Falkland Through to Village Cup Next Round

Falkland 150 for 7
(D Gray 38 ret, R Nellies 22, C Bell 22)

Crathie 78 all out
(R Hepburn 2 for 15, M Watson 2 for 14)

Falkland Won by 72 Runs

Falkland made the long trip to Crathie for this Davidstow Cheese National Village Cup Scottish Section Quarter Final tie. The Crathie ground is located in the beautiful grounds of Balmoral Castle, but today the Royal Family had obviously not heard that FCC were playing as none were in residence.

Skipper Hepburn lost the toss and was invited to bat on what was a very green and spongy wicket surrounded by a very green and spongy outfield. It was obvious that runs would be hard to come by which proved to be the case. After their allotted 40 overs Falkland reached 150 for 7, which was a decent total considering the conditions. Dave Gray top scored with 38, but had to retire hurt with a muscle problem immediately after hitting a towering six. Useful contributions also came from Callum (Belly) Bell and Robbie Nellies.

After a lovely tea which included a guess the pie filling competition - incidentally won by Ryan Hepburn who correctly guessed 'Lasagne', the Crathie openers then had the unenviable task of facing the father and son combo of Mike and Calum Watson who was celebrating his 17th birthday . Calum celebrated with a wicket and also a meat and potato pie topped with a sparkler ! A suicidal run out in the first over had Belly in hysterics at cover, but he soon recovered and then Crathie quickly lost their 2nd , 3rd and 4th wickets to leave them in dire straights. Apart from a couple of cameo innings they never looked like reaching the required run rate and were all out for 78.

A comprehensive victory and a semi final tie now awaits against either Kirkwood or Methlick on Sunday 25th May. Crathie proved to be excellent hosts and a very sociable bunch - thanks for the hospitality guys ! Oh and the rumours that Sir Ian (Beefy) Botham would be spectating appeared to be true when a black Range Rover pulled up during the Falkland innings.A couple of our boys namely Grant P and Belly got really excited and ran across to the car in the hope of an autograph (Belly took his bat) but it was to be in vain as it was not Beefy.

Cheers

Robbie