Hawick & Wilton beat Carlton IV by five wickets
EAST LEAGUE DIVISION EIGHT
FOR once the weather was not an issue at Buccleuch Park as Hawick entertained Carlton IV in Saturday’s heatwave.
The Edinburgh men arrived in the town early, but must surely have wondered what all the fuss in the street was, with the horses mustering for the Mosspaul rideout. Good job they had former Hawick player Kevin Whitaker in their ranks to keep them right.
On winning the toss, Hawick captain Allan Moffat opted to put Carlton in to bat on a grassy looking wicket and the hosts quickly started to put them under pressure with tight aggressive bowling from Neil Storey and Lee Stewart. It took until the 10th over, however, before the first breakthrough, when the visiting skipper holed out to Doug Bryant off Stewart’s bowling with only 14 on board. That brought Whitaker to the crease and most were unsure of how good he was.
They found out soon enough when he pulled his second ball crashing to the boundary. At the other end Arvind was looking safe but a bit unsure. He was next to fall plumb LBW to Stuart Hair, bowling a patient 9 from 38 balls.
Another youngster, Simpson, came in and along with Whitaker put on a further 29 before being bowled by Bryant for eight. Next up was Kennedy, a possible danger, but Storey’s pace was too much for him and he quickly departed with the score on 71-4.
The next man in, Sutherland, was living a charmed life with Whitaker accelerating, but that was undone when the latter was caught deep mid-on by Storey off Craig Macdougall’s bowling for an excellent 78.
Hawick tried to wrap things up but were a bit sloppy on fielding compared to previous weeks. Moffat had a direct throw to dismiss the next man before Stewart caught Sutherland followed by Bruce Mactaggart catching Murdoch off Pierce Solley’s first ball leaving Carlton on a respectable 173 for 8.
After tea Hawick set about the target with excitement as new opening partners Declan Solley and Neil Storey got the ball rolling. Both played positive with a good 53-run partnership with some good running and aggressive shots from Storey before he was clean-bowled. Young Pierce Solley joined his brother and quickly got in on the act by crashing the boundary with ease. Declan Solley was caught square off wicket for a grafted knock of 13 before Moffat came on and scored one boundary before missing out on a high full toss by playing on. Phil Mactaggart joined Pierce Solley and both continued to score at ease while also upping the scoring rate until Solley was undone by Main for an entertaining 44.
Stewart joined MacTaggart and the pairing edged Hawick closer to the finish line before the latter was undone by Irvine-Ness bowling a straight ball.
Supporters were then entertained to a knock, which will be the talk of the clubrooms for a while, when youngster Ewan Hair came to crease. Moffat had told him just play safe and see the team home to which Hair replied: “Yes, I know what I’m doing”.
And he did, crashing two sixes and two fours in a bright and breezy eight balls for 24, while at other end Stewart saw the team home for a comfortable victory.
Carlton IV
B. Irvine, c Bryant b Stewart 4
K. Arvind, lbw b S. Hair 9
K. Whitaker, c Storey b Macdougall 78
T. Simpson b Bryant 8
M. Kennedy, b Storey 1
D. Sutherland, c Stewart b S. Hair 29
N. Irvine-Hess, run out 10
S. Farooq, not out 15
G. Murdoch, c B. Mactaggart b P. Solley 2
R. Main, not out 1
Extras 16
Total for 8 173
Hawick & Wilton
D. Solley, c Irvine-Hess b Marchbank 13
N. Storey, b Kennedy 31
P. Solley, b Main 44
A. Moffat, b Marchbank 4
P. Mactaggart, b Irvine-Hess 24
L. Stewart, not out 8
E. Hair, not out 24
Extras 29
Total for 5 177