2011 Results

E=MCC v Standard Life

17/08/2011	Peffermill
Standard Life 137 for 6 (18 overs)	E=MCC 61 for 7 (18 overs)
D.Sangster 28, K.Blake 28, M.Gandhe 25, I.Rogers 20, N.Chouguley 15
	G.Douglas 3-16

Won By 76 Runs

Our last match of the season was notable for very little, other than being played in increasingly heavy rain and veteran skipper Wallace bowling his 10,000th competitive (legal) delivery for Standard Life in his final over. He dropped a caught and bowled chance off his 9.999th delivery. Despite a valiant effort in the rain, diving to his right, Kieron dropped a chance off Wallaci's 10,000th delivery. So the milestone was marked in characteristic fashion. Such is a bowler's lot...

Kirk Brae CC v Standard Life

09/08/2011	Double Hedges
Standard Life 124 for 6 (20 overs)	Kirk Brae CC 85 for 8 (18 overs)
D.Sangster 55, S.Colvin 31
	D.Sangster 2-8, N.Chopra 2-13, K.Blake 2-16

Won By 39 Runs

Edin Univ Staff v Standard Life

03/08/2011	Peffermill
Standard Life 126 for 8 (20 overs)	Edin Univ Staff 77 for 7 (20 overs)
K.Blake 25, D.Sangster 19, M.Gandhe 16
	M.Gandhe 2-3, G.Douglas 2-16

Won By 49 Runs

Standard Life v E=MCC

21/07/2011	Newfield
Standard Life 165 for 6 (20 overs)	E=MCC 64 all out (19.2 overs)
S.Colvin 30, B.Smith 30, D.Studders 25, K.Blake 20, A.Desai 19*, N.Chouguley 18*	R.Moody 12
Karthee 1-25, C.Maynard 1-38	T.Hyatt 3-5, D.Studders 2-14

Won By 101 Runs

On the day the 2000th Test Match began at Lords, with England taking on India at the start of a series which could decide who is the number one Test side in world cricket, Wallace captained Standard Life for the 200th time at the opposite end of the cricketing spectrum, against the mighty E=MCC. He lost the toss. That was the only reverse of the evening. The Equals had one or two decent bowlers in their midst, with opener Rajesh swinging and cutting it off the tacky Newfield wicket. K-Dawg smashed his second ball for six and from then on we pulled away like a young starlet in a sports car. Bar one or two, there was as much chance of the Equals' fielders catching a meteorite as catching the ball and a number of chances went begging. Only Kieron, spooning a wide off the back of the bat to be caught behind for 20, Greg Douglas (run, Greg, run!) who was run out for 1 and Sangstakarra, bowled for 6, fell victim to the Equals' powers. The Colvinator retired after a six, guest star Bruce Smith retired after three sixes and sporadic Studders knocked off his customary 25 with aplomb. Or possibly a bat. Nikhil and Abhishek shared an unbroken 7th wicket stand of 36 as the big hits dried up but the runs kept flowing. 165 was always going to be beyond the reach of E=MCC, especially given this week's retiral of the Space Shuttle.

Wallaci and Hyatt opened the bowling with Timpani striking the High-Hat three times as the Equals' top order was drummed out in the style adopted by our batsmen last week. Even Wallaci's s-l-o-w-e-r ball did the business. 16 for 4 after 6 overs. Nikhil and Abhishek beat the bat more times than Catwoman but the fifth wicket partnership lingered until Nikhil finally induced an edge, safely gathered by keeper Sangster in a fine performance behind the stumps. Enter Studders. Released from the shackles of facing Nikhil, Tonge's eyes lit up and he had a big yahoo. Bowled by Golden-arm Studders, obviously inspired by receipt of his Parks Trophy medal from last year. Moody played his shot through midwicket to the tune of three boundaries before Lefty Greg picked up his first wicket for the club with his second ball, thanks to Abhishek taking a sharp catch in the gloaming at mid-on. The presence of a young lady at the crease rekindled our interest. Our keeper was especially keen to show her how to grip the bat and one or two fielders got a bit excited about singles in the covers. The running between the wickets became as decisive as a Libran in a sweet shop but there were no run-outs. Instead, Blake and Smith wrapped things up with a wicket apiece. Sometimes you need a comfortable victory against weaker opposition to boost low self-esteem. So we decided to celebrate with a drink in the Barony afterwards.

Standard Life v Currie & Balerno

13/07/2011	Newfield
Currie & Balerno 115 for 4 (20 overs)	Standard Life 109 for 9 (20 overs)
M.Hiller 69*, K.Cryton 27	A.Desai 59*, D.Jones 24
M.Gandhe 1-9, I.Wallace 1-10	D.Barry 4-4, AN.Other 3-24

Lost By 6 Runs

Where do we start with this one? On the best evening we've had this damp summer we had a good competitive match with the villagers. Winning the toss and batting C&B were pinned down by Wallaci and Mukesh who claimed an opener each in the opening burst. 9 for 2 after 4 overs. Hillier served notice of his legside predilection, hoisting a Wallace full toss for 6 towards the gardens but Rayside top-edged one to Abhishek Desai at cover off Tim Hyatt to leave the villagers at 36 for 3 at the halfway stage. Cryton (K) proved to like the drive, and he and Hillier began to find the boundary more regularly. Abhishek pinned them down initially but Colin Seditas's first over went for an eye-watering 17, which would have been less had skipper Wallace judged a Hillier pull out of the sun more swiftly and taken the catch. Colin recovered well and eventually bowled Cryton for 27, but the partnership of 81 in 10 overs set up C&B with a competitive score.

After five overs of our innings, it was a score that looked as far out of sight as Usain Bolt jogging on ahead of Sumit. While Scotland wilted like wet tissue paper in the face of Lasith Malinga's yorkers down the road at the Grange, our batsmen showed an ages-old failing against slow trundlers. In a top-order performance reminiscent of a previous encounter with Currie & Balerno so eloquently described ten years ago by Nick Clarke's purple prose, and the worst start to an innings I can recall since a thoroughly inept run chase against Murrayfield in 2003, it was the 20th ball of the innings before we registered a run off the bat. By then, Ian Rogers had been caught for a duck at deep square leg, Mukesh had been caught at extra cover for a second ball duck, Greg Douglas departed, bowled, two balls later (for a duck) and Hemant dragged his foot out to be stumped (for a second ball duck). Our four runs at this point were all wides. Sangster had watched agog from the non-striker's end as our inability to play lob bowling plumbed depths previously the reserve of the News of the World. In the event, we folded even quicker than that august publication. Two overs later and even Sangster had gone, triggered for 4.

We were 9 for 5 after 4.2 overs.

At this stage, the record low total of 25 was under threat. Debutant Abhishek Desai was scratching his head wondering what to make of a batting line-up that was as robust as an abstinence pledge made by Charlie Sheen. Doug Jones joined Abs and together they pieced together the makings of a reply. Daniel Barry departed after 4-2-4-4 and his warning that they didn't have much bowling seemed prophetic as Abhi tucked into the change bowler with a 2-4-6 onslaught to take us past the record low score. Doug batted sensibly and ran well and by halfway our 39 for 5 looked more respectable. Abhi found and cleared the ropes some more with some fine hits and when he was dropped at long-on it looked as though C&B may have made a costly mistake. 53 needed off 7 overs was slashed to 30 off 5 and at a run a ball required we were amazingly back in control. C&B then found a bit of line and length and pinned us back once more. With 22 needed off 18 balls, Doug was bowled for a sterling 24. The sixth wicket partnership of 85 was probably a club record (previous record up to 2003 was 71*). Colin Seditas was yorked first ball (golden duck). Abhi finished the over with a smacked straight boundary to leave us needing 17 off 12 balls. Lobban's lobs signalled a return to the slow bowling that had so ailed us to begin with. Wallaci swept one for four and at 9 needed off 9 we were looking good. The skipper lost the head though and spliced one to midwicket before setting off on a suicidal run. Tim Hyatt failed to score off the remaining two balls of the over. Abhi faced down the last over but couldn't get a decent connection. Tim was run out (another two ball duck) getting Abhishek back on strike, but the well ran dry. Sumit needed a six to tie from the last ball. It didn't happen.

So we lost. Six ducks is most likely a record and largely tells why our goose was cooked. Had it not been for Abhishek's 59 not out and Doug's 24 we could have been very embarassed, leaving a sunny Newfield with hot tears of shame running down our cheeks.

Bank of Scotland v Standard Life

29/06/2011	Peffermill
Standard Life 115 for 6 (20 overs)	Bank of Scotland 72 for 9 (18.5 overs)
K.Blake 32, G.Das 30	A.Scott 26, Mojin 19
A.Scott 1-13, Navneet 1-21	M.Gandhe 4-1, S.Shrivastava 2-6, H.Kumar 1-3

Won By 43 Runs

After the gloom of Tuesday's defeat, the Colvinator led us to an Insurance Trophy win against another part of the Lloyds Banking group to ensure the trophy cabinet (in Wallaci's living room) would not be bare for 2011. (Note to self - get the trophy engraved). The K-Man continued his fine form with the bat and put together a good partnership with Goutam the formed the basis of our total. Doug Jones, bearded photographer and guest, chipped in with 16 not out.

BofS's run chase was sedentary, constrained by an opening 4-2-3-1 spell by Hemant, and ultimately floundered in the face of Mukesh, first bowling his usual pace and then reverting to off-spin. Both styles were beyond the BofS lower order who subsided like a Lincolnshire cliff-top back garden. An impressive 4 for 1 off 11 balls for Mukesh. Sumit picked up two wickets in two balls but couldn't manage a hat-trick.

Scottish Widows v Standard Life

28/06/2011	Inch Park
Standard Life 82 all out (19.5 overs)	Scottish Widows 84 for 1 (11.1 overs)
R.Thornton 15, N.Chouguley 14	E.Edwards 52*, R.Hannam 20
Kartik 3-19, R.Hannam 2-10	H.Kumar 1-11

Lost By 9 Wkts

Our 2011 competition woes continued as another weak performance saw us slide out of the Terry Newcombe Trophy at the quarter-final stage. Given we advanced by virtue of a walkover against Preston Village this means we didn't really win a match in either the Paks or TNT this year.

We never got going on a grassy Inch park pitch. The ScWids bowled well but our circumspect batting never put them under any pressure in the field. We made a decent enough, run-a-ball start, but a collapse from 23 for 0 to 37 for 4 in 26 balls meant Rob and Nikhil had to re-group. Rob was run out going for a second with the score on 52 and Nikhil followed 12 runs later. The tail showed little life until Greg Douglas and Wallaci wagged in a last wicket partnership of 12 before the veteran number 11 offered a catch to Butcher. 82 all out with a ball remaining. Poor.

Edwards belted Rob's first ball for four and thereafter we were chasing leather. A couple of hearty LBW appeals and a stick-on run-out may have halted the ScWids progress but Edwards and Hannam were untroubled as they rattled to 50 in the 7th over before Hemant bowled Hannam. There was no quellnig ScWids' record run-scorer as he moved to his own fifty before Robertson drove down the ground to seal an easy win for the ScWids.

Standard Life v SWIP CC

16/06/2011	Newfield
Standard Life 158 for 7 (20 overs)	SWIP CC 112 all out (16.1 overs)
N.Chouguley 32, K.Blake 30, H.Kumar 27, I.Rogers 18, E.Panneerselvam 16	J.Twigg 40*, A.Ahmed 15
B.Sleeves 2-13, L.Run 1-7, M.Top 1-12	N.Chouguley 2-6, R.Goyal 2-13, H.Kumar 2-25

Won By 46 Runs

This was Scottish Widows Investment Partnership's (SWIP) first ever game. Kieron skippered us to a comfortable victory, leading the way with a flurry of boundaries that was matched by Hemant and Nikhil as the "retire at 30" rule was instigated. The match was perhaps most notable for the length of names of two of our debutants, Sumit Shrivastava and Elangovan Panneerselvam. The latter probably has the longest (unadulterated) name of any Standard Life player. His surname laid along the bottom line of a Scrabble board would score 198. He scored 16. Sumit's surname would only score 189. Under such weighty expectations he ran like Inzamam ul-Haq and made a duck.

We contained the SWIP swipers with the exception of Twigg, who was not brittle and returned to finish 40 not out. Paul Watts took a stumping and Matthew Steer took a wicket on debut.

Standard Life v Kirkbrae

26/05/2011	Newfield
Standard Life 126 for 4 (20 overs)	Kirkbrae 127 for 4 (20 overs)
K.Blake 40, R.Donald 28, R.Goyal 19*, H.Kumar 15	R.Patel 83*, I.Rogers 15
R.Goyal 1-14, D.Sangster 1-19, B.Smith 1-24	C.Seditas 2-24, K.Blake 1-2, I.Wallace 1-22

Lost By 6 Wkts

We only had five men. A poor turnout for our first friendly of the season, not helped by playing the team that generally supplies half our team, but a long list of late call-offs left us perilously close to farce. In the end we engineered a game which had a very tight and bizarre finish. Richard started well and Kieron stroked the ball about imperiously as we mustered 126 thanks to contributions from Rohit (who bowled for KB then batted and bowled for us) and Chris Scott (who ended up batting for both and bowling for us). Confused?

Kirkbrae began the chase and were stuttering between dots and boundaries (there were some gaps in the field...). Our cause wasn't helped by K-Man standing on the ball and turning his ankle, three balls into his spell. Colin Seditas took over and with other KB boys in the field the game was tipping "our" way as 31 was needed off the last three overs. Chris Scott went for a few leaving Colin to bowl the last with 11 needed to win. George Futcher sliced some twos but the option to only run one off the fifth ball left Patel on strike needing three to win. He clothed it straight to midwicket who only needed to pick it up and lob it to the keeper to prevent a two. Instead, he tried to throw down the stumps leading to an inevitable overthrow. While Wallaci stood with the ball rather gobsmacked at this turn of events, the KB boys decided to sneak a third. They made it. So a win became a tie then became a loss. But given the person who threw from midwicket was the opposing skipper Bruce Smith, it could all get a bit existential trying to work out who really won.

Murrayfield DAFS v Standard Life

18/05/2011	Newfield
Murrayfield DAFS 177 for 3 (20 overs)	Standard Life 142 for 6 (20 overs)
L.Hayes 90, M.Akerkar 39	R.Thornton 88, G.Das 15*
M.Gandhe 2-15, R.Thornton 1-27	B.Nussum 3-21, T.Wheeler 1-16, A.Akram 1-22, A.Mohammed 1-41

Lost By 35 Runs

We gave up our Parks Trophy crown on a horribly windy night against one of the strongest teams in the competition. The fierce wind made bowling difficult and hitting with the wind relatively easy as the sixes hit by Hayes (seven) and Rob (four) proved. Three of our balls ended up in the gardens by Newfield as MDAFS piled up a big total, despite a sterling effort by Mukesh with the ball and a generous helping of LBWs (three) from the MDAFS umpires.

Mukesh opened our reply with the shot of the game, a six over extra cover off the first ball, but the MDAFS bowlers coped better with the conditions and soon tied us down. We threatened briefly as Rob took 48 off 12 balls bowled from the bottom end but the momentum was lost when left-armer Nussum returned to take three wickets in four balls, including Rob for 88 (out of 107 scored while he was at the crease), Sangers second ball and Kieron, leaping to the top of the golden duck charts with a fended off catch. See the MDAFS report here.

So, our defence of the venerable trophy was literally blown away.

Standard Life v Scottish Widows

12/05/2011	Newfield art.
Standard Life 170 for 5 (20 overs)	Scottish Widows 164 for 4 (20 overs)
R.Thornton 77, M.Gandhe 25, S.Gul 20*	E.Edwards 50, E.Robertson 50, K.Ramashan 28
J.Crispin 1-30, K.Ramashan 1-32	R.Thornton 2-19, G.Das 1-19, M.Gandhe 1-28

Won By 6 Runs

The season opened with an early Insurance Trophy tie against the Widows, almost forty years to the day since Standard played their first ever official match, against the same opponents. On that day we lost heavily in a low-scoring encounter at the long gone Sighthill pitch. Not so tonight, on the batsmen-friendly artificial at Newfield. Rob tucked in after a bright start from Mukesh and the returning Richard Donald and with Shazad lending a hand with a few useful boundaries near the end, our total was intimidating but not out of sight.

The ScWids openers dealt severely with anything short or off line and at 87 for 0 off 10 they were well on their way to victory. Euan Robertson smashed one straight to Rob at extra cover off Goutam and then Nikhil held on to a skier to dismiss Edwards with the score on 121. The Widows struggled thereafter, Goutam tying them down and Rob keeping the boundary count down. They needed 30 off the last two overs and only a loose final over from Nikhil made the score look closer than it actually was. A good win to open the season and half a hand on the Insurance Trophy - we'll have to seal the deal against Bank of Scotland later in the year.