On Sunday, the Gala Sunday XI played host to Heriot Watt University in what was a very tight and tense match. Liam Skeldon took 6 wickets to help Gala scrape a tie from a position where they had no right to come back.

Winning the toss Gala batted first with the young opening pair of Toor and Imray. Toor was dismissed quickly for 1 bringing S Anderson to the crease. Young Imray and the experienced S Anderson built a strong partnership until both left the crease, Imray retiring on 26 and S Anderson being bowled by Billard for 22. The middle and lower order of the Sunday XI struggled against the universities bowlers with no other players reaching double figures. However, with some loose bowling from the university side bowling 45 extras meant Gala reached their total of 112 for the loss of 9 wickets after their 30 overs. Heriot Watt’s Bhimull-Hilton, T Billard and Keay each took 2 wickets with Mude, Howard and Davidson collecting 1 each.
The Heriot Watt run chase got off to a slow start when Maceira picked up the wicket of Sukhadiya for 1 and Skeldon took his first of six when he removed Rajyaguru for 6. Keay and Miller steadied the ship for the away side until the former was caught behind by S Anderson off the bowling of Skeldon for 28. When Miller was bowled by R Paterson for 42 and Bhimull-Hilton was caught by McAneny off Toor’s bowling for 21, the Heriot Watt innings collapsed. Skeldon took 4 more wickets to take his tally to 6 and Bailey Paterson had an excellent run out, Heriot Watt limped to 112 all out tying the game up with Kennard having no more partners.

An exciting opening game for the Sunday XI who did well to tie the game with a lot of youngsters involved. Another mention to Liam Skeldon who bowled excellently near the death to claw the game back from a losing situation. Thanks to Heriot Watt University for the game and we wish them well in their BUCS campaign.

GALA SCORECARD
K Toor b A Davidson 1
J Imray retired not out 26
S Anderson b T Billard 22
R Paterson b T Billard 0
R Anderson not out 6
L Skeldon c unsure b Y Mude 2
S McAneny b D Howard 7
R Gilchrist c unsure b L Keay 1
C Ormiston c unsure b C Bhimull-Hilton 2
M Maceira b C Bhimull-Hilton 0
B Paterson c unsure b L Keay 0
Extras 45
Gala 112 for 9 off 30 overs

HERIOT WATT BOWLING
C Bhimull-Hilton 3-1-2-2
A Davidson 2-0-5-1
L Wimalaweera 2-0-5-1
H Sukhadiya 2-0-5-0
D Howard 3-0-18-1
C Watson-Sweeney 2-0-7-0
R Kennard 2-1-6-0
T Rajyaguru 2-0-14-0
T Billard 5-2-9-2
L Keay 5-1-22-2
Y Mude 2-1-1-1

HERIOT WATT SCORECARD
H Sukhadiya b M Maceira 1
L Keay c S Anderson b L Skeldon 28
T Rajyaguru b L Skeldon 6
C Miller b R Paterson 42
C Bhimull-Hilton c S McAneny b K Toor 21
D Howard c R Paterson b L Skeldon 0
L Wimalaweera b L Skeldon 0
Y Mude c K Toor b L Skeldon 1
C Watson-Sweeney run out (B Paterson) 0
A Davidson b L Skeldon 0
R Kennard not out 0
Extras 13
Heriot Watt 112 all out off 29 overs

GALA BOWLING
R Gilchrist 5-0-11-0
M Maceira 5-0-12-1
L Skeldon 5-0-9-6
C Ormiston 3-0-32-0
R Anderson 2-0-10-0
R Paterson 5-0-26-1
K Toor 4-0-11-1

Gala 2nd XI welcomed Peebles County to Meigle Park on Saturday in their first pre-season game of 2022. With a mix of youth and experience, Gala challenged the away side unfortunately losing out by 4 wickets. Gala can be proud of their performance against a good Peebles side who are placed a league above them in the ESCA system.

Winning the toss Gala elected to bat first with openers Ross Patterson and John Imray. The pair got off to a good start taking the home side to the half century mark before Patterson was caught by Gallop off the bowling of Burns. Shortly after Shutte grabbed the away side’s second wicket with the young Imray falling for 22. With the dismissal of the opening pair, Gala struggled to keep up the scoring losing 4 wickets for just 11 runs. With a little fight back from James Boyle (12) and extras (18) meant Gala got up to a defendable score of 107 off of 36 overs. Schutte and Gallop were the pick of the Peebles bowlers with the former picking up 3 and the latter 2.

The Peebles innings started off well for the Gala bowlers and Thomson and Skeldon both picked up one each. A Skeldon picked up 1 more wicket and Thomson 3 more as the pair regularly took wickets in the Peebles innings however, the hard work would be undone thanks to a brilliant half century from Caddick as he and Burns (19) saw off the Gala bowlers and knocked off the runs with 7 overs to spare and 4 wickets in hand. Thomson picked up 4 wickets as well as a catch to match Skeldon’s 2 wickets with Kenny Paterson, Caitlin Ormiston, and Rhys Gilchrist each taking a catch to contribute to the Gala defence.

Gala can be proud of the effort they put into the game with plenty of positives to take from the game. The team will look to go one better this week when they welcome Edinburgh South to Meigle Park for their 2nd pre-season fixture. As always thanks to Peebles for coming and we wish them all the best this season in division 5.

GALA SCORECARD
R Patterson c A Gallop b N Burns 27
J Imray c N Burns b T Schutte 22
S Anderson b T Schutte 8
S Paterson c unsure b A Gallop 7
R Anderson b A Pace 7
C Thomson c A Gallop b T Schutte 0
R Gilchrist run out 0
J Boyle lbw A Hayward 12
L Skeldon c K Easter b A Gallop 5
C Ormiston c Jenkins b A Common 1
K Paterson Not Out 1

Extras – 18
Gala 107 all out from 36 overs
Fall of Wickets: 1-51, 2-58, 3-66, 4-69, 5-69, 6-69, 7-92, 8-102, 9, 105, 10-107

PEEBLES BOWLING
A Hayward 5-1-6-1
A Common 6-2-14-1
R Common 5-0-25-0
N Burns 6-0-14-1
T Schutte 5-0-18-3
A Gallop 5-1-10-2
N Jenkins 2-0-14-0
A Pace 2-1-4-1

PEEBLES SCORECARD
A Gallop c C Thomson b L Skelson 17
A Pace c K Paterson b C Thomson 2
R Common c C Ormiston b C Thomson 1
P Caddick not out 52
A Common c R Gilchrist b L Skeldon 1
K Easter b C Thomson 5
T Schutte lbw C Thomson 4
N Burns 19
Extras 8

Peebles 109-6 off 33 overs.
Fall of Wickets: 1-7, 2-13, 3-32, 4-47, 5-64, 6-72

GALA BOWLING
C Thomson 7-1-19-4
S Paterson 7-1-17-0
L Skeldon 8-0-31-2
C Ormiston 7-0-35-0
R Gilchrist 4-0-4-0

Gala 1st XI travelled to play Dumfries at Nunholm in the first of their pre-season friendlies for 2022. Unfortunately for Gala it would be Dumfries who won the 1853 challenge with a confident and comfortable 163 run win.

On winning the toss, the home side elected to bat first, and with 250 runs on the board after their 40 overs, a decision that worked well. Brockwell and Malik opened the batting with both players coming out and picking the gaps in the Gala fielding which led the latter to retiring after his half century. Brockwell was dismissed by Ponneri for a well-made 45 however, with the opening pair removed it didn’t get any easier for Gala. Corbett-Byers retired after his half century whilst Thornely played an important role in seeing out the overs finishing not out on 38. Reddipalli, McGrath and Bainbridge were dismissed quickly not really troubling the scorers but with this it brought Abnett to the crease who ended the innings on 20 with the support of Thornely. Tharanga managed to pick up 2 wickets for the travelling team as well as Eyre and Ponneri who both took one each meaning.

In reply, the Gala innings never got going with openers Rutherford and Halls falling early. Eddie Eyre and Ponneri battled for 23 and 17 before the former was removed by Reddipalli and the latter by Thornely. Dumfries kept the pressure on Gala with the middle order falling for few runs. Hastings also battled for 14 before he was caught by Hobman off the bowling of Reynolds-Lewis and once the wicketkeeper was out it left the youngsters Paterson, Toor and Maceira with too much to do and with Paterson and Maceira losing their wicket it left Toor not out on 3.

Overall, a disappointing start to the season for Gala with plenty to improve on with both bat and ball, the team will travel to play Eastern Premiership side Stewarts Melville in Edinburgh. A big thanks to Dumfries for hosting the team and we wish them all the best in the Western Premiership this season.

DUMFRIES SCORECARD
C Brockwell c M.Hastings b S Ponneri 45
A Malik retired not out 55
M Corbett-Byers retired not out 52
S Thornely not out 38
U Reddipalli c J Halls b E Eyre 3
T McGrath b D Tharanga 2
F Bainbridge c A.Rhode b D Tharanga
M Abnett not out 20
Extras 31

Dumfries 250-4 off 40 overs
Fall of Wickets: 1-60, 2-189, 3-195, 4-201

GALA BOWLING
J Halls 6-0-33-0
D Tharanga 8-0-61-2
S Ponneri 5-0-27-1
M Maceira 5-0-32-0
R Paterson 5-1-21-0
S Loumeau 4-0-25-0
K Toor 2-0-14-0
E Eyre 5-0-34-1

GALA SCORECARD
F Rutherford lbw C Reynolds-Lewis 1
J Halls lbw J Hobman 8
E Eyre b U Reddipalli 23
S Ponneri b S Thornely 17
A Rhode b S Thornely 0
D Tharanga b U Reddipalli 6
S Loumeau b U Reddipalli 7
M Hastings c J Hobman b C Reynolds-Lewis 14
R Paterson b T McGrath 0
K Toor not out 3
M Maceira lbw J Hobman 0
Extras 8

Gala 87 all out off 34 overs
Fall of Wickets: 1-1, 2-12, 3-53, 4-53, 5-53, 6-63, 7-67, 8-72, 9-84, 10-87

DUMFRIES BOWLING
J Hobman 7-1-17-2
C Reynolds-Lewis 5-2-10-2
S Thornely 4-1-12-2
J Woodhouse 4-1-20-0
C Brockwell 4-1-8-0
U Reddipalli 6-2-6-3
T McGrath 4-0-10-1

We are pleased to announce that following the return of our professional Upul Indrasiri and the success of his coaching sessions and summer camps last year, that they will again be on offer this season.

Upul is now taking bookings for one to one sessions and we are now accepting bookings for our summer camp!

For more info get in touch with Upul or our social media.

We are delighted to share our sponsorship and hospitality brochure for 2022.

There are various opportunities available for local businesses and supporters to sponsor and support the club. For your sponsorship, we offer a range of benefits which can be viewed in the brochure.

The club would like to thank all local businesses for their continued support of the club. This has helped the club to continue to develop and make improvements on and off the field. These can also be viewed in the brochure.

To see a full breakdown of the sponsorship opportunities available and hospitality opportunities for the 2022 season, please click the button below to view our brochure.

We are happy to share that the dates for the start of our outdoor training have been confirmed.

SENIORS

Training for all senior sides starts on Monday 4th April and will run every Monday and Thursday throughout the season from 6pm – 8pm.

All new players of any age and ability are welcome. The club runs three senior sides: 2 Saturday XI’s and 1 Sunday XI.

JUNIORS

Training for all junior sides starts on Tuesday 19th April and will run every Tuesday through the season from 6:30pm – 8pm.

Again, players of any age from 7 years to 16 years are welcome whether you are just starting out or want to try and new sport to those who are experienced. Everyone is welcome. Junior Regsitration Day will take place on Tuesday 3rd May at the club.

ALL STARS

A reminder that the club is again running All Stars Cricket for ages 5 to 8 years old for 9 weeks.

The programme costs £40 per participant which includes personalised kit – a bat, hat, bag and t-shirt on top of the programme which is packed full of fun new activities.

To sign your child up, follow the link below:

https://ecb.clubspark.uk/AllStars/Course/e909499b-6624-49b9-aa49-7f59b2bfde20

Come and join us at Gala Cricket Club for another summer packed full of fun as we run All Stars Cricket for the our fifth year!

WHAT IS ALL STARS CRICKET?

An 8-week fun packed summer programme for children aged 5 to 8 years old

Fri 20th May – Fri 22nd Jul 2022 (9 wks including free club welcome session)

A chance to meet new friends

An opportunity to learn skills in a new sport through fun games & activities

You will get personalised kit including a hat, bat, t-shirt & back pack as part of the programme cost!

£40 cost for the programme with a free welcome session preceding the first week!

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Click the button below to sign up your child for 2022!

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The club is delighted to share is appointed office bearers for 2022. Many people have reprised their roles while there have been some new appointments on the playing side of the club.

• CHAIRMAN – Mike Halls
• SECRETARY – Bruce Robertson
• TREASURER – Alan Niven
• GROUNDS TEAM – Davie Ormiston, Stuart Anderson, Josh Irvine, Robbie Irvine, Finlay Rutherford, Bruce Robertson.
• FIXTURE SECRETARY – Jack Halls
• JUNIOR CRICKET COORDINATOR – Jack Halls

• 1ST XI CAPTAIN – Josh Irvine
• 1ST XI VICE-CAPTAINS – Aashiq Rhode & Finlay Rutherford
• 2ND XI CAPTAINS – Craig Thomson & Sebastien Loumeau
• 2ND XI VICE-CAPTAINS – Liam Skeldon & Robbie Paterson

Good luck to everyone in their roles for 2022!

We will be running our annual six nations competition again this year with the first match kicking off in February.

Competition forms are available through the link below:

All you need to do is complete and return the form, filling our what teams will win what matches plus the tiebreaker question.

Please read the information on the form as to how you can return them. Entry is £1 and the prize is determined by entry numbers.

Thankyou for supporting the club and good luck!