May Match Reports

2nd XI Match Report Ross County Cricket Club v RAF Kinloss

On Saturday 24th May the County 2nd XI travelled to the Kinloss airbase to play their 2nd XI on a sunny, blustery, day in a match sponsored by Eunsell Ltd. County were down to 10 men as several regulars were unavailable. On losing the toss Alan Danson’s team were asked to field and he turned to Harry Tolliday and Pat Wallace to open the attack for Ross. Tolliday bowled well and without success as he and Wallace restricted the batsmen to singles. Wallace made the first break through as he had Wood cheaply caught, by Thomas Wright at square leg, for 0.

Hastie replaced his captain at the crease and Wright replaced Tolliday with the ball. He bowled Hastie for 6 and Kinloss were struggling to score against the accurate bowling. Young Jack Sangster replaced the veteran Wallace and struck in his third over having Oates bowled for 4. This was Jack’s first senior wicket and he will have many more to come based on this performance. Wright misled Newlands into attempting a fine cut only to see his stumps disintegrate as he flattened them, hit wicket.

Danson and Peter Dolan replaced the younger bowlers and both had early success as first Danson had M Atkins caught by Tolliday for 1 then Dolan had opener E Atkins caught acrobatically by keeper Fiddes for a well hit 27. Dolan went on to claim 3 other wickets as he mopped up the tail as first Evans was bowled for 0, then Ritchie was caught by Danson for 0 and Gosling bowled for 1. The final wicket fell to Wallace as Sue Hastie, in at number eleven, was bowled by Wallace without scoring. RAF Kinloss concluded on 80 all out off only 31 overs.

After tea Danson and Fiddes opened the County innings knowing that they had to bat sensibly and calmly to win. There were a number of inexperienced batsmen to follow them so one of them needed to make a big score. The rate of 2 an over wasn’t onerous but the pitch was bouncy and the fielders young and enthusiastic. Danson looked to be in form as he punished any leg-side deliveries for 4. Fiddes and Danson reached 50 without a problem and went on to comfortably reach the target of 81 in 24 overs without loss. Fiddes ending on 14 not out and Danson 34 not out. With apologies to the younger players awaiting their chance to bat, especially Callum Sangster in his first ever adult match, the two batsmen left the field. Next week this team is at home to FT William in the Cup encounter beginning at Castle Leod at 2pm.

2nd XI V Ft William

On Saturday 17th May Ross County 2nd XI welcomed last seasons Macallan Reserve League winners, Fort William. After a spate of late call offs and injuries the County side could only field a side of ten men, With Skipper Danson otherwise engaged stand in Lamb won the toss and invited the visitors to bat first. County opened the attack with Boyd and Wright. County were soon almost left with nine players when wicketkeeper Rae sustained a broken nose from a stray Boyd delivery, however, he was able to continue. With the Fort openers looking to score quickly they were soon on the back foot when Spencer was bowled by 1st change bowler Wilde. The County bowlers had managed to contain the Fort batsmen and at the thirty over point in their innings they had stumbled to 83 for 3 with Wilde and Wallace sharing the wickets.

County then preceded to bowl a buffet of long hops, full tosses, and wide deliveries and at the end of the Fort innings they had added 72 runs in just ten overs to finish on a daunting 155 for 6. Were County to rue the expensive ten overs? After a splendid tea County opened their run chase with Wright and the inform Boyd and they got off to the worst start as Wright was bowled for 2 followed by Boyd for 1. When Alexander and Rae appeared to steady the ship Alexander was caught off a leading edge for 5 and Rae was bowled for 1. Wilde quickly followed his team mates as he too was bowled for 6. As the carnage continued Belli was harshly given out stumped for 4 and Reid soon followed with the same mode of dismissal.

Dear employed a rearguard action and was enjoying moderate success before dear was dismissed for 9 leaving Lamb and Wallace to close the innings on 76 for 8 and giving the visitors a handsome victory of seventy-nine runs. Afterwards Lamb commented that if they had his team been able to bowl better at the end of the Fort innings then they may have had a chance of getting the runs but indisciplined bowling had cost the team dearly. Thanks go to S Torrie Muir of Ord for the match sponsorship. The next match at Castle Leod is for the 1st XI when they welcome RAF Kinloss to a 2pm start. If anyone would like to play For Ross County CC in the local area then contact Ross Rae on 07825551823 for more information.

On Saturday 10th May Ross County 1st XI kicked off their campaign for the Macallan League title 2008 against local Inverness rivals Northern Counties. With this year’s skipper, GP Watson, away on a business trip temporary captain, Jerry Bishop, promptly won the toss and elected to bat on the recently replaced wicket. In a new opening pairing of Cole and Rae County got off to the worst possible start when Rae was bowled off a possible no ball with score on a solitary run. Worse was to follow as Cole then attempted a suicidal run and was run out by a good few yards and County were in real trouble. Smart and M Watson however steadied the sinking ship through well placed shots and good defence until Smart had a rush of blood and was bowled for 11. Blake was next man in and again was in the same mould as last season's captain until he was caught behind for 10. With County looking uneasy skipper Bishop entered the fray and again got himself in only to get out this time LBW. This was not before Watson spooned a return catch to the bowler and was dismissed for 34 just as he looked dangerous. Richard must have been taking a leaf out of the County batting manual as when on a quick fire 23 he was beaten by a slower ball from Callanan another batsman who got in and got out. Bentley playing his first game in several seasons, continued the County cause with Tolliday until Tolliday slapped an easy chance to point and was soon heading back to the pavilion, Bentley was then bowled for 26 and last man out was Hardwick for 0 leaving County to post a defendable 140 all out. As tea was being taken the heavens opened and soon had the ground in a large puddle. After consultation between the skippers the game was abandoned as a draw as a result was not going to be possible. Afterwards stand in skipper Bishop commented that ,"the positives from the match were that County had had a bat and could look forward to their next match away to Fochabers next weekend (17th) boosted by the return of GP Watson and all rounder Doug Fairley". A point must be made that it took the visitors a staggering two hours fifty minutes to bowl their overs surely a bit slow on the over rate front. Thanks go to MPPM Stathpeffer for their match sponsorship. The next match at Castle Leod is for the 2nd XI when they welcome last years champions Fort William to a 2pm start.

Cricket Match Report Ross County 2nd XI v Northern Counties

In bright sunshine Ross County, sponsored by Sigma Business Systems of Dornoch, made their way to the Meeting Park for their Macallan Reserve League game v Northern Counties. On losing the toss Alan Danson and the Ross-shire team were put in to bat. Opening with Thomas Wright, Danson survived an LBW appeal off the first delivery. He then hit two fours before falling to a second LBW appeal all within the first over. This early set back brought Lennox Boyd to the crease, a player who had been top scoring the week previous. Boyd made a slow and steady start and soon began to build another innings. He saw Wright dismissed for 12 and was joined by Andy Brydon. In his first game of the season Brydon attempted to flick the ball off his pads only to offer a simple top edge catch to Hodgson at backward point.

Monahan was next in and fell for 2 off the bowling of Mususa leaving Ross on 42 for 4 with the top order sat in the stand watching. Only Boyd survived and the wily veteran John Fiddes now joined him. Together these two batsmen cultivated a respectable score as they flicked and lashed balls about the Meeting Park ground. In the end Fiddes was found short of his ground going for a run and was out for a patient 11. The tail came and went without troubling the scorers too much as first Ali Lamb added 1, Scott Matheson 0, young Jack Sangster, in his first match, 0. Boyd having gone for a creditable 40 the final pairing of Pat Wallace and George Dear completed the innings before Dear was run out for 1 and Wallace left not out on 2.

Ross County trudged off the field for tea having posted 96 all out. On their return both sides noted the threatening sky rolling in from the Loch Ness end of the ground and felt the sudden drop in temperature. Needing a tight spell from the opening bowlers Danson called on Thomas Wright and Ali Lamb to open the attack. This worked well at first as Neill fell without scoring caught behind by Brydon off Wright for 0, with only 2 on the board. Harold joined Hodgson and they set about rescuing Counties from their early set back. With the score on 32 Wright again struck bowling Harold for a quick fire 26. As his replacement Mususa came out to bat the first peals of thunder echoed across the Ness River and the light descended to a murky level. It was at this point that Danson disappeared into the stinking quagmire of compost chasing a boundary ball much to the amusement of the home team. This heap amassed over the previous season had been dumped at the edge of the pitch for any unwary visitor to discover. In Lamb’s next over it became impossible to bowl in the wet and dark conditions and both teams agreed to come off to await weather improvement. The captains realised that this wasn’t going to happen and the game was abandoned with Counties scoring 11 points and Ross County 8 from the inconclusive result. The days only result being the loss of a £50 pair of cricket shoes to the foul goo kindly left at the very edge of the playing area by the Highland Council groundstaff.

Ross County Cricket Club 2nd XI match v Buckie 3/5/08 played at Buckie

On Saturday the season began for Ross County Cricket Club’s 2nd XI team in the NoSCA League. However the first match was away to Buckie and the forecast wasn’t good. With ten players comprising of youths and very senior players the team arrived at a very blustery sunny venue that was still puddle ridden and heavy underfoot.

Winning the toss County skipper, Alan Danson, asked the hosts to bat and handed the opening spell to his quicker bowlers, Harry Tolliday and Lennox Boyd. Conditions proved difficult with the strong cross wind making it particularly hard on the sea end bowlers as the ball swung towards the town.

In the 5th over Tolliday made the initial breakthrough bowling Wood for 6. This brought Tait to the wicket and the home batsmen begun to dominate the bowlers. Alistair Lamb and Pat Wallace replaced the opening pair and the batsmen slowed against their accuracy. The conditions meant that it was impossible to hit a boundary and Buckie scored slowly but without looking too troubled. Lamb, who had made the journey from his Skye home to play, was very impressive as he bowled maiden over after maiden over. He was eventually rewarded when captain Walls skied a top edge to Boyd and Buckie were 60 for 2. Although few wickets had fallen Buckie were scoring slowly and County maintained he pressure. Danson bowled 3 overs without success and then Magnus Monahan took over bowling against the wind. After a shaky start he picked up 2 wickets finishing on 2 for 20 from his 8 overs.

Lamb and then Thomas Wright completed the bowling and Buckie completed their 40 overs on 106 for 8. Tolliday had 1 for 10 from 5overs, Lamb 2 for 7 from 8 overs with 5 maidens, Wallace 2 for 12 from 8 overs and Wright 1 for 14 from 4 overs.

After a fine tea the Ross County opening batsmen Ross Rae and Wright strode out knowing that the asking rate was just over 2.5 runs per over. The batting line up had favoured the younger players as the game would be about running quick singles as boundaries were nigh impossible to hit on the saturated ground. Buckie had managed just one in 40 overs. In the third over Wright was bowled without scoring and Ross were 8 for 1.

Boyd came in at three and he and Rae built a partnership pushing the scoring on until Rae was bowled by Cross for 10, 28 for 2. Tolliday came in at 4 and hit the first Ross County boundary. He was looking good but was bowled by Cross for 15 just when he was making the Buckie team look very ordinary.

Danson came in and he too struck a boundary but was run out for 7 when he and Boyd hesitated midwicket and couldn’t complete the run in time. By now the score had picked up and the required rate was safely met with Fiddes coming in to help Boyd complete the job. Sensible batting from these two saw a win for the visitors as they reached 107 for 5 off the first ball of the last over. Boyd was on 33 not out and Fiddes 7 not out. A good start to their season for Ross County.

Next Saturday both Ross teams play, the 1st XI is at home v Northern Counties whilst the 2nd XI is at The Meeting Park both games starting at 2pm. This Wednesday the children’s training sessions begin at castle Leod and they are followed by adult sessions. New players wishing to join should come along to the appropriate session or check the website for details.