A brilliant maiden five wicket haul from Caitlin Ormiston and a pivotal 48 runs with the bat from Stuart Skeldon laid the foundations for a Gala 2nds win in their first league match in over 25 years at Inch Park on Saturday against Edinburgh South 3rds.
Having won the toss, captain Ross Patterson elected to field. The hosts made a steady start with the bat before Craig Thomson claimed the first wicket of the day, trapping South opener Llangovan LBW for 7. A good partnership then developed between Edinburgh South’s Griffiths (18) and Smith (36), with the pair also increasing the hosts scoring rate. However, it was Thomson again who broke the partnership after bowling the other opener. A second wicket in what was a fine spell from Gala’s opening bowler, who ended up conceding only 12 runs from his 8 overs.
Throughout the remainder of the hosts innings, Gala continued to bowl well and the other batsmen struggled to reach double figures. Some good bowling from Jamie Bell, Robbie Paterson and Maisie Maceira ensured each picked up a wicket for their efforts. Liam Skeldon can count himself unlucky not to have picked up a wicket however he bowled very economically, only conceding 10 runs from his 8 over spell.
The pick of the Gala bowlers however was Caitlin Ormiston, who claimed the crucial wicket of Smith (36) before ripping through the lower order of the hosts. A good catch from Ajith Sujan ensured Ormistons 5th wicket and the end of Edinburgh South’s innings as they posted 122 all out from 39.1 overs.
The Gala response got off to a faltering start, losing Patterson and John Imray early on. With the hosts bowling well, a good partnership began to develop between Stuart Skeldon and Craig Thomson, with the former playing an anchor role and the latter looking to increase the scoring rate. The pair took the score up to 60 for 2 before Thomson was bowled for 12. The experienced Skeldon however remained at the crease and despite losing partners at regular intervals, kept a cool head to guide Gala towards their target. He was eventually caught just 2 short of his half century leaving Gala requiring 4 runs to win from the final 3 overs. A situation the could have been nervy. However, Gala junior players Jamie Bell and Maisie Maceira kept cool heads, with Maceira eventually hitting the winning runs off the bowling of the hosts opening bowler with 2 overs to spare and giving the 2nds a win in their first competitive game of the season.
EDINBURGH SOUTH 3RDS SCORECARD
P.Griffiths b C.Thomson 18
M.Llangovan LBW C.Thomson 7
G.Smith b C.Ormiston 36
D.Holland b R.Paterson 1
S.Willis b M.Maceira 5
J.McEwing b C.Ormiston 0
A.Suriyapperuma ct J.Boyle b C.Ormiston 0
O.Henderson not out 9
F.Shafiq b C.Ormiston 12
S.Govindam ct L.Skeldon b J.Bell 9
J.Singh ct A.Sujan b C.Ormiston 0
Extras – 25
Edinburgh South 122 all out from 39.3 overs.
GALA BOWLING
C.Thomson 8-3-12-2
J.Bell 7-0-31-1
L.Skeldon 8-3-10-0
R.Paterson 6-0-27-1
C.Ormiston 6.3-1-23-5
M.Maceira 4-0-11-1
GALA 2NDS SCORECARD
R.Patterson ct J.McEwing b F.Shafiq 3
J.Imray ct O.Henderson b J.Singh 7
S.Skeldon ct S.Govindam b M.Llangovan 48
C.Thomson b A.Suriyapperuma 12
J.Boyle c+b M.Llangovan 1
A.Sujan b M.Llangovan 5
R.Paterson run out 4
L.Skeldon b J.McEwing 4
J.Bell not out 1
M.Maceira not out 3
C.Ormiston did not bat
Extras – 35
Gala 123 for 8 from 36.1 overs.
EDINBURGH SOUTH BOWLING
S.Govindam 6.1-1-15-0
F.Shafiq 3-0-12-1
O.Henderson 4-0-18-0
J.Singh 8-3-12-1
M.Llangovan 8-0-35-3
A.Suriyapperuma 4-0-20-1
J.McEwing 3-1-6-1