Review from the badger’s sett…
Stenhousemuir v Prestwick
Prestwick made the trip to the Tryst in the knowledge that the winning of today’s toss would be crucial in determining the final outcome of the match. The Tryst is a largish ground, and on a warm and sunny day, an afternoon in the field first can be a bit of an agonising chore. With that in mind, Prestwick won the toss and elected to bat first.
Prestwick began their innings brightly and had put 50 on the board before Ross Kennedy (18) fell to the bowling of big Nick Lister in the 10th over. At the beginning of the 11th over, the other Prestwick opener, Indy Singh (28) was smartly caught by Yaseen Valli off young Husnain Atif. In the 12th over, last week’s centurion Sachin Chaudhary (1) was LBW to Lister and at the end of the 13th, Prestwick were 60-4 with Declan Botes another batter sunk by the ‘caught Yaseen Valli, bowled Husnain Atif’ combination. Tom Fleet (29) and Ewen McBeth (12) dug in for a partnership of 30, but the rotational bowling of the Stenhousemuir spin troika of Zander Smith (1-23), Callum Grant (3-19) and Manas Sahare (2-26) unravelled the Prestwick batting and they were finally all out for 144 in 36.4 overs.
Defending 144 against an in-form Stenhousemuir and the batsmanship of back-to-back league century maker Yaseen Valli was going to have to have Prestwick’s bowling to be at its very best. Although Valli came and went for 34, the contributions to the total by the other batters and a cameo 37no from Amir Shahzad got Stenny over the line 5 down in the 33rd over.
Not a good day at the office for Prestwick while Stenhousemuir go 3 wins from 3.
Kelburne v Drumpellier
Today’s clash was always going to be a tough result for the loser and leave them slightly afoot at the bottom of the table. Both clubs would be fairly justified in stating that at least one of their league losses to date was unfortunate, but the vanquished today would be encountering difficulties in the coming weeks to go and get that much needed first win under their belts.
I found this game to be a strange affair – maybe nervousness on the parts of both teams – but in both innings, just as you thought the game was about to get going again, a wicket would fall and what should have been a high-scoring encounter between two decently matched sides failed to materialise.
Drumpellier won the toss and batted first, but wickets kept on falling in dribs and drabs and the Langloaners were eventually 141ao in the 42nd over. Supeshala Jayathilake was top-scorer with 34 and the under-rated Chris Keltie scored 31. Kelburne’s bowling had Pashtoon Mohiaga taking 3-22, Zain Mohammad taking 2-20 and Jamie Cook’s inviters getting 4-36.
I honestly thought at half-time that Kelburne had this game in the bag but began to reconsider that when Kelburne were 13-3 after 6 overs. Kyle Northend (39) and Lucas Farndale (29) got the total up to 71-4 off 14 overs. Although Alexander Gilmour was dismissed in the 16th taking the total to 78-5, a sensibly played partnership between Farndale and Jamie Cook (24) took Kelburne to 116-5 in the 21st over. Then the wheels came off the Kelburne innings. A wahoo at a Josh Allison delivery by Jamie Cook led to a leading edge skier taken by the Drumpellier keeper, Will Leslie – Kelburne 116-6. The following over, Farndale had a swish at a ball outside off-stump from Chathuranga Kumara and there were great celebrations in the land of Drumps for another caught behind by Leslie. Farndale stood his ground, did a bit of gardening and was somewhat disappointed to be given out after an 11 second delay – you could hear some interesting ‘conversations’ as Farndale left the crease, none by players I hasten to add, and I’m sure there will be varying ‘opinions’ to be heard about it all in the coming days.
Suddenly Kelburne were 118-7 off 22 chasing 141. Kumara took 2 more wickets in the 24th over to leave Kelburne 123-9. This had become a tense and tight contest but all Ross MacLean and Pashtoon Mohiaga had to do was occupy the crease and see overs out – the needed runs would come in wides, no-balls, byes and extras if they just batted sensibly and took no chances. They got the total to 135-9 in the 28th over, and for the life of me, I am non-plussed at the following when you only need 6 runs to win from 22 overs – Mohiaga wipes Kumara to mid-on and calls MacLean for a single – mid-on picks the ball up and throws down the stumps at the non-strikers end to run Mohiaga out – he (Mohiaga) seems to give up running 3 yards short and makes no effort to run his bat in. The forlorn figure of Ross MacLean at the strikers end as Drumpellier players quite rightly run around in celebration of victory is a saddening site – we’ve all been there in our own cricket careers, on both sides of the fence, but as a neutral observer, I felt for Ross today.
On the bowling front for Drumpellier, Mohsin Khan took 2-32 and Chathuranga Kumara finished with 5-37.
An important win for Drumpellier and also resembling their doggedness and determination of the 2024 campaign that got them a fifth place. But for Kelburne, another Saturday disappointment.
Ayr v Uddingston
An interesting fixture lay ahead between these old rivals. Ayr had had a close win in the first week against Drumpellier and then the emotion of a tensely tied match against GHK last Saturday. For Uddingston, they had encountered the capabilities of GHK in the first league game and then faced Ferguslie the following week. Differing final results for both teams so far but a day’s cricket under the sun at New Cambusdoon was always going to provide a welcome win for the victor.
Uddingston electing to bat first would have appealed to them, and a decent start would set the tone for the innings. Even accounting for the early loss of Muhammad Awais when the total was 12, the partnership of Keerat Singh (39) and Amaan Ramzan (13) is more than capable of posting a platform for the rest of the team to bat from. When Ramzan departed when the total was 62 in the 17th over, the Uddingston batting seemed to struggle with the slower bowling variations of a combination of Neil Flack (2-29), Hamza Tahir (4-24) and Ollie Jones (3-20) and eventually petered out for 129 in the 36th over.
For Ayr, the frighteningly intimidating opening batting partnership of Michael English (58no) and Neil Flack (61) got their summer roadshow up and running for 2025. Although Flack got out when the total was 128 and Ollie Jones then stroking a 4 to win the match, Neil Flack will be glad he’s back in the game as they say. He’s looked somewhat discombobulated so far this season and hopefully today’s knock, and bowling performance, will have blown the winter blues away and he’ll resume his mantle as part of the Ayr dangerman role he has filled so well in recent seasons.
Not the result big Clarkey would have been wanting, but he’ll gather the Villagers around again and try to get them onto winning ways in the coming weeks. Uddingston are never a side to underestimate.
Tartan Army Sunshine Appeal – Comedy Night – Friday 25th July 2025 – Hamilton Crescent
In July, West of Scotland Cricket Club will be hosting the Tartan Army Sunshine Appeal who are running a comedy night to raise funds. With Mark Nelson headlining the evening, it won’t be one to miss!
The Tartan Army Sunshine Appeal is a charity funded by Scotland fans, the aim of which is to make a donation to identified children’s charities in every country in which the Scottish National Football Team plays matches. Since 2003, this has been achieved – uninterrupted.
Tickets can be purchased for this comedy night online: https://tartan-army-sunshine-appeal.square.site/…/38…
As many of you know, the Hamilton Crescent cricket ground is part of footballing history – it is the origin site for international football and the birthplace of the Tartan Army. It’s great to have TASA at the ground and continuing the symbiotic relationships between cricket and football and all for a worthwhile cause.
It is our history, an undeniable fact of what cricket in the west has been involved in and must continue to support.
Dumfries v Ferguslie
The return of Dumfries back into the Premier Division for 2025 saw the Nunholm pitch and facilities back at the level they deserve to be at, and with Ferguslie as the visitors, today’s game had two batting line-ups with the potential to make full use of what the strip had to offer.
And Ferguslie, after winning the toss, decided they would give the Nunholm deck first dibs. Stafford (14) was the first wicket to fall at 28, and Muhammad Mayet was joined at the crease by Gregor Preston-Jones. When Preston-Jones (5) was dismissed in the 11th over, the total was 71 and Mayet at the other end was 40no.
Muhammad Mayet (69) was caught and bowled by Chris Brockwell in the 19th over and the total was 110. And this was the moment the first innings began to slide away from the Dumfries bowlers. Uzair Ahmad (103no) and Taimoor Ahmad (54) put on a 115 run partnership in 16 overs with quickly run ones and twos interspersed with flurries of fours and sixes. The run-per-over ratio of 7.18 is a good effort, but when you factor in today’s warm and sunny weather and only 56 of those runs coming from boundaries, the stamina and fitness of the Ahmads in those conditions is to be applauded. (Oh to be young again). When Taimoor was bowled for 54 in the 35th over, Uzair was 54no. Ferguslie were 225-4 with 15 overs to go. Any thoughts of a respite for Dumfries were quickly dispelled, and although 4 more wickets fell, the innings closed on 341-8. These final overs had gone at a run-per-over ratio of 7.73 with Saif Sajjad (18), Ettiene Jewell (14) and Haroon Tahir (20) rotating the strike with Uzair. When Uzair Ahmad faced the 2nd ball of the last over from Munro Cubbon, he was 90no and had been batting for nearly 40 overs. There was clear intent that he was getting a century today as he dispatched this very same ball over midwicket for 4. The next ball was also sent over midwicket, only this time for 6 and his ton was achieved, ending up 103 not out – a fantastic innings.
A long day in the field for the Dumfries bowlers with Chris Brockwell bowling well in his 10 overs and taking 2-37 while Ben Plowman plugged away and took 3-47.
The Dumfries reply was always going to be a daunting one with a run-rate required of nearly 7 an over. The innings started badly with the loss of early wickets and Dumfries found themselves 27-3 after 8 overs. An 86 run partnership between Adam Malik (51) and Andrew Dawson (66no) got Dumfries to 113-4 after 25 overs when Malik got out having scored yet another well-crafted 50 to his name. But scoring 228 off the remaining 25 overs at a rising run-rate of 9.00 an over was always going to be a tall order after an afternoon fielding. Wickets came and went and Dumfries were eventually 200ao in the 44th over with Dawson undefeated on 66.
The pick of the Ferguslie bowling was Haroon Tahir taking 3-35 and man-of-the-match Uzair Ahmad taking 2-17.
A good game of cricket played in glorious weather and on a pitch that deservedly gets many plaudits in the cricket world.
Clydesdale v GHK
Week 3 of the season and the current Glasgow club derby had its third competitive outing in as many weeks. The ‘Dale went into the match 2-0 up but those recent victories over the David Copperfield green and purple magic act in the McCulloch Cup and Scottish Cup would be counting for nothing – today was league cricket with the end-of-day result providing fill-in background pieces of the jigsaw that forms the WDCU Premier Division puzzle for 2025. Every run is a prisoner and every ball bowled is vital.
GHK won the toss and chose to bat first but when Fazal Jawad (11) was LBW to Rahman at 30, a further 6 wickets fell for only 23 runs. Contributions by Ali Majeed (28) and Muhammad Majeed (24) helped get the final GHK total to 79ao in 16.4 overs but with crease occupation a necessity lost and only three batters scoring double figures, 79 was never going to be enough. Clydesdale used four bowlers with Muhammad Ghaffar (2-24) and Isaac Rahman (4-35) providing the early damage to the GHK batting. Zeeshan Bashir (3-15) and Rafay Khan (1-2) were the other bowlers used.
In reply, Clydesdale quickly passed the GHK total for 80 without loss in 16 overs with Ali Khan 40no and Sheryar Awan 37no. GHK’s luck/magic of the previous two Saturdays deserted them today and my only observational advice to them would be crease composure and a bit more nous of building platforms and partnerships to post totals when batting first. I was never a batter myself but played in sides full of them and always understood the value of small contributions go a long way to post a score that is defendable, especially in a team sport like cricket.
Plaudits to both sides though with only a solitary no-ball and 2 wides between them – thank you.
There are no bad teams in the WDCU Premiership and all are capable of beating each other and convincingly to boot if required – but there is luck, what ifs and belief. And belief is the major component to have – believe that you will win, do well, bat, bowl, catch it, run him out, chase down the total or defend the low score – cricket is a team game where your fortunes are determined by those you play with and how you play with them. Some team-mates are good, some team-mates are bad, some are selfish, some are show-offs, some try their hardest and others are just simply ordinary enthusiasts. But collectively, it is a combined resolve to achieve something together that is not only rewarding, but beneficial to all involved, and that is by having belief.
Siggy
PS – while the cricket was going on today, I spent some time at Hampden Bowling Club in Kingsley Gardens on the southside and was in the company of the oldest football trophy in the world, the Scottish Football Challenge Cup (Scottish Cup).
The Scottish Cup competition was created in 1873 when seven Glasgow area cricket clubs met with Queen’s Park Football Club to found the Scottish Football Association and a governing body under one set of rules and a cup competition for the member clubs.
13 Glasgow area cricket clubs played in the original tournament of 16 teams with Clydesdale losing 2-0 to Queens Park in the final. The final was played at the First Hampden Park, the site of the bowling green that I am standing upon, and the pavilion behind me was originally the Caledonian Cricket Club that stood at Kelvinbridge.
Our cricket – your cricket – has an awful lot to be proud of and a history that we must protect, preserve and promote.
On a final note, only 5 clubs have won that Scottish Cup three-in-a-row – Queen’s Park, Rangers, Celtic, Aberdeen and a Western District Cricket Union club in Vale of Leven. The Vale are 175 next year, let’s make sure they get there as well, because they are part of our cricketing history, a history that we must never forget.
