PEEBLES Phoenix Under 11s took part in the St Boswells Cricket Festival on Sunday.

And they flew to the top of the rankings with an unbeaten day at the wicket.

First up were Gala who had proved tough opposition the week before.

Captain Chris Thomson won the toss and elected to field. Tight bowling by the Peebles bowlers restricted Gala to one or two runs per over.

The lack of runs on the board saw Gala start to take risky singles, however against the cat-like Peebles fielders this proved costly with the team running out four Gala batsmen - two to captain Chris.

Chris then took a spiralling catch in the deep off the bowling of Ruairidh Wilson.

The Peebles bowlers also continued to impress with a wicket for Harris Common and two in two balls for Paddy “The Ultimate Destroyer” Thomson.

It was nearly three in three but the hat-trick ball agonisingly fell between two fielders.

It was then Peebles turn to bat and the Fitzgerald brothers who had just stepped off the plane from France got the team off to a good start by running quick singles with some telepathic calling. The innings finished strongly with Chris hitting two 4s and a 6 and Hamish Fisken smashing a quick-fire 20.

Next up was Selkirk.

Captain Thomson again won the toss and chose to field. Peebles had warmed up with some fielding drills prior to the games starting and this proved fruitful with the team getting wickets with a couple of run-outs and holding onto every catch that came their way with Arran Common showing his dad, who plays for the Peebles senior team, how to hold onto caught and bowled opportunities.

There were also wickets for Ruairidh, Chris, Hamish and Paddy.

Peebles again got off to a strong start when it was their turn to bat with opening pair James Stevenson and Finlay Burns running quick singles and putting the bad balls away for 4 with James classically clipping one ball off his legs for a boundary and Finlay hooking one inches away from his face for four.

The Thomson brothers kept up the boundary hitting with Chris hitting three 6s, two of which went into the gardens of the neighbouring houses.

Paddy, not to be out-done by his older brother, hit a thundering straight drive for 4.

The boundary hitting continued with Callum Fitzgerald hitting three consecutive 4s and then brother Sam coming within millimetres of hitting his first 6 for the club.

Hamish and Ruairidh then finished the innings strongly with Ruairidh hitting 21 including a massive 6 which cleared the roof of the house adjoining the pitch.

The final game was against Carlton whose technically correct batting techniques had impressed the boys last Sunday.

Captain Thomson lost the toss this time but Peebles still ended up fielding first which Chris said would have been his decision if he had won.

The Peebles bowlers stuck to their job making it difficult for the Carlton batsmen to score runs with wickets falling to Hamish and Callum Fitzgerald whose mastery with the white cricket ball is reminiscent of Australia’s Mitchell Stark.

Peebles were set a challenging but obtainable target and got off to a good start with some intelligent running by opening pair Paddy and James and next pair the Common brothers Arran and Harris.

It was looking like a tight finish before Chris stepped up to score two 4s and Hamish a quick-fire 14 including a 6 over the A68.

Another enjoyable outing for the boys who would like to thank their hosts.

No cakes on offer this week so the Peebles mums are still way out in front in the Great Borders Bake-Off Competition.