Meigle Park played host to the ESCA Division 6 match between Gala 2nd XI and Boroughmuir 2nd XI. On what was a brilliant day for cricket, both competing teams provided good performances in an excellent game. Boroughmuir won the toss and elected to bowl first, Gala would open with Ajith Sujan and Max Hastings.

The pair of Gala openers were simply brilliant at digging in and playing an array of shots. The pair managed to rotate the strike and punish the bad ball as they brought the home side to the half century mark. With the score on 62, Sujan was caught on 32 ending the opening partnership. Max Hastings continued to take the game to Boroughmuir despite the loss of his opening partner. Robbie Paterson joined him, and the youngster provided a brilliant performance with bat in hand. Hastings managed to bring up his half century whereas Paterson fell agonisingly short on 45. McAneny did not trouble the scorers as he was dismissed for a golden duck and Ross Patterson only managed to add 2 to the total. Hastings was eventually removed for a solid knock of 61, bringing in Loumeau (38) and Thomson (19). The experienced pair showed some brilliant power hitting in the closing stages taking Gala to 215.

With a total that Gala would be confident to defend the first wicket fell after 25 runs, Gilchrist taking the catch of Gazzala off the bowling of Skeldon. Skeldon then collected a further 2 wickets leaving Boroughmuir 51 for 3 after 13 overs. Wickets fell at regular intervals however J Good provided resistance to the Gala bowling and with the Boroughmuir batter still at the crease the game was still in the balance. Thankfully for Gala, following up from his positive batting display, Paterson popped up to take the prized wicket of Good, pulling the game back into Gala’s favour. After Paterson took his second wicket and the trio of Sujan, Thomson and Loumeau all taking one each, Boroughmuir ran out of time ending their 40 overs 8 down with the score on 170 runs meaning Gala would be victorious by 45 runs.

A tremendous display with both bat and ball by both youth and experience will please the home side. Next week the 2nd XI travel to play Tranent and Preston Village 2nd XI.

GALA SCORECARD
M Hastings c J Good b G McLean 61
A Sujan c A Rajan b D Venkataraman 30
R Paterson c+b K Gazzala 45
S Mcaneny b G McLean 0
R Patterson c G Dickson b J Good 2
S Loumeau not out 38
C Thomson not out 19

Extras 20

Gala 215-5 off 40 overs

FOW = 1-62, 2-143, 3-143, 4-154, 5-166

BOROUGHMUIR BOWLING

G McLean 8-1-27-2
J Good 8-1-22-1
D Venkataraman 8-0-55-1
G Dickson 5-0-23-0
K Gazzala 7-1-40-1
S Chaudry 2-0-26-0
A Shazad 2-0-14-0

BOROUGHMUIR SCORECARD

G Dickson c R Patterson b L Skeldon 23
K Gazzala c R Gilchrist b L Skeldon 18
A Cornick c R Gilchrist b L Skeldon 0
T Reed c R Patterson b A Sujan 11
J Good c A Sujan b R Paterson 45
A Rajan c+b C Thomson 10
D Venkataraman st M Hastings b R Paterson 26
P Hutton b S Loumeau 12
A Shazad not out 2
S Choudry not out 1

Extras 22

Boroughmuir 170-8 off 40 overs

FOW = 1-25, 2-31, 3-51, 4-72, 5-94, 6-135, 7-162, 8-168

GALA BOWLING

L Skeldon 8-0-26-3
R Gilchrist 5-0-23-0
C Thomson 7-0-27-1
A Sujan 6-1-33-1
S Loumeau 7-0-19-1
R Paterson 6-0-28-2
M Purves 1-0-2-0