out soon after, popping one to cover, also for 21, and his innings showed plenty of promise: he just needs to get his foot right to the ball and end his front knee more when playing through the off side, as he is susceptible to hitting the ball in the air through the covers.  This brought Cody in and he bludgeoned a quick fire 25 off just 8 balls, taking a real liking to their leg spinner, but then instead of looking to rotate the strike and push the single, he swiped across the line when another big score was beckoning for him. 

Milo played his best innings of the term coming in at 4, and then Charlie tried to push the score along before he was out in the 14th over which Brough James and Xander to the crease and they batted really well together, putting on an unbeaten stand of 46 batting with real tempo in the final few overs but also they manoeuvred the ball well in to the gaps given that Strathallan has basically put everyone back on to the boundary so it was not easy to hit 4s! Their wagon wheels make for excellent viewing, with shots all around the wicket and they ran lots of singles too which gave us an impressive 166-5 at the end of our 20 overs. This was an excellent batting display and everyone got going but it was just a shame that Charles, Alex and Cody did not go one to make a big score which was there for the taking given the bowling they were up against; I always say that good bowling makes you bat better, and this was true today as we went for one shot too many rather than play a bit straighter after getting one or two boundaries in the over.

166 would take some chasing and Strathallan never looked like getting anywhere near, and they didn't. We opened with Thomas and Felix, neither of whom had had a chance to bat, and both bowled well.  It took a little while for `Thomas to find his usual metronomic accuracy, but one be bowled straighter, he picked up 3 wickets in his four over spell, conceding just 3 runs - another fine effort with the ball for him!  Felix took 1-9 in his four over spell and looked to bowl a good length and really found his rhythm which bodes well for future games, but despite bowling a little waywardly, Cameron picked up two and Xander finished things off as we dismissed Strathallan for 22 runs.  We fielded very well, taking some good catches and another three run outs which was excellent to see.  It is never easy to keep focus when the result is not in doubt, so I was pleased that we did not give anything away in the filed and a=once again, there were very few extras.

So another terrific performance form the 1stXI and another rather one sided game.  We look forward to St Mary's Melrose at home next Wednesday, so keep working hard, boys.