THE next generation of spinners, wicket keepers and boundary-blasting batsmen were on show at Whitestone Park on Sunday.

Peebles Phoenix - the junior section of Peebles County Cricket Club - hosted Carlton Cricket Clubs two under 10s teams for a round robin event.

And it turned out to be an eventful day's play with Peebles also fielding two teams - The Flames and The Scorchers.

In the first round of games, the Flames faced Carlton 1 and after winning the toss captain Finlay Burns opted to bat.

The opening pair of Finlay and Lyall Cormack got Peebles off to a quick start with both showing exemplary technique in hitting matching cover drives for four. Next up was the Thomson brothers, Chris and Paddy who both demonstrated the benefits of the practice they had been putting in against the bowling machine by scoring boundaries at will without giving away their wickets. Next up was Arran Common and Toru Keen who scored at more than a run a ball with some sharp running between the wickets. Carlton were set a demanding total to chase.

Their task was made even harder when Paddy who opened the bowling for the Flames had their opening batsmen caught behind the wicket by his brother Chris. Paddy then took a second wicket when Toru took a great diving catch in the deep. There was no respite for the Carlton batsmen with Chris taking the next wicket to fall after a fine catch in the gully by Finlay.

Finlay took the next wicket to fall by clean bowling the batsman. Lyall despite carrying an injury took a wicket in the next over with an in swinging Yorker that sent the middle stump flying out of the ground.

The final Carlton wicket fell to Oscar Backx following a great diving catch by Arran with the ball only centimetres from the ground.

Next up for the Flames was Carlton 2.

Captain Burns again won the toss and with the sun blazing down tactically elected to bat so that the Carlton fielders would have two consecutive innings in the field.

Lyall and Chris Thomson opened the batting for the Flames with both scoring boundaries. The good work was continued by Arran and Toru who scored quickly without offering the Carlton bowlers a chance.

Last pair Oscar and Nancy Thomson kept up the scoring rate with Oscar hitting a four and Nancy ending up two not out on her competitive debut for the Phoenix. Carlton got off to a good start when they set off on the run chase but the Flames bowlers stuck to their game plan by bowling a tight line just outside the batsman’s off stump which backed up by exemplary ground fielding kept the scoring rate down. With the visitors required run rate steadily increasing, wickets began to fall with Finlay, Oscar, Paddy and Toru all picking up wickets.

In the other match The Scorchers captain Callum Fitzgerald FIC (Future Ireland Captain) lost the toss and with the hot sun beating down was put into the field by the opposing captain.

The two Carlton openers got off to a fast start before both were bowled by Harris Common who bowled with both accuracy and pace. Kai Keen also bowled well picking up his first wickets for Peebles.

The Phoenix fielding was also impressive with some athletic stops preventing certain boundaries and a cat like Alec Weston running out another Carlton batsmen.

Next it was the Scorchers turn to bat. Harris and Abi Brown opened the innings with a flurry of boundaries. Regular wickets saw the Scorchers fall behind the run rate before some big hitting by Kai, Fraser Harvie, Fergus Weston and Innes Cormack saw Peebles inch within touching distance of the Carlton Score only to fall agonisingly a couple of runs short.

Next match for the Scorchers was against Carlton 1.

This time Callum won the toss and opted to bat first. Innes Cormack opened the a batting with Harris Common and this pair obviously thought it was too hot to run and decided to score only in boundaries with Innes hitting a six and then a four and Harris two fours.

Next up was James Stephenson who having quested for Carlton 1 in the previous match showed the opposition that he was worth the contract on offer from the Edinburgh side by hitting consecutive boundaries. James was to find out after the game that the Phoenix had turned down the offer from Carlton and that he will still be a Peebles player next season. The Scorchers continued to deal in boundaries with Callum hooking the ball only inches from his nose for four and Alec Weston with his baseball style stance upper cutting another bouncer for four.

Next up was Fergus Weston with a more orthodox batting style than his brother and Kai who was mistaken for Kane Williamson by some of the watching press due to the ease with which he hit boundaries without giving the opposition a sniff of his wicket. The last pair of Sam Fitzgerald and Abi Brown saw Peebles finish up with a commanding total in excess of 250.

Carlton keen to make up for their earlier loss to the Flames were keen to push for a victory but tight bowling by Fraser, Abi and Fergus backed up by superb fielding kept the runs down to singles. With Carlton looking to up the tempo, Callum brought on his two strike bowlers Harris and Innes. Innes picked up a wicket by taking a sharp caught and bowled and then Harris bowling at express speed to a five man slip cordon took a wicket following a great catch by Sam. The benefit of the catching drills at training evident by the fact that there were no dropped catches.

The final wicket fell to Alec following a great catch by Innes.

At the end of the matches the kids went off to have tea with lots of delicious cakes baked by the mums on offer.

The club would like to thank Carlton for coming down to Peebles early on a Sunday morning and all the volunteers from bakers to umpires.

Junior cricket club in on Monday evenings from 7pm to 8pm at Whitestone Park. All new members welcome.