St Andrews staff refuse to let go of Ferrier Cup

The St Andrews Staff team were looking to retain the Ferrier Cup after a comprehensive victory in 2018.

After a slight delay, St Andrews were sent in to bat on what looked to be a tough wicket to score on.

And indeed it proved to be so.

Accurate swing bowling from the Dundee openers - aided by some inconsistent bounce - tied down the St Andrews top order.

However, with the introduction of the change bowlers, McLennan, aided admirably by Earnshaw and then Crooks, began to score more freely and the runs piled on, taking the St Andrews score past 100 in the 18th over, before he was retired for 56. After losing his partner, Crooks wasted little time in taking up the offensive mantle, bringing up his half-century before himself retiring on 53. After negotiating the final over, St Andrews finished up with a strong total of 154 from their 25.

The strength of this total may have gone to the heads of some of the St Andrews bowlers, however; when play resumed, a mixture of good hitting and poor bowling saw Dundee Uni Staff get off to a flying start – picking up 21 runs in the first two overs.

Some stern words from captain Frankland, however, and the bowlers found their lengths. Suddenly runs became hard to come by. As the tidy bowling continued and pressure to score mounted, uncharacteristically sharp fielding from St Andrews saw not one or two but three Dundee batsmen run out. Dundee were falling behind the rate and running out of overs. Knowing this, Frankland turned to the spinners to coax out the last few wickets.

This tactic was rewarded with two catches on the boundary. An over later, two excellent fuller deliveries from Earnshaw accounted for batsmen 9 and 10. With the Dundee number 11 excusing himself from the innings, the game was over and St Andrews secured the Ferrier Cup.

Scoring: St Andrews University Staff Cricket Club (154 – 4 off 25 overs; R. McLennan 56*, J. Crooks 53*) defeated Dundee Uni Staff (105/9 off 21.3; J. Earnshaw 2/7) by 49 runs.