June 1st 2003
Scottish Saltires v Hampshire Hawks
My interest in cricket generally extends to a vague supporting of whichever country happens to be playing England
For a brief period, however, I followed the fortunes of the freshly re-branded Scottish Saltires who had in 2003, quite inexplicably, been invited to join the ECB National Cricket League. The Grange cricket ground, which the Saltires would call home, lay about a mile from my place of work, so it was easy enough to take a half-day off and toddle along to see how our lads were doing.
For a brief period, however, I followed the fortunes of the freshly re-branded Scottish Saltires who had in 2003, quite inexplicably, been invited to join the ECB National Cricket League. The Grange cricket ground, which the Saltires would call home, lay about a mile from my place of work, so it was easy enough to take a half-day off and toddle along to see how our lads were doing.
Scotland had somehow managed to persuade Indian Rahul Dravid, then one of the leading players in the world to sign up for a three month stint beginning in June – Goodness Me, even I had heard of him. Scotland actually began their campaign in May with surprising wins at both Durham and Lancashire , leading some wit to opine Dravid may struggle to get a place in the side!
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| Entrance to The Grange cricket ground. |
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| The pavilion at The Grange, originally built in 1894, it enjoyed an extensive restoration in 1998. |
The first match I saw at the Grange was in the pre-Dravid days, a Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy match against Somerset Scotland
But after a break for lunch, out onto the crease stepped the formidable Marcus Trescothick, who just bashed the ball with apparent ease to all corners of the ground. I think he pretty much chased down the Scottish score single handed. Oh Dear, I thought, Scotland Scotland side defeat the same Somerset
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| Hampshire's James Hamblin and Lawrence Prittipaul. |
The game from which the pictures and programme comes from was an ECB National Cricket (i.e. Sunday) League match versus Hampshire Hawks; the crowd (around 2,000) being significantly larger for this one. This was, I think Rahul Dravid’s debut, but he was dismissed for only 25 runs as Scotland
At one point, during the Hampshire innings when Dravid was fielding out near the boundary line, a girl with a marker pen trotted on to the pitch to request an autograph from the great man. Having no paper, she pulled down the top of her t-shirt looking to have her cleavage autographed. The dignified Dravid declined, looking baffled and embarrassed in equal measure – he was on his honeymoon, after all.
At one point, during the Hampshire innings when Dravid was fielding out near the boundary line, a girl with a marker pen trotted on to the pitch to request an autograph from the great man. Having no paper, she pulled down the top of her t-shirt looking to have her cleavage autographed. The dignified Dravid declined, looking baffled and embarrassed in equal measure – he was on his honeymoon, after all.
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| Panorama of The Grange, Edinburgh looking south. |
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Scotland v Zimbabwe
15th June 2017
First ODI, The Grange, Edinburgh
And with (what seemed to my untutored eyes anyway) a bit of help from Messrs Duckworth, Lewis and Stern, Scotland achieved their first ever win over a test nation with this ODI defeat of Zimbabwe.
Scotland had begun the business at a snail's pace it seemed, managing to mine just three runs from the opening three overs. Even to someone like myself with only a rudimentary grasp on arithmetic, one run an over looked unlikely to trouble our African friends. But after Matthew Cross had hit the first 4 in the fifth over, and Kyle Coetzer the first 6 in the seventh, Scotland moved on to 82 by the end of the 13th over.
Coetzer reached his century off 88 balls, eventually being dismissed for 109. Scotland appeared to get a bit bogged down after this setback, but Craig Wallace's love of a reverse sweep got the scoreboard ticking over once more. The home side batted out their 50 overs, posting a remarkably respectable looking total of 317.
Zimbabwe opened their innings requiring a run rate around 6.5, but by the end of the 20th over this had slipped to just over 7, and they had shipped three wickets in the process.
When the rains came came Zimbabwe were clearly in a bit of bother on 107/4; their cause not being subsequently helped by their target being revised only marginally down to 299 i.e. still requiring 192 from the remaining (reduced) 21.3 overs. But the free scoring Sean Williams was still there, and there was a huge cheer from the Scotland lads as he finally fell on 70, with the visitors on 171.
Malcolm Waller put up a bit of a fight, bashing at least two out of the ground, but his fine 92 notwithstanding, the visitors still found their required run-rate inexorably climbing, until we reached the climax whereby a whopping 27 runs were required from the last 9 balls, with Zimbabwe having just one wicket remaining.
The match ending when Tendai Chatara skied one into the waiting hands of Chris Sole.
Scotland had had last enjoyed their first win over a test playing nation, but in true Caledonia fashion wasted the opportunity to build upon the positive publicity, by losing the second match in the series – in front of a far bigger crowd on the following Saturday, by six wickets.
And so ended Scotland cricket side's season – a mere 10 day period in June.
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Scotland v Pakistan
12th June 2018
First T20, The Grange, Edinburgh
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Zimbabwe opened their innings requiring a run rate around 6.5, but by the end of the 20th over this had slipped to just over 7, and they had shipped three wickets in the process.
When the rains came came Zimbabwe were clearly in a bit of bother on 107/4; their cause not being subsequently helped by their target being revised only marginally down to 299 i.e. still requiring 192 from the remaining (reduced) 21.3 overs. But the free scoring Sean Williams was still there, and there was a huge cheer from the Scotland lads as he finally fell on 70, with the visitors on 171.
Malcolm Waller put up a bit of a fight, bashing at least two out of the ground, but his fine 92 notwithstanding, the visitors still found their required run-rate inexorably climbing, until we reached the climax whereby a whopping 27 runs were required from the last 9 balls, with Zimbabwe having just one wicket remaining.
The match ending when Tendai Chatara skied one into the waiting hands of Chris Sole.
Scotland had had last enjoyed their first win over a test playing nation, but in true Caledonia fashion wasted the opportunity to build upon the positive publicity, by losing the second match in the series – in front of a far bigger crowd on the following Saturday, by six wickets.
And so ended Scotland cricket side's season – a mere 10 day period in June.
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Scotland v Pakistan
12th June 2018
First T20, The Grange, Edinburgh
After the
Victory-over-England euphoria of two days earlier it was, perhaps
inevitably, back to earth with a crash for the Scotland cricket side,
losing this T20 match to the youthful touring Pakistanis by 48 runs.
And yet, for two
periods during proceedings, I felt Scotland looked to be well in this
match. Some tight bowling, particularly from Alasdair Evans (who
took three wickets), held the Pakistan batsmen in reasonable check
during the first 15 overs, suppressing the visitors' run rate down to
single figures.
But then came those
calamitous 16th and 17th overs as Hazma Tahir
and then Mark Watt each shipped 20 runs; and Pakistan seemingly effortlessly
boosted their tally from 124/3 to 164/3. The aforementioned Evans
dropped in to steady the ship a touch, but Safraz Ahmed continued to
torture the unhappy Tahir, adding 18 runs off the final four balls of
the innings to help take his side's total to 203.
Scotland were thus set
a target of 204 to win, and after five overs had accumulated a
promising-looking 44 for no wicket. But George Munsey was caught
next ball, having made 25, and thereafter Scotland appeared to get
mired down in the Pakistan bowling. Zeros and singles became the norm, as the
run rate dipped alarmingly, and the winning post drifted further and
further out of sight.
There was no “that's
the match lost now” moment, but rather the realisation dawned
slowly but inexorably. Rather like the real dawn, I suppose.
Once the pressure was off, so to speak, Murray Leask enjoyed a spell of productive, if slightly reckless, bashing, hitting three 4s and pair of 6s in an unbeaten 38. But by that point his team were already beaten.
Once the pressure was off, so to speak, Murray Leask enjoyed a spell of productive, if slightly reckless, bashing, hitting three 4s and pair of 6s in an unbeaten 38. But by that point his team were already beaten.
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| Scotland v Pakistan - June 2018 |
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| Scotland v Pakistan - June 2018 |
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| We truly live in enlightened times, when a man can pull his wire at a sporting event in broad daylight. |
Scotland v Australia
6th August 2024
After witnessing Scotland's football side self-destruct (again) at Hampden the previous day, I treated myself to another national sporting defeat. This one was, to be fair, a loss to one of the best in the business. But, nevertheless, as I overhead a chap saying to his mate as we left the venue "Seventy runs! That is a real pasting". Which, indeed it was.
Two days earlier, in the first of this three match T20 series, Australia's Travis Head had pretty much dismantled Scotland's attack single-handedly, scoring 80 in just 25 balls. But not even dismissing Head for a golden duck this afternoon could save Scotland; for in some form of Antipodean whack-a-mole, once his colleague was dismissed Josh Inglis popped up to help himself to a century. The Australians posted a hefty total of 196/4, by the end of their 20 overs.
Needing to score runs at a rate of 10/over to have any chance of overhauling the Ozzies' tally, Scotland did get off to a bit of a flier, scoring 17 in their first over. But when two of their potential big hitters - Michael Jones and George Munsey - were dismissed early on, each caught going for potentially big hits, that was sort of that. Brandon McMullen did hang around long enough to put together an admirable half-century, but none of his teammates succeeded in even reaching double figures before walking.
Aaron Hardie finally put the Scots out of their misery catching Chris Greaves out on the boundary, as the home side were all out for 126 in less than 17 overs.
Aye, a pasting, right enough.
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| Edinburgh remined enveloped in a mist for pretty much the whole match. |
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| Some fine scran was available. |
The 59 scored by Brandon McMullen (a South African by birth)
represented the sole positive in a pretty grim afternoon for Scotland.
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| The Grange, Edinburgh |
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