Wash-out gives frustrated Saltires first point

THE Saltires last night claimed their first point of this season’s YB40 campaign when their clash with Derbyshire at the County Ground was washed out after just 9.3 overs.

While cynics will say the Scots were spared an eighth straight defeat, the fact is that they had started this game with a real sense of purpose, reducing their hosts to 36-2.

Had the rain relented to allow the Saltires to bat for the minimum ten overs that constitute a match, Preston Mommsen’s men would have been favourites to knock off the 64 runs required.

Instead, they now have just four matches remaining of their final season in county cricket to salvage a win and coach Pete Steindl said: “We are ambitious to finish the competition strongly.

“It’s always frustrating when the weather denies us the chance to play because we value every one of these games and had started pretty well.”

With rain in the air, skipper Mommsen opted to field first in the hope his bowlers could take advantage of helpful conditions.

Neil Carter’s first over, a testing maiden to Chesney Hughes, suggested the Saltires captain had made the right decision.

Hughes, though, launched Gordon Goudie over the mid-wicket rope for a maximum and then edged the next delivery for a boundary as the board started ticking.

However, Carter finally got the reward he deserved when Wes Durston top-edged a rising delivery and Moneeb Iqbal took a good catch at deep fine leg.

Better followed for the visitors in Carter’s next over when the home batsmen attempted a quick single only for Hughes to be caught short of his ground by Richie Berrington’s superb 
direct hit from point.

Hughes, who scored 74 when Derbyshire visited Edinburgh earlier in the season, had made 30 at a run-a-ball with four boundaries and the six, was a good man for Scotland to see walking back to the pavilion.

However, with Derbyshire teetering on 34-2 and Carter having claimed 1-7 from his five overs, the heavens opened and the players scurried from the field.

The Scots are back in action in the first of two World Cup qualifiers against Kenya in Aberdeen on 30 June. Steindl added: “Neil bowled with real aggression and we’d have loved the chance to get back out there but we’ve been denied another day’s cricket. That sometimes happens and we move on and will now re-focus and look ahead to a series of crucial matches against Kenya.”