Carlton recall McCann as they look to clinch title

Carlton's Rory McCann will face Aberdeenshire tomorrow

Last week’s victory over Arbroath means that the Grange Loan men have one hand on the trophy with two weeks remaining.

Watsonians are the only team that can catch them, but they would need two wins and hope that Carlton slip up.

With former Irish internationalist McCann back from a rugby tour to New Zealand in his role as a teacher at Merchiston Castle School, he comes into a strong looking XI with Kyle Macpherson the unlucky man to miss out.

Ahead of the trip to Aberdeenshire, Carlton skipper Steve Gilmour said: “We have good availability for the last two weeks of the campaign and that is making selection tough.

“Kyle has had a decent season and played in a lot of our first XI games but, for such an important match, we are keen to have as much experience as possible in our ranks and that is why Rory gets the nod for this one.

“With him back it means that our top six in the batting line-up have all got a number of seasons under our belts and we just have to continue playing positive cricket and see how it goes – we will not be talking about the title until anything is confirmed.”

Aberdeenshire’s Mannofield ground has had a few issues due to poor weather this year, but Carlton will be keen to get the match played.

Watsonians head for Arbroath aiming to keep up the pressure. With skipper Ewan Chalmers at a wedding, Kenny Rae comes into the XI and Brendan O’Connell leads the team.

Mazars Grange, the 2015 champions, host Glenrothes at Raeburn Place.

Heriot’s have James Hearn and Kevin McLaren back in as they play Forfarshire.

The last two weeks in the Baillie Gifford ESCA Championship will be intriguing with SMRH and RH Corstorphine battling for top spot. They have both won 11 and lost two to date.

Tomorrow, Mazars Grange II visit Inverleith to play SMRH while RH Corstorphine are at home to Dunnikier.