We were delighted to host a touring Tyne and Wear XI on Tuesday at Gilvenbank Park, as their scheduled victory at Perth Doo'cot was scrubbed late on in their touring plans.

With wet weather in advance putting paid to our attempts to get Gilvenbank Park into better condition, even wetter weather was to come on the day and it was great credit to both teams for battling through to ensure the game went ahead.

Tyne and Wear batted first and were to see opener Brandon Lusk dismissed by Bimal Nalapurrakal Balan to a catch by Urvish Patel at mid-on for 13.

This brought Riley Mattingley to the crease with opener Steve Hutchinson and both batted well to keep the scoreboard ticking over. Young Muhammad Tayyiub was to make the breakthrough as he bowled Hutchinson for 20, Tyne and Wear 84 for 2 in the 16th over.

The team hundred came up in the 20th over, just in time for the rain to stop and the drinks break to be taken.

Steven Kirk as the new batter looked to up the tempo and despite his "Ten from Len" dancing feet getting him to the pitch of Nigam Panwar's delivery, he was to miss the ball and let Sufyan Ahmed complete the stumping for 16.

Jimmy Vercoe now joined Mattingley, and the two Australians showed their batting class as they stroked the ball around the park for near non-stop singles and twos along with a good number of boundaries.

Vercoe was to be caught by young Ben Krzyzanowski off the bowling of Nigam Panwar for 34, replaced in the middle by Rohan.

Rohan was bat sensibly to rotate the strike and give Mattingley the strike - pretty sensible as Mattingley had already reached his century and looking hungry to go big.

It was Rohan though to dominate the last over so he could reach his quarter century, with Mattingley left agonisingly short of his next milestone on 148 not out. Tyne and Wear finishing on 270 for 4 from their 40 overs.

A fantastic batting display, with all batters showing the importance of patience and discipline - something which Glenrothes would have hoped to learn from.

Unfortunately Tayyiub was to lose his patience and stability, as he played early on a length ball on leg stump to pop an easy catch to mid-on off the bowling of Ben Evans.

Sufyan Ahmed (20) after showing some boundary-hitting promise was to also hit a catch of James Law and then soon followed by Urvish Patel to complete the team hat-trick of catches - this time off the bowling of Jimmy Vercoe.

Ben Evans meanwhile was in the midst of an absolute miserly opening spell, and having bowled Ben Anderson with his second last ball was to be withdrawn from the attack with outstanding figures of 2 for 0 from 5!

There was to be some mid-innings resurgence from skipper Qasim Ahmad (27) bashing and Nigam Panwar (33*) caressing the ball, but with Ahmad's dismissal leading to a series of further wickets Glenrothes were to be bowled out for 131 in the 30th over - last batter Kevin Le Roux to be bowled by Steven Kirk for his second wicket.

An easy win for the touring team, but one which Glenrothes will have learned a lot from - patience, discipline and the importance of doing the basics of ground fielding well! Oh, and the fun of sitting down to chat post-match - the Stanes Bar regulars might have been a bit bemused from some of the banter though!

We wish Tyne and Wear XI all the best for the rest of their tour.