Scorecard

Morton 4ths v Edinburgh South Cricket Club 4th XI on Sat 29 Apr 2023 at 1pm
Edinburgh South Cricket Club Won by 5 wickets

Match report • Our 4th XI starts the Keshav Bhatnagar/Rod Hunt reign, and the 2023 Division 8 season with a comfortable win against Morton’s 4th XI.
• Prabhneet ‘Prab’ Singh starts off the season with an impressive 6 – 17, eclipsing his previous best figures of 4-32 from the 2022 season.
• Jack Mcluckie (2-7), Shaman Kumar (1-7), and Declan Lancaster (1-20) chipped in with the other 4 wickets.
• Rod Hunt and Bailey Brookes both top scored with stylish 24’s.
• It was a day for shared scores ending in 4, as Fahad Shafiq and debutant Kalyan Pagadala made crucial contributions with the bat, both scoring 14.

With ominous grey skies and a light drizzle coming down around the Meadows Rod (skippering the 4th XI for the first time as co-captain) put Morton into bat in a match reduced to 35 overs. This proved to be the right call, with conditions progressively deteriorating for bowling and improving for batting. A crucial role throughout was played by Sidharth ‘Sid’ Kashyap, who masterfully marshalled Souths’ field positions, allowing Rod to concentrate on the game situation.

The opening seam trio of Oliver Henderson, Declan, and Sid got off to an economical start, restricting Morton to less than 30 runs in the first 10 overs. Although Oli and Sid didn’t take any wickets, their scrooge like economies of 2.50 and 1.75 respectively went a long way to restricting Morton throughout. Declan took the first wicket, bowling Morton’s Harish on 8, following a field change from Sid that undoubtedly unnerved the opener.

Then the man of the hour Prab came into the attack. Prab bowled like a very accurate man possessed, taking the next SIX wickets. Four of Prab’s victims were clean bowled showing how quickly he got to grips with an extremely variable wicket, including Morton’s top scorer Richards on 19.

Prab’s other two wickets were assisted by excellent catches from Dan ‘M.S. Dani’ Holland and Fahad. Dan, who kept wicket before the tea break, made a tough catch look easy, safely taking a spinning, looping ball from within a crowd of onrushing Souths’ fielders. Luckily for Dan he also narrowly avoided twisting his knee. Fahad, fielding at mid-on, took a ball that came quickly at him, remarking that it was more painful than breaking your knuckles boxing. Nonetheless, the ball stayed put.

Bailey (who had taken the gloves after tea) displayed concentration and agility with a smart stumping from a turning Shaman delivery. Jack took the final two wickets, finishing Morton’s innings with a smart bowled and caught. Jack’s impressive 2-7 could have made him the bowler of the day, had it not been for Prab’s heroics.

Our openers Rod and Dan got us off to a quick start. Dan expertly saw off Morton’s opening bowlers with some classic defensive shots, whilst at the other end Rod played a captain’s innings, hitting four quick-fire boundaries on a slow outfield.

Following a couple of quick wickets for Morton, the ship was steadied by Bailey and Fahad, who put together a steady partnership to get us to within touching distance of the victory. Kalyan and Sid were there at the end, with Sid heroically facing down the final ball of the match, a wide which gave us the victory with five wickets and three overs to spare.

Morton played the game with the right spirit, and the officiating from both sides was very fair on a day which could have been made much more difficult by the weather. We wish them luck with the rest of the season and look forward to welcoming them to The Inch in early July.

Words by Declan Lancaster

Morton 4ths Batting
Player name RunsMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
7nb 18w 11b 1lb 
for 10 wickets
37
96 (32.5 overs)		     
Harish b  D Lancaster 8
Richards b  P Singh 19
Belton b  P Singh 4
Durgaraj ct  D Holland bowled P SIngh 0
Fred b  P SIngh 2
Farrell b  P Singh 3
Ranjith ct  Fahad b. P SIngh 3
Forbes Not Out  5
Puneet st  B Brookes b. S Kumar 13
Bala ct  and bowled J McLucky 2
Andrew BS lbw  J McLucky 0

Edinburgh South Cricket Club 4th XI Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Oliver Henderson6.001500.002.50
Declan Lancaster5.0020120.004.00
Sidharth Kashyap4.00700.001.75
Fahad Shafiq2.00400.002.00
Jack McLuckie5.52723.501.20
Prabhneet Singh7.001762.832.43
Kalyan Pagadala1.00800.008.00
Shaman Kumar2.00717.003.50

Edinburgh South Cricket Club 4th XI Batting
Player Name RMB4s6sSRCatchesStumpingsRun outs
extras
TOTAL :
3nb 7w 3b  
for 5 wickets
13
97		        
Rod Hunt Caught  24 36 4 66.67
Dan Holland Bowled  5 19 26.32 1
Fahad Shafiq Caught  14 24 1 58.33 1
Shaman Kumar Bowled  4 10 1 40.0
Bailey Brookes Lbw  24 43 3 55.81 1
Kalyan Pagadala Not Out  14 21 1 66.67
Sidharth Kashyap Not Out  0 8 0
Declan Lancaster  
Oliver Henderson  
Prabhneet Singh  
Jack McLuckie   1

Morton 4ths Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Fred6.502600.003.80
Nanjith7.04818.001.14
Puneet7.0122211.003.14
Farrell5.0011111.002.20
Ranjith2.00700.003.50
Bala2.0010110.005.00
Belton3.00700.002.33