1stXI beat Edinburgh Academy by 50 runs

Cargilfield 99 all out (Ndaba 24, Hutchinson 22)

EA 49 all out (Mitchell 4-0-15-5, Hutchinson 3-1-4-4)

We won the toss and chose to bat first again, but at 33-6, we were teetering on the precipice and I feared a low score and a real bump back to earth after such a dominant batting display on Saturday against Merchiston! EA had some good bowlers – most play at the Grange – and we found it difficult to get the score moving and also played one or two poor shots and a couple of calamitous run outs. It was not looking good! However, Xander and Thabo batted very well, putting the bad ball away and playing very sensibly, and then Ewan and Rafa managed to get us up to 99 when the final wicket fell in the 20^th over. A good effort considering the disappointing start to the innings, but I did enjoy seeing Monty and Archie opening the batting and they survived a good opening spell and showed plenty of promise having moved up from the U11s last year. Nudging the ball around and picking up the singles is the key to building an innings; the bad balls and boundaries come once you are well set. However 100 to win was still a challenging total for EA to chase, especially given the strength of our bowling attack. And so it proved!

Xander and Ewan opened the bowling – Ewan was keen to get his overs in before he dashed off early to take part in the school debate! – and after six overs of mayhem, the score was 18 for 8 and the game was as good as over! Both bowled extremely well: Xander bowled fast and right at the stumps and was almost unplayable, whilst Ewan just pitched the ball up and bowled straight, picking up five wickets which was a fabulous achievement. Both bowlers were backed up with some excellent ground fielding and Felix took two catches and a stumping behind the stumps, showing great awareness and speed of thought: the catch he took to dismiss their best batsman running back and taking it over his shoulder was outstanding. EA ended up all out for 49 and so an excellent win over what was a good EA side.

The team showed plenty of courage and self belief this afternoon: we did not fold like a pack of cards and the lower order dug deep and managed to get us to a defendable total and then we bowled extremely well and very few sides would have survived the excellent seven destructive overs from Xander and Ewan. A super team effort, so well played chaps!