The hopes and dreams of Crieff CC for any
kind of glory in a knockout competition this season ended abruptly on
Wednesday night. Opponents Northern enjoyed a comprehensive victory in
the only first round tie to be played of the Perthshire Cricket
Association Cup. A number of factors need to be considered in assessing
the way the game turned out but the most important point must be the
chronic lack of time spent at the crease by any of the Crieff
batsmen. Although the twenty-five over evening game does not allow much
time for any player to get his eye in, most of the Crieff players tried
too hard to force the initiative from the bowling attack. They paid the
full price, reaching only forty eight runs in fifteen overs. Of this
total, twenty one came from the extras column. The evening had begun
well. Bright sunshine and a fresh breeze accompanied the start of the
Northern innings. The visiting batsmen used the conditions well and
posted a useful total of one hundred and nine off twenty two overs. C
Kirk top scored with thirty nine from his two-part innings; he retired
hurt on thirty four but returned as the wickets ran out. Only Mohammed
Anjum, of the Crieff batsmen reached double figures. The light began to
fail, cloud cover appeared and the late swinging delivery came into its
own. D Gourlay finished with five for twenty four and W Davidson took
four wickets for thirteen runs. Not a good week for Crieff and not too
much time to dwell on misfortune. This weekend sees the team travel on
both Saturday and Sunday looking to collect a few league points.
