Falkland CC vs Oban CC Match Report

Falkland CC defeat Oban CC by 29 runs

The Oban Cricket Club recently travelled to the Kingdom of Fife for a fixture against the established side of Falkland. Played in glorious conditions throughout, Oban won the toss and elected to field first in the 30 over a side contest. This initially looked to be good decision as Allan Laycock took the wicket of A. Ferguson early on in the innings, bowling the Falkland opener for two. Falkland were quickly into their stride after this setback however, as captain G. Gallagher and overseas amateur N. De Silva set about the Oban attack, with De Silva in particular playing in a cavalier manner, hitting the boundary with regularity. With Davie Brown entering the attack, Oban took two quick wickets, St. Mekle following Gallagher back to the pavilion, the former a fine high catch by Calum Lindsay. De Silva continued to dispatch the ball to the ropes and was soon passing fifty for the home side. Neill Belshaw was handed the ball and took the crucial wicket of De Silva for 51, trapping him LBW as he attemped an ambitious switch-hit against the Oban bowlers intelligent spin. Allan Laycock re-entered the bowling attack and took the final four wickets in his first over back, including a hat-trick with some unplayable deliveries, finishing with figures of 5-8 off his four overs. Falkland managed a respectable 112 off the 28 overs they batted.

The Oban reply could barely have got off to a worse start with openers Reino De Villiers and Sukanta Debnath both back in the pavilion with only a few runs scored, both removed by the impressive T. Brunton. Allan Laycock was next man out, bowled by Gallagher for two. Calum Lindsay came to the crease for only the second time in his OCC career, and managed to notch up two before he too was removed, bowled by Brunton. Oban had no answer to the unconventional bowling of Brunton, and the very next ball Kay was also heading back to put his feet up, again clean bowled. With Oban falling apart, Falkland made their first bowling change, young D. Wilke replacing Gallagher. His first ball trapped Kenny MacKenzie LBW with the Oban player looking to heave the ball to the boundary. This wicket left Oban 10-6, and looking at an embarrassing defeat. Stand-in skipper Andrew Leach and Davie Brown looked to settle the ship, and the latter notched up 12 before being caught off the bowling of Wilkie. Like many of his team-mates, next man in Neill Belshaw was unable to stick around for long, sent back LBW first ball. Oban eventually found some stability, with Santos joining Leach at the crease, with the two able to move the score along to 70 before Santos was bowled by the off-spin of St. Mekle for 15. With five overs to go, Oban were eyeing an unlikely victory, but last man Davie Hannah fell, caught at gully attempting to lift the ball over the top. Oban finish ed their innings on 83, losing by 29 runs.

FALKLAND- 112 all out (N. De Silva 51, E. Bell 15; A. Laycock 5-8)
OBAN- 83 all out (A. Leach 25 n.o., Santos 15; T. Brunton 4-3)