Nairn County Cricket Club lose pre-season friendly to 40 Club in far from ideal conditions at the Links ahead of 2022 North of Scotland season
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Cricket has returned to Nairn for 2022 as Nairn County played their first pre-season friendly of the year after holding an open morning for anyone interested in giving the sport a go.
Taking on regular opponents, the 40 Club, Nairn were immediately put under pressure as 40 Club opener Tom Polkinghorne scored an unbeaten ton – finishing on 108 not out.
Polkinghorne was ably supported by Brendon Hillyard (53) and Nikhil Kadyan (44), who were dismissed by Joe Elvines and Ian MacLeod respectively.
Ronnie Singh then contributed 16 not out off nine deliveries, before turning his attention to wreaking havoc with the ball in hand.
The 40 Club made an early breakthrough, but were somewhat slowed down by the efforts of Dave Wolton and Tim Cuffley, the latter going on to pass 55 before being Singh's first victim.
Neil Doherty put up plenty of fight too, reaching 78 before Singh bowled him too, and when the 40 Club man sent Shane Hayward and Nick Day back to the changing rooms too there was only going to be one winner.
In the end the difference between the two teams was 30 runs, with Nairn on the losing side despite batting their full allocation of 35 overs, but being a friendly it was more about preparing for the season ahead.
"It was a great day," Nairn County's Mike Davies said.
"The open morning was affected by the cold wind I think, it was really chilly, but we still saw a few juniors come through which was great to see.
"There had been a fair bit of interest during the week as well as people passed by the ground – I think we might be able to dig out a few cricketers from yesteryear around Nairn too, so the morning went well.
"The 40 Club really enjoyed the game. A lot of work had gone into the condition of the ground during the week, and we had a really competitive game, which was great.
"They always have a powerful batting line-up, and they score quite freely, but it was an excellent bowling spell for us from Joe Elvines, who is the captain of the reserves but he has really progressed very well, and Martin Bronkhurst was the tidiest of the bowlers with only 19 runs coming off his seven overs.
"It was great, because two of our most productive batters from previous years didn't score big, but the two who did – Neil Doherty and Tim Cuffley – they really demonstrated that we've got more to come from the side.
"I think Neil mentioned he hadn't scored that many runs since about 1986! He was chuffed to bits, and both of them saw the ball really well.
"It was tough conditions, bitterly cold, but it was a really enjoyable game that was played in a good spirit. It's a good work out for us, I think they're always going to be too strong for us at this stage, but in terms of doing some of the things that we want to do this season we're off to a really good start."
Skipper of the 40 Club, Colin Neill, added: "The 40 Club were delighted to make their annual spring trip to Nairn.
"Despite the weather a great game was played in the right spirit. We look forward to returning in September."
