Preston Village v Drummond Trinity CC 1st XI on Sat 14 Jun 2008 at 13.00
Drummond Trinity CC Won by 7 wickets
The DTs returned to Prestonpans only 6 days after their 4 wicket Small Clubs Cup defeat to the same opposition - but with a strong team determined to put the reverses of the previous weekend behind them. Skipper Brand won the toss and asked the home team to bat first on a greenish but still very hard wicket. With a background of the Pans Gala Day - bagpipes, flute and brass bands, karaoke and Green Day tribute bands - there was a noisy but fun atmosphere to the game.
The opening spell by Jamal and Imran was magnificent. Fast, accurate and hostile. They bowled so well that the skipper decided to bowl them through for the first 20 overs which were punctuated by one light shower. Imran's working over of decent opening bat Davie King culminated in him popping a catch to "Mrs" Murton who caught it at about the 8th attempt. Jamal saw off the numbers 3 and 4 and after 20 overs the Village People were under severe pressure at 33-3. After a further, lenghtier delay for rain, the innings resumed and grainger counter attacked after being dropped off Mandar on 0. He was particularly severe on the Teach who struggled on a wet surface with no sawdust available and was uncharacteristically smacked out of the attack. Shez also struggled with his footing and Preston Village threatened to turn the game around. Mandar had a second catch dropped but turned to immediately run out the opener who did not regain his ground. When Shez bowled Grainger for a very quickfire 49 and the game was still in the balance. Preston Village continued to go for their shots but "Mrs" Murton bowled very accurately and took 2 wickets at one end and Coolio weighed in with a couple at the other. When Immie took a comfortable catch off the tail ender to close the innings for 153, the feeling was that we should win but remembered we had failed to find a similar total versus East Lothian opposition earlier in the season at Haddington.
Coolio and Tim opened for the DTs facing a hostile 10 over spell by paceman Grainger. Both did well until Tim was trapped LBW by a fast yorker with the score on 30. Imran joined Coolio who was coping better with Grainger's pace than the previous Sunday and mixed defence with attack. Grainger had the last laugh though bowling Immie in his last over and when Mandar followed soon after the DTs were 79-3. Gusto joined Coolio who urged the big man to carry on where he left off 6 days earlier. Once the hundred had been reached (not without a few alarms, the batsmen began to take the attack to the home side and several boundaries where hit by each player. Apart from the hiccough of Gus pulling a hamstring (clearly not used to batting for more than a few overs and having to run a lot!) the DTs had taken the game away from Preston Village. Gus hit the winning 2 runs in the 38th over leaving Coolio unbeaten one short of an excellent 50. the stand was worth 82 and meant a fine victory for the DTs by 7 wickets.
Preston Village Batting
153 for 10
Drummond Trinity CC 1st XI Bowling
Drummond Trinity CC 1st XI Batting
154 for 3
Preston Village Bowling