Buff The Chief, Puts Sun-Syme On (Inver)Leith

My stumps are broken
You called it, you dropped it
He nicked it, Pete caught it

HCC vs Drummond Trinity 2nd XI, June 4th 2022 - kindly sponsored by GSB Solicitors

A magnificent Haddington effort against a dangerous DTs outfit papered, plastered, and painted over the cracks at Inverleith Park. On the secondary artificial wicket, with the bureaucracy of older & more contemptible men (Prenter and Talbot being unavailable for the Goats) meaning a lower division took priority, Haddington returned to the scene of many battles past with the home side were a regular opponent a decade prior. Batting first and confident of posting another 180+ score as they have this season, it looked to be a familiar tale as a some dropped catches by Haddington let Cars4You Drummond Trinity off the hook, along with a not-given run out with the square leg umpire impeded by faded pitch markings and a fluffy, cockapoo-suitable outfield right up the edge of the strip. The sun beating down on a belting Jubilee day, it would be easy for heads to drop. But this side under young James Shaw has more grit about it, especially in the field. Fergus Syme continued to thunder down the hill and created more and more chances, including taking an absurd caught and bowled one handed to his left. His four wickets a real return to form which the Goats could ride mid-season, as no batter looks comfortable against his pace, swing & bounce.

At the other end Timmy Hancox was just as unplayable, unlucky not to pick up three-for, his figures dented by some clean hitting from no.4 Faisal that could have gone to hand on another day. It must be noted here that Pete Borrowman was close to immaculate with the gloves on his return to the side as work keeps him away from regular availability, which kept the batters honest even as the spinners came on. At 66-5 at drinks, Haddington were right on top, and soon after the last main threat Faisal was run out by a direct hit from Blades, in a very tight call. Macdonald was played and missed at three or four times every over and deserved more wickets than he got, as three catches - one of them tough - went down in a single over. The lower order batted smartly and ran hard, raising the score to 141 despite a tight spell at the death from Blades, perhaps better used there than with the new ball.

HCC knew that in reply more positive batting was needed. Conditions meant little to no reward for controlled shots along the ground as the ball stopped in thick grass. Cardwell-Moore looked just ready to cut loose after a couple of trademark lofted drives but was bowled by the miserly Khasif, just 9 runs from his 8 overs kept the chase in check. Cruickshank (29) must take huge plaudits for his innings which took The Goats to 57-2 at drinks. He found the gaps brilliantly and threw his hands at width when offered. This gave Dave Arbuthnott the foundation required to launch an outrageous assault. All signs pointed to a scrappy finish going to the wire, but Buff Dave made a mockery of the target, the bowlers, and the boundaries as he got going for the first time this season. The burly left-hander smoked a 6 over extra cover early on, and typically rocked back to deposit anything short of a length. More towering strokes thundered into the tree-lined walkway to the Botanic Gardens. Borrowman the perfect foil at the other end stole 10 not out as DTs tried everything to squeeze, but the winning runs came up in the 34th over, Haddington having scored at 6.5rpo since drinks, and winning by 7 wickets, with batsmen to come, to upset the form book and climb back up the table. Dave 75 not out from just 57 balls

Credit to DTs on a good contest with some good chat, and an impressive club which puts out 5 Saturday XIs now, they need support from the league and Edinburgh Leisure on providing good facilities for league cricket.

Player of the Match was Dave Arbuthnott but huge credit to Fergus Syme on his fiery spell in the heat.

Seems it was a tough result to take for the home side