Holiday matches started today for Dumfries Cricket Club Under 16s with a local derby versus St Michael’s.
A warm and sunny afternoon at Nunholm meant skipper Rory Thornely opted to bat. However, openers Adam Malik and James Little found the pace and movement of the new ball being bowled by St Michael’s a bit too tricky.
Malik only making one before being bowled by Ross Dalling’s fast yorker who then dismissed Little similarly after some nice cuts and drives got him 11. Dumfries 2 for 19. Damian Robson and Sean Thornely also struggled and both perished for 0, bowled Dalling and Levi White, respectively. Hyder Hussain came out to bat having had some good innings recently and started to hit shots straight away but he too fell to the left arm pace of White, this time snicking a quick one to Dalling in the slips who took a sharp catch and was, by now, starting to dominate the scorebook. With the top order back in the pavilion and only 27 for 5 on the board, Dumfries was desperate for some stability.
Rory Thornely came to the crease needing to play a captain’s innings and he duly obliged with 6 boundaries and a fast 32 (retired), taking the total to a more respectable 70. Luke McBurnie also looked secure, playing with a sensible straight bat and steadying the ship before another mini collapse took out Freddie Duncan and James Hobman in successive balls, this time to Dan Turner’s nagging line and length. Duncan caught and bowled, Hobman bowled to put Dan on a hat-trick but Luke’s younger brother, Mathew arrived and kept him company for several overs before snicking the ball from Ronan Wilson to, guess who?..Ross Dalling who was now wearing the gloves.
The score now 77 for 9. Luke then put on a useful 18 run partnership with the last man, Cameron Brown, thanks to a number of wides from the younger bowlers but with six overs to go Cameron was run out taking a very risky single to the man at cover.
St Michael’s very generously allowed the Dumfries Team to see out the 30 overs by sending in the openers again. Without the spear-head attack of Dalling and White, they capitalised and made a quick fire 45 off the last six overs. Adam Malik scoring 30 with some hard hitting shots and Little backing him up with his signature square cut. He finished on 12 and the final total 150 exactly.
After tea, St Michael’s got off to a very fast start, scoring 35 off Rory Thornely and James Hobman’s first overs before McNay, who had been taking the bowling apart top edged a pull which dollied to Rory Thornely running in from square leg. Ronan Wilson took an anchoring role for Levi White who hit two powerful boundaries before being deceived by a slow looping yorker from James Hobman.
J Barnett at 4 only managed 1 before being bowled by Rory Thornely and suddenly St Michael’s were on 38 for 3. Ross Dalling, the man of the match for St Michael’s, arrived and started connecting well with a couple of boundaries but then hit a ball off Sean Thornely hard to his brother at mid-wicket who took a good catch low down – he scored 13. In his next over, Sean also dismissed the steadfast Wilson with a ball that left him and took the edge. James Little made no mistake behind the stumps. His next ball bowled Mikey Turner’s leg stump and also put him on a hat-trick.
C Barnett came in and survived another good one on the stumps. At this point the younger batsmen found it very hard to score runs and scored 7 in the next five overs. Trying to hit out and get the total moving again, Barnett pulled Mathew McBurnie to leg but top-edged and Sean Thornely took a good catch running in, he went for a stubborn 3. Adam Malik came on and bowled Joel Hall, also for 3 and then the last man, Dan Turner, for 0. Ryan McNay returned and hit another 7 runs before 30 overs were up. Final score 102.
The game was played in great spirit with the emphasis on participation and enjoyment for everyone – both teams were of an equal standard and if Dumfries had not been given the option of batting out their overs the final score would have been 105 all out and the finish would have been very close. Thanks to everyone who helped out and made it such a great event.
Dumfries – 150 for 11
R Thornely 32 retd; A Malik 30 retd.
R Dalling 3 for 5; D Turner 2 for 10; L White 2 for 20
St Michael’s 102 for 9
R Wilson 20; R McNay 17
S Thornely 3 for 15; A Malik 2 for 3; J Hobman 2 for 31;
