With the Celebrities having a bye in 2nd Division and the weekend off, the OSCC 1st XI carried the Old Scotch banner into battle on a glorious Sunday afternoon vs Melbourne University CC on the variable surface at Ransford Oval, Parkville.
Batting first, the Scotchies got off to a flyer 99 run opening stand with Cam Melville constructing a busy 32 and El Presidente Tim Hosking continuing his excellent early season form with a hard hitting 55. Hold onto your hats folks, with a base established to really tee off, anticipation was high that incoming star batsmen Tom Murray and Sam Shearer would tear the MUCC bowlers apart.
It didn't quite go to script, however, with Tom Murray falling for 11 and Sam Shearer getting a start and looking dangerous, perished for 18. Any concerns that the glorious start by Hosk and Melly would be squandered were put to rest by young Sam Murray who stepped out from underneath brother Tom's considerable shadow to play a masterful innings of 59 not out to propel the innings along to it's fullest potential. Smuzz was beautifully supported by Alisdair Reeves who contributed 21 of their 55 run stand, with Reeves showing why he is so highly rated in Old Scotch circles.
The final score reached an impressive 5 for 228 off the allotted 40 overs. Logically, 228 represents a match winning score in most circumstances, but with a perilously short square boundary on one side of the ground, there was no room for complacency in the Scotchie line up.
Seb Armstrong (2/24) and Will Hays (0/28) bowled well with the new ball, but not with a lot of luck, as ball beat bat and a sharp chance was put down off Hays. The MUCC openers laboriously brought up the 50 stand in the 15 over. Crucially, MUCC still had all wickets in hand to launch an all out assualt on the target. The breakthrough came via a brilliant direct hit from side on from skipper Tom Murray to rapturous approval from his teammates. Soon after, a miss-hit lofted drive was pocked by super-sub John "bucket-hands" Stavris and MUCC were under the pump from which they never adequately recovered despite fighting it out to the end.
The leading wicket taker was none other than Benny "Rockstar" Summerfield, who was blandished into service under secondment from the Celebrities at the last minute to replace the injured Gary Bennett. Sunmerfield finished with 4 for 62 to make a case for permanent inclusion in the "A" team.
With the traditional bye next weekend for the Spring Racing Carnival's showpiece Melbourne Cup Weekend, both OSCC line ups will be back in action the following weekend, with the 1st XI taking on Melbourne Grammar at Flack Oval and the Celebrities taking on Old Haileybury at the hallowed Meares Oval for the first home game of the summer.
Get on down and support the boys as they write new pages in the fabled Old Scotch history.
In the meantime, enjoy the Spring Racing Carnival, and...
SURROUND YOURSELF IN THE EXCITEMENT!