1sts Slip to Another Defeat

Watsonians 197 all out
(E Chalmers 95, S Sharif 5 for 62)

Falkland 140 all out
(A Ferguson 39, M Surry 22, E Chalmers 4 for 32)

Falkland Lost by 57 Runs

Falkland lost their third game in a row as they collapsed dismally to Watsonians at Myreside. The conditions were cold, damp and unpleasant and it was a surprise that the Edinburgh side chose to bat first after they had won the toss. Falkland started badly in terms of fielding errors, and Euan Chalmers who scored 95 was dropped three times. In addition the ground fielding was far from perfect, and the result was that Watsonians were able to reach 197 when half of that score would have been appropriate if the catches had been taken. In addition the total of 34 extras is clearly unacceptable. Safyaan Sharif was the pick of the bowlers with 5 for 62, but Ryan Hepburn also bowled a good 10 Overs to concede only 15 runs.

In reply, Falkland started steadily in spite of the early loss of Jack Henderson, and both Adam Ferguson and Matt Surry accumulated steadily if a touch slowly. But then wickets fell in a hurry, including the fateful one of Safyaan Sharif first ball, then Bryn Cleaver to a debatable run out, and suddenly Falkland found themselves facing an impossible target with few wickets left.

This was Watsonians first League win of the season with Euan Chalmers having s great game with his 95 and then 4 for 34. The game was marred for them by a bad injury to Stuart Chalmers who was hit in the face by a full blooded drive from Nangia, but they were rightly delighted with their victory. For Falkland, problems keep arising because of a few failures in the basics of cricket. Dropped catches, wides, no balls all combine to make life unnecessarily difficult. Captain Brock Ditchmen is aware of these problems and vows to work on them.

The team are in Edinburgh again next week, this time to Carlton, another team who are off to a bad start in their League campaign. Then on Sunday, Arbroath are at Scroggie in the Scottish Cup

David Potter