Meigle’s remarkable victory in crucial battle
Meigle welcomed Edinburgh side RH Corstorphine to Victory Park on Saturday in what was a crucial battle at the foot of the Eastern Premier League.
The visitors won the toss and asked Meigle to bat in favourable overhead bowling conditions.
The decision gained immediate dividends when form batsman Majid Rasheed was caught behind from the second ball of the game, having been dropped following the first ball.
Fellow opener Tom Duff also survived a dropped chance before following Majid back to the pavilion.
Alan Neave was next to fall, mistiming a pull shot straight to midwicket, and the home team were in all sorts of trouble with the top three all gone with only nine runs on the board.
Peter Drummond joined Josh Edington in rebuilding the innings, carefully at first as Whiteford and James were bowling fine spells up front.
The pair battled away and had put on 55 runs when Edington fell after misjudging a delivery from the returning Whiteford to be bowled for 24.
Drummond and Lamb then put another partnership together before the former played a straight one from the leg spinner Taylor to depart for 36.
Lamb and Zahid Rasheed accumulated well looking to set up for a big push in the later stages of the innings and had taken the score to 126 with five overs remaining when Lamb was dismissed for 26.
Shaz Saeed joined Zahid Rasheed and the pair batted superbly for the final five overs, amassing another 60 runs to push the final total up to a very competitive 186-6.
Zahid Rasheed finished unbeaten on 54, a total which included five enormous sixes.
The RHC reply could not have gone better for the away side as they motored to 69 in the first 15 overs, with the home team bowling unusually wayward and veteran Arnie Sathiy cashing in with his aggressive style.
Meigle captain Charles Clark was changing his bowlers regularly in the search of a breakthrough and it came when Murray Scott had Sathiy well held at deep mid-wicket by Neave for 47.
Iain Stewart removed number three Malik with the score on 95 but the visitors remained in full control through Dickensen and Grant and with the total on 144-2 with 15 overs remaining, an away victory looked a formality.
Zahid Rasheed returned from the Balmacron end after an indifferent opening spell but looked an altogether different bowler now.
He removed Dickensen who was well-caught by the diving Drummond and this seemed to set panic into the away side.
Zahid Rasheed then took two wickets in two balls in his next over including the stubborn opener Grant to reduce RHC to 148-6.
The game was getting tense as the momentum swung from team to team.
Scott returned to remove Whiteford who was smartly caught at gully by Tom Duff.
Iain Stewart then got in on the action having Noble caught at cover with the score on 172-8.
The mayhem was further exacerbated by the fact that James was now batting with a runner after injuring himself, and it was to be his undoing as a mix-up resorted in him being run out.
With the score on 176-9 RHC required 11 to win from the final eight balls with only one wicket remaining.
The game was ended when Edington produced a superb direct hit from point to run-out Clarkson and give the home side victory by 10 runs.
Meigle took the final eight RHC wickets for only 32 runs to record a remarkable victory.
Zahid Rasheed was the pick of the bowlers with 4-36 during a victory which saw Meigle rise to eighth in the league table.