FPs were unable to force victory against Caledonian despite being on top throughout. Having made 188 for 8 thanks to contributions from Roland Knudson, Jerry Moir, Budd and MacDonald, Caledonian were restricted to 103 for 8, never threatening to chase the FP total.
FPs had many regulars back in the side with only Whyte and Eagles unavailable and John Lord still out with a hip injury. They lined up with Roland Knudson, Budd, Jerry Moir, Dallas Moir, MacDonald, Clelland, Morrison, James Lord, Sam Knudson, Muthu and Stuart. FPs lost the toss for the first time this season and were asked to bat.
Knudson continued in the opener’s role with Budd returning. Sarawat and Aran opened the bowling and with a slow outfield the batsmaen were forced to work hard for their runs, moving cautiously to 24 for no wicket in 10 overs. The batsmen then began to pick up the pace but it took till the 21st over for the first boundary to be recorded as suddenly Knudson hammered change bowler Van Oorschott for 2 fours and Budd followed suit with a pull as FPs accelerated to 79 for no wicket.
Having taken the scoe to 90 in the 24th over, FPs then suffered a double blow as first Budd was bowled by Thomson for 30 and the Knudson fell in bizarre circumstances next over. Kash was the bowler and having once again been called for a back foot no ball, Knudson drove him straight to cover where he was well caught, however, it seemed Knudson had not heard the call and left his ground to head off only to be run out by yards for a well played 37.
Dallas Moir was joined by twin Jerry and they added a quick fire 46 dominated by Jerry Moir. First Dallas Moir fell for 9 skying a catch to Thomson off Cordiner and then straight after Jerry Moir fell for 32 bowled by a well disguised slower ball by Sarawat. He had made 32 with 3 fours and 2 sixes.
FPs hunt for quick runs continued as some intelligent running from MacDonald and Clelland added 41, as they turned 1s into 2s and grabbed quick singles whenever possible. However as MacDonald tried a big hit he was bowled by Cordiner for 27 from 34 balls. Morrison joined Clelland in the 45th over as FPs continued to scramble runs, with both players lucky to avoid run outs on a few occasions.
The decision to then bat the 46th over did not really work out as intended as first Morrison was caught on the boundary for 1, Clelland followed next ball bowled by Cordiner and then James Lord was unselfishly run out off the last ballwithout facing attempting a 3rd off the final ball of the innings.
This left FPs with a score of 188 for 8 with Cordiner the pick of the Caley bowlers claiming 4 for 41.
James Lord and Jerry Moir opened the attack for FPs to Smith and Bugg, and after Budd had nearly pulled off a stunning catch at mid wicket, Lord outfoxed Smith to bowl him for 6.
After 11 overs, James Lord was replaced by Sam Knudson and his second over threw the game firmly in FPs favour and first he had Thomson well caught by Jerry Moir at slip and next ball he pinned Star man Sarawat LBW for a golden duck as Caledonian were reduced to 17 for 3. By this point Knudson had been joined by Stuart in the attack and in his 4th over he had Caley in huge trouble as first he bowled Oorschott aiming a huge smash over mid wicket and repeated the dose 3 balls later, Arran falling in the same way. This left Caley 27 for 5 in 20 overs.
Seven overs later, Caledonian slipped further to 45 for 7 as first Roland Knudson bowled opener Bugg for a resolute 17 but only after Dallas Moir dropped a regulation chance at slip and Morrison had made a hash of catching him at cover, badly misjudging the power of the shot. Moments later he also bowled Hall for 3.
However FPs were only able to claim one more wicket as Cordiner put up the shutters in a strong rear guard action. His partner Kash was however still playing shots hitting 3 fours in making 24 eventually caught by Stuart off James Lord, having been dropped in the gully the ball earlier by Dallas Moir.
Despite having 4 overs remaining, FPs did not really threaten to claim the reamining 2 wickets as Cordiner saw them off making 13 in 20 overs and Fraser making 15 not out with the field all up attacking.
Despite having the better of the draw, FPs will be disapointed not to have forced the win and may regret the chances they missed. Moir as ever was on the spot conceeding just 13 in his 12 overs. The wickets were shard with James Lord 11-2-36-2, Moir 12-5-13-0, Sam Knudson 6-1-16-2, Stuart 10-0-20-2 and Roland Knudson 5-2-18-2. FPs play Queens Cross next week in what is sure to be another hard fought game.
