Bellevue brought a mixed season to an end with a thumping win over first-time opponents Barclay Viewforth at the Meadows on Tuesday night.

Realistically the game should probably not have gone ahead, with some heavy rain showers during the day making the Meadows square even damper than usual. But the evening was mostly fine, and the oppo skipper was keen as mustard to get the game on, and Bellevue opened up with I'Anson and Senthil trying to keep their feet in the mud.

A brisk opening partnership of 3 was brought to an end by an outswinging yorker from Williams, which clipped the base of Sharav's off stump. But this just brought Golden Boy Michael Kelly to the crease, and the young prodigy duly proceeded to showcase his collection of excellent cricket shots to all and sundry.

Kelly went on to retire on 25, by which time I'Anson was already back in the hutch with 26 to his name, and Parks and Jordanovic were making merry in the middle, with Pyscho in his usual six-hitting form.

There was time for Kelly snr to anchor the lower middle order, a brief cameo from Sandy R, and some agricultural bat-throwing from Quinn to round things off.

161 was a decent total, especially given the slow damp outfield, and a suffocating opening partnership of Quinn and Robertson ensured that the run-rate just kept climbing. Perhaps given the state of the game, and the rapidly fading light which made it nigh on impossible for the Barclay batsmen to score freely, we should have taken more wickets, but the job was a good 'un.

And so, another season draws to a close, with Ben P hanging on to the bowling 'trophy' for his 4 wickets (from one game!) by virtue of a lower bowling average, but Michael Kelly cleaning up the batting and catching prizes. Top effort getting to over 100 runs when we only played 4 games. Well done all, hopefully see you all for a night out soon. Thanks to our regular support team of Kat, Cathie, Heather and Suchitra!

After a crushing defeat at the hands of Tranent a couple of weeks ago, Bellevue attempted to get back to winning ways against E=MCC at Peffermill tonight, but with the rain increasing and wind picking up, at some point common sense prevailed and some sodden cricketers headed for home disappointed. Next week brings the final game of the season - versus Barclay Viewforth Church at the Meadows..

With the Holy Cross fixture called off due to a congested fixture list for the Arboretum men (suspect it rained that night anyway), Bellevue's next task was to take on Inchcolm at Newfield. A sunny Newfield, no less.

Bellevue either chose to bat, or were put in to bat, one of the two, and openers Robertson and I'Anson set about getting the scoreboard trickling along, before I'Anson had the misfortune to receive a goodish straight ball, which did for him nicely. He departed, having made a solid 17, and Bellevue's closest thing to an overseas pro, Senthil came to the wicket, with the hopes of a billion countrymen weighing on his shoulders. Perhaps that's why he didn't run between the wickets quite as quickly as he might have, although seasoned onlookers saw a hint of the Geoffrey Boycotts about CR's calling and running.

Never mind, Robertson was to depart in similar circumstances, being called through for a run, which may or may not have been on. Should be said at this point that Inchcolm's fielding was impressive, especially their ability to hit the stumps direct with the batsman struggling to keep his abdominal protector in the correct place, run, and ground his bat all at the same time. Please note, everyone, boxer shorts are not suitable undergarments for cricket.

Meantime M Kelly was delighting the crowd with an array of "proper cricket strokes" including a back foot drive straight from the WI 1970s coaching manual. He departed for a sumptuous 25*, and Porteous, Quinn and Shelley kept the scoreboard ticking to bring up a decent total of 130.

The Inchcolm reply never really got moving, at least not until Hunter came in, rather inexplicably at number 7, and took a liking to Kelly Senior's bowling, smacking two big sixes over midwicket, one of which he deposited in a neighbouring garden. That was when he wasn't taking evasive action the skipper's array of head-high beamers.

Prior to this Quinn and Shelley had given the openers little to hit, and with the required run-rate creeping into double figures, the youngsters ran through the middle order, with Galloway and St Michael picking up 2 each. But the star of the bowling performance was Ben Porteous, who seemed to pick up a wicket every other ball (every 4.5 in actual fact) and finished with 4-10 all told. Probably man of the match for that and his useful 18 with the bat, although Princess Michael might object.

An excellent performance all round, I think even Skipper Kelly was pleased. Many thanks to Kat and the travelling support, especially Heather for bringing the refreshments!

With your correspondent currently stranded in Tennessee, details are a litte sketchy, but I can confirm that Bellevue got the season off to a winning start on Tuesday night against E=MCC at Inverleith Park.

In a team featuring five guys of school age and two students, Colin I must have been feeling his age, and goodness only knows what skipper Kelly made of it. With all that youthful vigour on tap, he was doubtless able to strategically install his command centre at slip and control proceedings without moving around too much. Sounds like new Aussie import Dan Shelley made an assured debut with 4 wickets - apologies for the photo Dan, but I don't have one of you, and well, you're an Aussie and you're in the wickets...

Congratulations to Kelly jnr on a top performance with the bat, and I believe, a strong contender for catch of the season, diving low to take one in the covers. And great to hear that Sharav, after spending the winter working on his technique against spin in India, has returned to play for Bellevue. I expect he was getting bored with the nice weather and pitches which showed consistent and predicatble bounce.

Next up, the mighty Holy Cross on 14 June .. !