East Lothian Courier | Sport | Gray and Blades see Haddington through

Monday, 12th May, 2008

Published: Thursday, 1st May, 2008 08:10

Gray and Blades see Haddington through

Haddington started their 2008 Division 3 campaign with a fine five-wicket win over Stewarts Melville Royal High at Inverleith in Edinburgh last Saturday.

An unbeaten 55-run partnership between vice-captain Ruaraidh Gray (39 not out) and youngster Tim Blades (14 not out) saw Haddington pass the SMRH total with almost three overs to spare.

Such a comfortable victory had looked unlikely 30 minutes earlier, when Robin Hiley had been bowled out for 34 leaving Haddington struggling on 83 for five wickets with just 13 overs remaining.

Blades, who is primarily a bowler, deserves special mention as this was the second match of the day where he had played a decisive innings, having earlier been involved in another stand of over 50 to help his Stewarts Melville school team claim an unlikely win over Glasgow Academy on the same pitch.

Haddington won the toss and invited their hosts to bat on the slow pitch.

Any hopes the visitors had of keeping the run rate down were quickly dashed by some excellent batting from Brock (37) and Ditchfield (34) and some very wayward bowling.

SMRH had posted a total of 78 runs by the 14th over and a large score was on the cards.

However once John Hiley made the all-important breakthrough, when he had both Brock brothers out lbw in the same over.

Haddington’s bowlers began to take control of the game.

Matt Blades, Tim’s younger brother struck with his first ball dismissing Ditchfield to a good catch at cover point by another of the visitors’ excellent youngsters, Seb Mann.

There was then a steady procession of batsmen to and from the crease before they were finally bowled out for 137.

The successful bowlers for Haddington were John Hiley, three for 25, Robin Hiley three for 25, Matt Blades two for 12, Fardoon Muhafiz one for 18 and Ruaraidh Gray one for 35

Haddington’s innings never really got going until the final partnership between Gray and Blades.

Skipper Richard Prenter (4), John Hiley (15), Peter Talbot (3), Alan Cruickshank (4,) all struggled to make an impact with the bat.

But they did their best to maintain their place at the crease and provide support for Robin Hiley on his way to a steady, but invaluable 34.

Next Saturday Haddington travel to play Grange at Fettes College in Edinburgh knowing that they will need to be more consistent with both bat and ball.

The club’s adult coaching and practice sessions are every Monday evening from 6.30pm to 8pm. They take place throughout the summer at Neilson Park.

Junior coaching restarts in the Neilson Park for under-13 and under-15 players on Thursday ,May 1.

Coaching for the under-11s will begin on Thursday, May 8. The sessions also run from 6.30pm to 8pm throughout the summer.

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