Forfarshire’s spinners swing match in their favour
Meigle travelled to Broughty Ferry on Saturday to face Forfarshire in the third round of league games buoyed by the previous weekend’s win over Arbroath.
Forfarshire captain Scott Cameron won the toss and elected to bat first on a balmy afternoon.
Opening bowler Zahid Rasheed struck in the second over with his very first delivery, sending Johnson’s middle stump cartwheeling.
Thereafter Garden and Wallace played aggressively, threatening a few sun-worshippers in the neighbouring gardens.
Zahid struck again later in his spell, tempting Wallace with a wider delivery on the offside that he spooned to Josh Edington at point.
Skipper Charles Clark and Alan Neave took a couple of quickfire wickets to remove internationalists Leask and Cameron as Meigle moved on top of the game in the field.
However, Garden was batting well, and found a willing ally in Christian Robertson.
They batted steadily, looking to accumulate in the middle overs.
Neave and Clark completed fine spells in the middle order and they were followed by the form bowler at the club in spinner Murray Scott.
Scott bowled another fine spell, backed up by a real team effort in the field as another catch by Edington was followed by a direct hit from the youngster.
Scott also then got rid of dangerman Callum Garden, who was well caught at long off by the running Majid Rasheed, and finished with a well-deserved three wickets to his name.
Some late scampering by the home side saw them finish on 208-9, well below par for the conditions and their batting lineup – which was testament to an excellent bowling and fielding performance from Meigle.
Usual openers Shaz and Majid started the reply for the visitors but found the going tough against some accurate early Forfarshire bowling.
Saeed and Harvey then built steadily taking the score to 55-1 after 20 overs and at this point it really was anyone’s game.
Meigle then imploded, first losing Harvey and Saeed in quick succession, then really struggling to up the rate in the middle overs against the home team’s spinners as they slid to 76-6 after 33 overs.
Meigle have had to rely on
their lower order all season but this time it proved a bridge too far despite an entertaining last wicket partnership between Iain Stewart and Scott. Meigle ended up on 124 all out in the 47th over.
It was another steep learning
curve for the team as they look to add some much-needed runs to complement their fine performances in the field this season.
The match ball was sponsored by Four M Accountancy.