Schools match of the week: George Watson's College v Fettes College

Robertson and Rhodes bat George Watson's to victory over their Scottish rivals

George Watson's College were the toast of Scotland as they recorded a 61-run victory over rivals Fettes College.

The Edinburgh school, who educated former Scotland international Neil McCallum, finished on a very competitive total of 160 for 4 from their 20 overs.

Fettes, who could only field 10 men due to exam commitments, posted a respectable 99 for seven in response.

Although they finished winners, George Watson's struggled at first. Their opener Ross Fontana was bowled for a golden duck, and when Luke Scott, Fraser Kinloch and Lowry Fernando all fell during the next eight overs, they were left on 40 for 4.

But Oliver Robertson (46 not out) and Ewan Rhodes (66 not out) went on the counter to get George Watson's up to 160. Rhodes was particularly destructive, scoring two sixes and eight fours as he finished with a strike rate of 143.5.

O Norton was the pick of the Fettes' bowlers, finishing on 2 for 24. H Tomlyn was also very impressive, finishing his four overs with an economy rate of just 5.75.

In response, Fettes' also endured a slow start. After 6.4 overs, they were 21 for 4 as they fraught to deal with George Watson's attack.

But the middle-order showed resilience. N Stannic (12), M Hughston (24) and A Cummings (14 not out) dug in to help Fettes finish just shy of the hundred mark.

Speaking to The Cricketer after the match, Mike Leonard, coach at George Watson's, was very impressed with the opposition's efforts in adverse circumstances.

"To be perfectly honest Fettes were a bit under strength because they were in the middle of A-Levels and missing some key players," said Leonard. "Fettes are probably one of the top two schools in Scotland and yesterday they weren't necessarily at their usual strength."

Fettes does have a reputation for developing quality cricketers. Malcolm Jardine, the father of future England captain Douglas, and Kenneth MacLeod were both educated at the school. But although he was full of praise for Fettes, Leonard was also very complimentary about his own team.

"We have a lot of good cricketers, rather than one or two exceptional players," explained Leonard. "It works for us in T20 because the entire team contributes. So yesterday when we lost some early wickets, we could still rely on our middle order to get some runs.

"We were really pleased with 160, that was exactly the target at the beginning of the innings and after a slow start we weren't sure if we would get there but Rhodes and Robertson went really nicely and were able to get us up to 160.

"For us it's about building partnerships. We found ourselves a few wickets down but Robertson and Rhodes spent some decent time at the crease and helped us put on a defendable score. It's amazing how you can accelerate towards the end of the innings once you have put together a partnership as a pair."

He went on to discuss how the bowling attack managed Fettes' reply.

"The bowling plan was to take wickets and get off to a good start," stated Leonard. "We knew it would be a difficult chase for them and we put them under pressure from the start.

"We made it very difficult for them to come back from that and as soon as you take wickets the run rate gradually increases until it is too much. That scoreboard pressure is really important.

"We do have depth in the bowling department too. Because we were on top of the game it was a good opportunity to throw the ball around a bit and see what people could do."

After the team’s comprehensive result on Tuesday, Leonard is confident George Watson's can have a strong end to the season.

"We have the semi-final of the T20 Cup to look forward to against Dollar Academy. Then we have another four or five school games.

"Every year we play a cricket festival and this year it is at University College London. Also there are Birkenhead School and Aldenham School. Then we are off to Barbados in February for our pre-season tour."

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