Four in a row Fifers to the fore

A STRONG batting performance saw Dunfermline and Carnegie overcome a spirited Haddington side on Saturday to stay top of East League Division 3.

On being asked to bat at McKane Park by the East Lothian side, the home side got off to a busy start through some aggressive hitting by opener Arfan Yousuf and the scoreboard ticket along at five-an-over.

When he was joined by Vasu Reddy the momentum continued but when Yousuf was dismissed it led to a lessening of the run rate.

Reddy waited his chance to start attacking and a burst of hitting took the Dunfermline and Carnegie total to over 100 and the all rounder completed another half century.

Some good running and improvisation by the later order batters saw a target of 189 set for Haddington but they found an accurate home attack difficult to master.

Home player/coach, Steve Rowley, bowled very tightly and he captured four wickets as the visitors’ total stuttered to 80 for 7. They never gave up though and took their total over the ton, but ended up 88 runs short to leave Dunfermline and Carnegie and Hawick both on four wins from four games at the top of the table.

Home skipper Bruce Callen, who was on a hat-trick after taking two wickets with the first couple of balls of his spell, said: “We felt 189 would be a difficult target but we needed to be patient in the field and bowled well to clinch the win.”

DCCC are at third top Murrayfield/DAFS this Saturday.

Dunfermline and Carnegie (20) 189, V Reddy 66, A Yousuf 41, T Blades 2 for 25.

Haddington (8) 111, A Cruickshanks 18, S Rowley 4 for 18, J Hutton 2 for 19, B Callan, 2 for 19.

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IN Division 4, at Inverleith Park on Saturday, Broomhall missed out on the chance to turn a fine performance in the field into 20 points, when they took on Drummond Trinity 2nd XI.

On putting Drummond Trinity in to bat Broomhall bowled well and had the hosts under pressure with no cheap runs on offer.

Only one home batter made a major contribution in difficult batting conditions as the total crept up to 105.

Broomhall found runs hard to come by as well and really only Thomas Lucas got set and while the total crept towards the target their tail collapsed and they found themselves 15 runs short.

Trinity Drummond 2nd XI (20) 105, V Doma 56, T Lucas 4 for 20, I Ward 3 for 24, A Gudgin 2 for 29.

Broomhall (7) 90, T Lucas 22, H Anwar 3 for 8, F Raiz 2 for 12.

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DUNFERMLINE and Carnegie 2nd XI lost out in a very high scoring Division 7 game with Carlton 5th XI at Grange Loan on Sunday.

Carlton rattled along at six an over with Ledingham completing a big century and set DCCC a target of 241 and while they fell short they made a good fist of it with Xavier coming close to a ton himself Carlton 5th XI (20) 240 for 8, R Ledingham 140, D Wood 3 for 43, B Brown 2 for 44.

Dunfermline and Carnegie 2nd XI (9) 201 for 5, A Xavier 96 not out, A Leitch 31, J Spreng 25, R Rowlands 2 for 11.

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Carlton take silverware in McKane festival of youth cricket

EDINBURGH club Carlton emerged the winners of Sunday’s Cricket Scotland Scottish Under 13 Cup at McKane Park.

Dunfermline and Carnegie Comets opened the event in the first semi-final with Clydesdale, and although quite a bit younger than their opponents, they batted sensibly trying to set a target in their 20 overs.

They were consistently denied by some good bowling and fielding by the Glasgow side, but they posted 46.

In the field they struck twice in the early stages of the Clydesdale innings to make the total 10 for 2, and seemed to grab a third only for the dismissal to be ruled out by the umpire for a delivery being judged too high. ‘Dale took advantage to press on and they reached their target without further loss.

In the other semi Gordonians took on Carlton, but the Aberdeenshire side found the Capital steam a little too strong for them setting up a final between the Grange Loan club and Clydesdale.

In a high scoring match ‘Dale batted well and totalled 98 in their 20 overs, but Carlton held their nerve to ease to victory and complete a good day of youth cricket at McKane.

Dunfermline and Carnegie president, Martin Honeyford, was pleased with the way the day went: “It was encouraging for the club to be asked to host this finals day.

“Our Comets side could be proud with their performance in the semi tie with Clydesdale and most of them can look forward to trying to win this event for a couple of years yet as they were a lot younger than their opponents.

“Club members rallied around and ensured the day went very well, with the lovely weather playing its part.”

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Words provided by Jim Stark.