Yesterday, following a one sided final against Heriots FP at Bothwell Castle Policies, M8 Driving Ferguslie were crowned Champions of Scotland.

After losing the toss and being invited to bat M8 Driving Ferguslie accumulated 191 all out in 46.2 overs which included a high class half century (68) for captain Riyaad Henry and a solid 29 from South African Elliot Moses. The Heriots bowling attack proved hard to dominate with fine spells from Alexander with 3 for 38 and Brown with 2 for 25.  At the interval it wasn’t clear who was on top and both sets of supporters knew the answer would come early in the second innings.

And so it was the Paisley faithful that were rewarded as openers, Adil Ghaffar 2 for 17 and Riyaad Henry 2 for 19, blew away the Heriots top order leaving them in big trouble at 17 for 4.  The Heriots batting line up failed to recover and a mid-innings haul of 4 for 20 from Elliot Moses edged the Paisley side to the brink of victory.

This was secured when Haroon Tahir snapped up the final wicket with Heriots reaching 88 in just over 23 overs.

So it was M8 Driving Ferguslie who became the first recipients of the Willie Morton Memorial Trophy, presented to winning captain Riyaad Henry by Willie’s brother Donald.

This brought a fine end to what could arguably be described as M8 Driving Ferguslie’s best ever season.  Well done to all at Meikleriggs for their efforts this year.

Hi everyone, Please see note sent to all clubs today reminding them about next weeks SGM. Invites have been sent to all ‘member’ clubs, Cricket Scotland and sportscotland.

Please Remember that the SGM is now less than a week away. Each club should send me the names of their representative(s) as soon as possible. To date I have only been notified of representatives from 6 clubs. I will only send the Zoom joining details to club representatives who have been notified to me. Also invited to the meeting are representatives from Cricket Scotland and sportscotland.

For your information there have been two nominations received thus far for office bearer posts:

Khizar Ali – Chair- nominated by GHK seconded by West of Scotland
Parvase Majeed – Chair/Treasurer/committee member – nominated by Motherwell and seconded by Langside

Please let me have any further office bearer nominations and club representatives as soon as possible.

Kind regards Iain
WDCU Administrator

And so another season comes to an end and in a similar fashion to the 2021 season. A winner takes all clash between M8 Driving Ferguslie and Prestwick CC at Meikleriggs. The heavy rain on Friday was to play a big part in the outcome and as soon as the rain stopped at 3pm the Ferguslie Grounds team got hard at work preparing the pitch and outfield for the game.

Greeted with fine weather on Saturday morning and drying conditions the game was in no doubt and started at noon as scheduled. On winning the toss Prestwick captain Fraser MacDonald opted to bat in what proved to be a pivotal decision. Prestwick  got off to a slow start on a pitch that was giving the bowlers a little help and wickets fell steadily. Ferguslie captain Riyaad Henry was first to strike removing the dangerous Sachin Chaudery caught behind for nought by David Stafford. This was to be one of three fine catches for Stafford in what  turned out to be a Man of the Match performance.

Next to fall was Inderjit Singh who unlike most other Prestwick batsmen was timing the ball well and his innings of 24 had five fine boundaries. He was dismissed by a fine delivery from Adil Ghaffar who clipped the inside edge and Stafford moved nimbly to the leg side to pick up the chance. Henry then struck again removing young overseas star Matthew Van Dyk who nicked an outswinger again to Stafford who at this stage was standing up at the stumps and he took probably his best catch of the day.  Euan MacBeth was dismissed to a sharp caught and bowled chance by off spinner Haroon Tahir. He struck it well but Tahirs reactions were a match for the strike and MacBeth was gone for a duck. Fellow countryman Donovan Du Randt was next at the crease and his stay was not long. Ferguslies overseas player Elliot Moses, having recently joined the attack, enticed an outside edge from Du Randt which was comfortable pouched by veteran Omar Hussain in the slips.

Prestwick CC then enjoyed their best partnership of the innings with captain Fraser MacDonlad leading from the front. He batted with great patience, no little skill  and maturity and reached a well earned half century eventually finishing on 54 not out. He was ably supported by Mitchell Rao who also displayed great patience notching 24 as the pair added a valuable 59 for the sixth wicket. A late flurry from Gurupreet Singh (14) and Shaz Rafiq ( 6 no) saw Prestwick close their innings on 157 for 6.

The Ferguslie attack performed well all day maintaining great discipline and making it hard for the Prestwick batters to settle. Pick of the hard working bunch were Riyaad Henry with 3 for 38 and Adil Ghaffar with 2 for 28 both off 10 overs.

At the change of innings the large crowd that had assembled in Paisley would probably not be sure if Prestwick ‘ had enough’ runs on the board and whether or  not their team was on top!

For the large crowd from Prestwick it became clear relatively early on that they may be a bit light. A cautious but assertive start from Adil Ghaffar and David Stafford seemed to indicate that the drying out pitch was now a bit easier to bat on. Both players timed the ball nicely and despite some fine early bowling from the Prestwick bowlers the early breakthroughs that were needed did not materailise.

The first and only wicket of the innings fell to Inderjit Singh who enticed a loose shot from Ghaffar (13) which was calmly caught by Mitchell Rao with the score on 26.

That brought Ferguslies South African Elliot Moses to the crease who along with opener David Stafford batted with great calmness and authority to compile a match winning partnership of 132. Stafford and Moses in contrasting batting styles stroked the ball on both sides of the wicket and achieved their target of 158 in the 34th over. Both were to hit many fine boundaries and a couple of fairly hefty sixes in their innings.

The Prestwick bowlers stuck manfully to their task but could just not find a way through and a mixture of seam and spin from both ends proved fruitless.

So after the crushing disappointment of their loss to Clydesdale in 2021 Ferguslie secured the 2022 Western Premier League title in an assured fashion. Great credit must also go to Prestwick for a fine season challenging in all cups and at the top of the league for most of the summer.

Andy Baird of the WDCU presented the cup in front of a raucous Paisley crowd and in doing so thanked all clubs, umpires and supporters for their contribution to a great summer of cricket.

Celebrations went on well into the night with players and supporters from both clubs enjoying the festivities. This is as it should be!

Picture courtesy of Bill Wilson

Congratulations to Loc Hire Stenhousemuir for the completion of a fine league season in 2022. In topping the Division One table they managed the very impressive feat of winning 16 out of their 17 fixtures.

In a stand out season Overseas Player Danie Rossouw accumulated 1099 runs at an average of 78.5 with a top score of 150. Impressive stuff.

Not to be outdone the all round performance of Callum Grant is worthy of equal praise. Callum scored 372 runs at an average of 46.5 and adding the magnificent bowling figures of 54 wickets at an average of 4.94 and a miserly run rate of 1.7 per over. A splendid performance.

Also starring in the bowling stakes was Praveen Pannamaneni capturing 32 wickets at an average of 10.94 and an equally miserly run rate of 2.8.

So the Premier League beckons for season 2023 and with performances like that  Loc Hire Stenhousemuir are well set for a strong challenge.

Well done to all at Stenhousemuir in all capacities for supporting the team in their achievement . It cant be done alone!!!

The final of the McCulloch Cup was held at Titwood on Sunday, 21st July, where  McCrea FS West of Scotland’  secured a tense and exciting victory against Glasgow rivals Clydesdale.  Both teams had battled hard to get to the final which was played in great spirit.

Winning the toss and electing to bat first West could find little impetus and posted 93 for 9 from their 20 overs.  The Colgan brothers made the significant contributions of the innings with Joe scoring 23 and Tom 21.  The Clydesdale bowlers were well on top and along with some excellent fielding looked to have restricted ‘West’ to an under par target. Top quality spin bowling accounted for 8 of the 9 wickets to fall with Daniel Cairns taking 4 for 20 in his 4 overs catching the eye. He was well supported by Zeeshan Bashir with 2 for 15 and Shahan Raja with 2 for 23.

As the Clydesdale reply got under way the vocal West support had become somewhat subdued but that did not last for long. Like West, Clydesdale never really had any momentum in their innings and wickets fell at regular intervals. Only Captain Paddy Barbour made anything of significance with a battling  27. 9 of the 11 Clydesdale batsman failed to get double figures which resulted in them falling 21 runs short of victory to disappoint the substantial home support.

The West attack, spurred on by the ever increasing noise from their support at the fall of every wicket, produced an all round bowling and fielding display of the highest quality to see the cup head to Partick. Tom Spensley with figures of 4 overs 1 maiden 4 for 7 was the stand out but in reality all the West bowlers performed well with captain James Fennah picking up 3 for 18 and John Oliver 2 for 19.

WDCU would like to thank the CSMOA umpires for the day Neil Cauldwell and Andrew Baird who officiated the game in fine fashion.

Finally thanks to Clydesdale CC for hosting the final in great style with the ground in top condition and arranging food and drink for all on a very fine day for cricket in the West!!

Please see below the communication sent to all club contacts earlier today.

A number of items for you today.

Please note that the notification papers for the WDCU Special General Meeting planned for 7pm on Wednesday 7th September have now been sent to all clubs. Please follow the instructions contained in the papers. I am happy to receive all replies as promptly as possible.

Can I remind you that you should double check all your results in any of our competitions are posted on WDCU Live.  You should also ensure that your points totals are correct. It is much easier for you to check than me, so please do so, and let me know of any changes as soon as possible.

Please see below the report from the above game. Looks like it was a cracker!!

The Scottish Pakistani community celebrating 75 years of Pakistan’s Independence on Sunday the 14th of August had arranged a T20 as part of the days events. The two teams consisted of the Scottish Pakistanis and the Pakistani Pros. 24 talented players of Pakistani heritage had been assembled to play a T20 at Meikleriggs in Paisley, spectated by a large multicultural crowd.

We were anticipating an amazing game and we were not disappointed. The Scottish Pakistanis team, made up of West based local players, won the toss and elected to bat. The Pakistani Pros team and Scottish Pakistanis, took the field.

Imran Mughul opened the batting with Taimoor Ahmad, 6 runs coming of the first over. Qadeer Ahmed bowling his first ball, found the edge of Taimoor Ahmad who departed for 1 run caught by the wicket keeper Farhan Khan. Mughul was joined by left hander Saif Sajjad, his Clydesdale teammate. The loss of the early wicket only spurred on Mughul who launched a blistering attack in the next over hitting 16 runs. Mughul followed this up in the 5th over, bludgeoning 28 of the over, including 4 sixes with a number of the sixes well out of the ground. The scoring continued from Mughul’s bat with the score at 77 for 2 after the end of the power play after 6 overs had been played. Mughul reached his fifty in just 19 balls The Pakistani pros skipper Usman Saeed, had to control the scoring and introduced Adnan Mufti and Anwar Hafeez to the attack. Adnan Mufti and Anwar Hafeez slowed the scoring rate down but still not enough. The score after 10 overs was 112 and a massive total looked ominous. The introduction of, off spinner Rafay Khan made the desired impact with him picking up wickets and restricting the score. Khan continued his grip on the game by removing Mughul caught in the deep for a brilliant 115 in the 16th over with the score already slowing down to 148. Mughul had reached his 100 in 48 balls and completed his innings of 115 in 52 balls including 11 sixes and 8 fours. Unfortunately, the remaining batters could not complete the overs and the Scottish Pakistanis were all out in 18.3 overs for 162 with only Fazal Jawad (10) and skipper Haroon Tahir (13), the only other batters to reach double figures. Rafay Khan returned excellent figures of 5 for 17 in 4 overs, Tasawar Hussain 2.3 overs 3 for 15 and Qadeer Ahmad 3 overs 2 for 26.

The Pakistani Pros innings started with openers Muhaymen Majeed and Israr Hussain, with Majeed’s first scoring shot going over square leg and the trees for a six. The Scottish Pakistanis opening bowlers Akram Shakoor and Azeem Akbar were not letting the batters score as freely as Mughul had done so in the first innings. Majeed and Hussain put on 32 for the first wicket and Hussain departed in the 6th over. At the end of the 6th over and the power play, The Pakistani Pros team were on 37 runs, 40 behind the Scottish Pakistanis team at the same stage. The run rate was climbing and it was not as easy as it had looked for Mughul when he was batting. Majeed continued showing his array of T20 shots keeping the score going he received some support from skipper Usman Saeed (15) who shared a stand of 36. The score at 10 overs was 69 at 15 it was 98 . Majeed now joined at the crease by former UAE International Adnan Mufti, plundered 17 runs of the 16th over and then 20 of the 17th over. It came down to the last over with 10 runs required. Akram Shakoor was the bowler, who had bowled intelligently throughout, mixing up his pace and using variations , the first three balls were singles. Mufti then was run out on 17, the score on 156 , sharing a partnership with Majeed of 72. Two balls left, 7 runs required to win, the new batter was Tassawar Hussain, who managed a single, Majeed was facing the last ball with a six required to win the game. Majeed launched the last ball deep to mid on, was it going to carry? no, it had held up, it was looking like a catch, the fielder was going back and got his hands to it , only to parry it over the rope for a six. A win for the Pakistani Pros team on the last ball, it does not get anymore exciting than that. Muhaymen Majeed finished on 96 not out off 57 balls including 8 fours and 6 sixes, playing the first and last ball of the innings, just getting his team over the line.

The only bowler for the Scottish Pakistanis team who picked up more than one wicket was young leg spinner Shahan Raja, who claimed the wickets of two Pros , bowling 3 overs 2 for 25.

An excellent game with top performances from Imran Mughul 115, Rafay Khan 5 for 17 and Muhaymen Majeed 96 not out, Muhaymen Majeed chosen to be the player of the match for his match winning innings by the umpires Alex Dowdalls and Majid Haq.

Please see the very sad message received yesterday regarding the passing of CSMOA umpire Sandy Scotland. A great servant to the game of cricket and a fine gentleman to boot. He was an engaging umpire who loved the game and those who played it. Games seemed to pass by so effortlessly when he was in the middle.  He will be sadly missed by all his friends and family.

It is with great sadness that CSMOA acknowledge the passing of one of our Honorary Life Members, Sandy Scotland.

Many of us will have fond memories of Sandy throughout his many years of involvement and service to cricket throughout Scotland.

We would request that umpires should wherever possible wear a white jacket/shirt with a black armband in Sandy’s honour for this Saturday’s fixtures (including those officiating Premier League fixtures or where colours would normally be worn). We would also encourage our officials to liaise with teams to hold a minute of silence prior to the start of your Saturday league fixtures.

CSMOA will also formally provide a tribute to Sandy in the coming days.

Notification papers for a WDCU SGM have been sent to all clubs this morning. The papers are attached below for information.

FW_ WDCU website

Please see below details of the Pakistan 75th Independence Day T20 challenge match to be held at Meikleriggs on Sunday, 14th August. With a fine array of talent signed up, it should be an entertaining day.