Leith Franklin Academicals Beige Cricket Club

Right, I’m no further down the road with this but probably have another week given the weather. It’s possible that some cricket might be played tomorrow so I urge all interested to get their teams in. Read the (vague at best) rules and submit your team here.

Ever wanted to pick a fantasy team in a league that matters? Ever though that Middleton offered exceptional value or that Mark Watt was one of the best pound for pound cricketers in the world? Well dream no more for I’m proud to announce the launch, of the er, planning stages of Leith’s in house fantasy cricket league!

I’ll be making up the rules as I go along, it will be extremely disorganised (and possibly corrupt) but there will a bottle of Ugandan gin for the winner (or something of equal or lesser value). Rules wise, how about league games only, 11 players, 1 sub/week, 1pt/run, 5pts/catch or run out, 10pts/stumping and 15pts/wicket, nominated captain scores double.

Of course, that leaves the important business of pricing players… Fancy sitting around in the club after Thursday’s nets assigning stupid prices to your friends? Let me know if you’re keen or make suggestions via the comment form.

Two East Edinburgh cricketing powerhouses met last night in what can accurately be described as a game of two halves. It was much more than that though, for the spiritual home of crick-golf, hosted a feast of runs, sunshine, fog, grunting and gritty emotional drama.

Leith batted first but I was late so have no idea who won the toss or indeed what sort of coin was used. Vignesh quickly blazed an arrogant fifty, Will smote a couple into the Forth, there were some grunts, and Mr T also recorded a relatively circumspect, yet exquisite, 70ish. As Gavin surreptitiously poured another glass of red, Flocky penciled in a score of 202/5ish off Leith’s 20.

The runs flowed easily early in Marchmont’s innings, but Leith grabbed a couple of important wickets. That didn’t stop Will and Stevie nonchalantly achieving their 10/over target. In an instant, the sun was smothered by fog, and the tang of sewage slithered into the air. Astonishingly, despite a wicket and a few dot balls, the visitors swaggered over the line, in near darkness, from the last ball of the game.

Well done Marchmont, it was an amazing run chase! It would be great if we started winning some of these last over thrillers, but who would you rather plunder the much lauded Harry Secombe Trophy from our cabinet?

Proceedings at the Links were delayed after it chundered down around 12:55. An enthusiastic though amateurish first XI then attempted to restore the wicket but a further downpour led to abandonment two overs after the renegotiated 3:15 start. Despite this, we managed to suffer injuries two injuries in the warm up, a testament to this playing group’s dedication.

Similar weather at Murrayfield got the seconds discussing which pub to watch the 20:20 in. When things did get underway, I gather they performed about as well as a corked wine, though I’m not aware of it’s hue.

Details of the thirds’ endeavours are hazy. I did, however, discuss the matter later that evening with Gavin Fisher at a moderately well received electro showcase. It was a familiar tale in which sheer paucity of runs led to defeat, though I believe Ashish knocked out a fifty.

Another action packed weekend awaits in but a few days…

The 3rds match was a 168 run loss. A night shift colleague I work with got 115 and was caught by Adrian Lovett. The Morton total was 230-6. The 3rds then batted. Srini Vas the took 4 wickets to add to his huge batting total. Rain fell and we took shelter under a back section of a lorry, kindly supplied by the funfair on the boundary. I think we got 62 runs all out.