Last weekend saw a full fixture card, with every Accies weekend team in action. All five games went ahead under glorious sunshine.
The 1XI travelled to Ayrshire to face the only other unbeaten team in the league, Irvine, at Maress. Accies bowling attack was depleted by the absence of schoolkids Cammy Russell and Dhruv Satpute, and wicket machine Farhan Shah, but bolstered by the return of "Nasty" Nirvik Ganapathi from university in Liverpool.
Irvine won the toss and chose to bat on what turned out to be a difficult pitch, and were quickly reduced to 10-3 by opening bowlers Ganapathi and skipper Randy. Ganapathi trapped nomadic opener Alam in front in the first over, before Randy had professional Choudhary caught at square leg and captain McCallum adjudged lbw. Singh counter attacked briefly before hitting a steepling catch to Chohan at mid-off, and Conway scraped his way to 21. The difference-making innings came from Graham Owens, who counter-attacked effectively to hit a quick 51 before being sharply caught at slip by Dowers off the bowling of Ronnie Singh. The Irvine innings capitulated relatively quickly from there, as they closed on 138 all out. Randy was the pick of the bowlers with 4-35, while Nasty, Ronnie, and Jon Cherry picked up 2 apiece.
What should have been an achievable target was quickly out of reach as wickets tumbled early in the Accies innings. Form man Austin scratched around for a dogged 36*, but found no partners to occupy the crease with him as Accies were rolled for 76. Accies' batting left a lot to be desired and saw a three-game unbeaten run come to a disappointing end. The team will look to return to form with a crucial double-header against Helensburgh (home) and Gordonians (away) next weekend.
The 2XI enjoyed contrasting fortunes, winning the toss and batting on a flat Accies pitch. John "Joliver" Oliver and Usmaan Irfan opened the batting and completed a century stand, with John dismissed for 40 and Usmaan hitting a powerful 78. Sachin Jape added 49, Chris Hawkins 27, and Cammy Russell and Myles Shields finished unbeaten on 42* and 37* respectively. The total of 319-4 is the third-highest since website records began. Accies then made short work of the Maress batting line up, dismissing them for just 57, with Abhi Bhatia taking 6-14 in a long spell on his debut as skipper, and two wickets apiece for Arman Khan and Cammy Russell.
The 3XI travelled to Motherwell and lost a low-scoring affair, being dismissed for 119 despite a determined innings by Steven Johnston. Motherwell made the runs 5 down, and although Alps would have felt they were in with a chance when the first three wickets fell cheaply, Motherwell numbers 4-6 made short work of the small total with some aggressive strokeplay.
The 4XI welcomed the Bees to the top ground. The Bees won the toss and chose to bat: a decision which paid dividends as they took advantage of small boundaries and fast outfield to smash 345. The bright spots for Accies were the spin bowling of youngsters Rick Mukhophadyay (13-0-65-1) and Greg Macmillan (5-0-37-1). The 4s quickly collapsed for just 32 when their turn with the bat came, making for a 313-run loss.
On Sunday, the Dev XI hosted Clydesdale on a New Anniesland dustbowl. Clydesdale chose to bat and took advantage of a good pitch, fast outfield, and one short boundary to post 226-9, though it was a good effort from an Accies attack containing almost exclusively U18s to restrict a very talented Clydesdale senior batting line-up to less than a run a ball. Top performance was from Joliver, who is fast earning the title Mr. Cricket, who returned his first senior three-for (6-0-32-3), the pick of which was having Dale's number three well caught at deep cover by Euan Dowers. Arman Khan and Fehzan Irfan each managed a brace, and there was a wicket apiece for the Russell brothers, though Pip deserved another when Habs spilled a routine chance at cover, which proved a costly error.
In reply Accies started a bit too slowly and were never really in the game. Nirvik departed just as he looked to be settled for an increasingly aggressive 41, while Joliver looked solid for his 21 and looked especially dangerous when instructed to try to up the rate. Skipper Austin came in down the order and hit a quickfire 27*, but it was far too little too late for Accies to threaten Dale's total.
Accies will hope for more than one in five wins from next weekend's fixtures, though this weekend has left plenty to be positive about.