Liam Naylor and his RH Corstorphine team-mates continue to enjoy a record-breaking season in the Eastern Premier. Last week  Naylor scored 192 runs as the Edinburgh side posted 380-5 against Arbroath at Royal High School. The Scotland player’s effort was the highest individual effort for the club while the team total was also their league best.

Fast forward one week – and they were at it again! This time Naylor reached 195 while the team rattled-up 408-8 against Edinburgh South, again on their home ground.

Naylor, who narrowly missed-out on the Scotland squad for the ongoing ICC T20 World Cup Europe Qualifier, has already amassed 845 league runs, including five centuries, at an average of 120.71. 

These runs have come in just nine innings - a remarkable achievement, given that the highest individual total for the whole season last year was Raju Gayashan’s 835 in sixteen knocks for Meigle. It will surely only be a matter of time until Naylor joins the likes of George Munsey, Matthew Cross and Chris McBride who in the past have registered double centuries in the league.

On winning the toss, RH Corstorphine skipper George West had little hesitation in sending Naylor and Johnathan van Zyl to the crease after their club record 290-stand a week earlier. The pair gave their team another three-figure platform before the latter was bowled by Soyeb Khanusiya for 38 with the total on 114.

There was the hint of a wobble when Owen Gould was castled by the same bowler for a first-ball duck. However, Naylor found stout support from Tyler Stagg who contributed at 38-ball 40 to a third-wicket stand of 74.

While Anthony Dunford departed cheaply, a fifth wicket partnership yielded 130 rapid runs with Robert Thompson making 58 from only 49 deliveries with four boundaries and two maximums. Naylor, though, was the undoubted star, going on to post his fifth century of the campaign and looking in the mood to double it.

However, having made 195 from just 133 balls with a remarkable twenty-three boundaries and six clearances, he chased a wide one from Mir Hassan and was caught behind. A late flurry from West – 29 from 16 deliveries – carried the hosts beyond the 400 mark.

Edinburgh South were staring at potential humiliation when they lost both openers with just 2 runs on the board, though they recovered with a series of determined contributions. Adnan Mufti top-scored with 78 while former Scotland batter Qasim Sheikh made a patient 52, but the standout performance came from Danial Khan who faced only 37 deliveries in counter-attacking with six maximums in his 73.

The result, though, was never in doubt, the visitors dismissed for 293 in 44-2 overs, West the key bowler with 3-46 including the two top scorers.     

The division’s other in-form batter, Callum Garden, was also in the runs again, stroking a brilliant century as Forfarshire bagged the derby bragging rights with a comfortable Eastern Premier League win over Arbroath at Forthill. Garden’s 90-ball 104 propelled ‘Shire to 265 before Jack Hogarth’s four wickets sent the visitors crashing to a 131-run defeat.

Forfarshire were given a solid start by the returning Harjeet Brar who stroked seven boundaries in a rapid 42. Garden then took centre stage, with an array of shots on either side of the wicket yielding eight boundaries and five maximums before he was bowled by Keegan Crawford.

Arbroath’s bowlers stuck to their task and eventually dismissed their rivals in the 48th over with two scalps each for Crawford, Shouvik Chakraborthy and Luke Hayes. The Lochlands side have produced several good run-chases this season but their hopes of another were dealt a double blow when openers Jack Plomer and Craig Cameron fell cheaply.

Hayden Laing (23) and Darryl Sinclair launched a recovery act, the latter top-scoring with a patient 56 including eight boundaries and a maximum. But when they fell to Lyle Robertson and Lewis Robison, Hogarth proceeded to weave his leg-spin magic to go through Arbroath’s middle order with 4-35, the Lochlands side all out in 30.4 overs.

But for that man Naylor, Garden would be sitting top of the batting charts with a tally of 532 runs. 

Elsewhere, Falkland missed the chance to carve out back-to-back wins when they went down by 20 runs to Carlton at Scroggie Park.   The prospects looked bright for the Fifers when they dismissed their rivals for 231 in the final over, Logan Briggs claiming 4-49 and Julien de Jager 3-38. However, the run-chase ended in disappointment despite a fine 71 from Asif Khan.

News that John Blain will be leaving his role as Grange coach to take up an appointment of Director of Cricket at The Edinburgh Academy has been met with a mixture of disappointment and gratitude at Portgower Place. Grange will miss an inspirational leader but he is leaving behind a youth system which continues to produce some of the best young talent in the country.

It was a typically youthful outfit who hoisted the club into second place in the table with a comfortable eight-wicket win over Stewarts Melville at Inverleith. Will Hodgins and Dylan Davidson had three wickets apiece as the home side were dismissed for 188 in the final over, Joe Newman top-scoring with a fighting 48.

A second-wicket stand of 137 between skipper Angus Brown (81) and Campbell Swanson (69) then put the issue beyond doubt.

There was more misery for Meigle when they were bundled out for just 124 against champions Heriot’s at Goldenacre. Matthew Sinclair, batting at number nine, offered the only serious resistance with a battling 41 before being last out.

Heriot’s, who have an air of invincibility about them, cruised to the target in 21.2 overs, former Forfarshire all-rounder Charlie Cassell leading the way with 63no.

If Heriot’s look bankers to defend their Eastern Premier title, they are just one match away from retaining the Scottish Cup after a 43-run win over Carlton in a rain-affected semi-final at Grange Loan.

Cassell, a hero with the bat twenty-four hours earlier, starred with the ball on this occasion as the holders, having posted 155-9 from 30 overs, defended a revised tally of 177.

Oliver Davidson’s defiant 49 offered Carlton some hope but Cassell’s 3-9 in 4.4 overs clinched victory for Heriot’s who will have to wait to discover their final opponents after Clydesdale’s clash with Ferguslie was abandoned, the former having reached 131-5 from 32 overs.