Methlick 2nds @ Methlick 4/8/07

With ten men Thistle 2nds travelled to the fine setting of Lairds Park for this Grade 4 encounter. Returning skipper Nigel King won the toss and inserted the home side in cloudy conditions. With a slightly damp but drying pitch King hoped the ball would swing and seam, given the knowledge of his attacks capabilities. His reading of the situation proved correct when the captain trapped opener Allen LBW in the second over. Matthew Greig bowled Gerrie in the next, and King removed Geddes in the 6th over leaving Methlick in all sorts of trouble with the score on 7 for 3.More controlled swing bowling from the openers kept the scoring down to a minimum. 

J Buchan and Campbell steadied the ship for a while with some sensible defending. Bryan Snelling and David Garden took up the attack for Thistle, Bryan in particular well in charge of the batsmen who could not get him off the square.
Garden then removed Buchan LBW. King continued with Garden despite the home team's response to try to hit their way out of the situation .He duly obliged bowling Goodenough, and then a fine caught and bowled off S Buchan. Steve Crozier tied up one end with some unrewarded bowling, but again causing the home side all sorts of problems.

Campbell then oddly tried to take the bowlers to the cleaners. After hitting King over his head for 6, experience showed as King sent down a swinging yorker getting an inside edge onto the stumps. That delivery spelt the end of the home side's resistance. Snelling cleaned up the tail with 2 wickets in 3 balls, leaving Methlick 85 all out.
With ample overs to play with and a poor start to the bowling attack, it looked like Thistle could reach their target with extras alone. Geddes looked particularly wayward, not reading the pitch or atmospheric conditions.

Bruce Findlay and James Crozier batted with discipline and good communication. With James hitting crisply and firmly, Bruce went caught behind for 8 with the score on 39; James followed 10 runs later wafting a disappointing shot into the air having batted so well for his 21 runs. Steve Crozier came to the crease and enjoyed a no pressure innings despite two short innings from Donegan and Hay. David Garden duly came to the wicket and with Crozier hitting the ball silkily took the score from 62 to the required 86 for victory.

Thistle's fielding display was exemplary, and despite one very poor umpiring decision, discipline and focus on the job in hand was kept. Skipper King has a very pleasant dilemma in so many options in the bowling department, and managed them well on this occasion. The mix of experience and rapidly developing young talent in the side is exciting, and becoming a more consistent unit as the season progresses.

Match sponsor was Deeside Timberframes

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