Murrayfield Dafs Cricket Club got off to a great start in the ESCA Championship by beating Heriots Cricket Club at Roseburn Park on Saturday.

Winning the toss, captain Phil Hawkins invited Heriots to bat first and initially they struggled to ge to grips with the Roseburn pitch falling to 53 for 7 after 27 overs. Jones and Hamilton then dug in to help Heriots post 122 for 9 off their 50 overs. Pick of the bowlers for Murrayfield was Neil Yelland with 4 for 23. Gavin Poole and Aashiq Rhode took 2 wickets apiece. Anand Venkatesh bowled well too just conceding 10 runs from his 10 overs.

After tea, as the weather got colder and the skies darker, Murrayfield batted positively with debutant Joe Marlow and Lewis Mulholland opening the batting. Both fell after making a start and when Rhode went as well with the score on 44 a close match was on. But Anand Venkatesh 33 and Gavin Poole 21 took control and when the rains forced abandonment of play, Murrayfield were well ahead on the rain calculator winning by 22 runs.

Captain Phil Hawkins was “Delighted to have got our first win under our belts. I thought we bowled and fielded very well which ultimately set us up for the win”

The win however came at a cost,” It was disappointing to lose 3 key players to injury. Mangesh is looking like he will be out for 6-8 weeks which is a terrible blow with him consistently being at the top of our scoring charts each season. Willy Griffith and Nadeem Anjum will hopefully be shorter term so I’ll be keeping my fingers crossed. Losing 3 players to injury in the first game was not in my plans”

“The Roseburn pitch played surprisingly well which boads well for the rest of the season”

“Great to get out first win in the bag so early and we will looking to continue our 100% record against Freuchie next week”.

Elsewhere, Murrayfield DAFS 3rd team beat Holy Cross by 6 wickets. The second team were beaten by the weather at St Boswells when in a good position.

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