Comfortable win for Eastern Academy under-16s

Eastern Academy’s under-16 side played their first match of the season against the XL Club at Newfield on Monday 5th July. Bowling first, the Academy were made to work hard as the XL Club batsmen built partnerships of 40, 48 and 63 for their first few wickets. Captain Richard Donald played a pivotal role, scoring 58 from 74 balls until he was caught on the boundary by Gair Currie. At 151-4 from 33 overs, the XL Club looked set for over 200; however, tight bowling from seamers Tresidder and Kinghorn-Gray kept the score down to 184-6 from the 40 overs, slightly below par.


In response, some wayward bowling was soon punished by the Academy openers, with Charlie Buchanan-Smith in particular dispatching any short balls with some well-executed cut shots. He and fellow Grange player, Charlie Tresidder, having forced the field back, quickly took advantage of the gaps appearing and nudged singles to put on 40 before Tresidder was brilliantly caught by a diving David Sole. Zaki Yusaf then arrived at the crease and showed his intent with some aggressive strokeplay from his first few balls. Only the introduction of spinner Richard Young slowed the run-rate and he eventually picked up the wickets of both Buchanan-Smith and Yusaf, but at 110-3 from 20 overs, the Academy looked on top.


A sensible and unbroken partnership of 62 between William Brown and Matt Wells steered the Academy home with four overs to spare, giving the youngsters victory by six wickets. Although the performance was quite assured, the top order will be disappointed that none of them could reach 50 or beyond, and in the XL Club innings, there were a few dropped catches that could have proved costly. Overall though, a solid performance against an experienced team. The under-16s will next play the Northern Academy on the 14th July, while the Senior side will face Watsonians on Sunday in the East League.



Alan Patterson

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