The third series of the hugely successful BBC One quiz show !MPOSSIBLE is currently in production.

They are on the hunt for Scottish based contestants and they are really keen to try and reach out to people from communities who perhaps wouldn’t normally be approached about getting involved in something like this. There are loads of great characters involved in cricket who would be perfect for something like this. If you are interested then all details are in the attached flyer.

Victoria 100 all out (17.4 Overs) M Nadeem 24, E McBeth 3-13, F Rao 3-17, F McDonald 3-19
St. Ninian’s 104 for 0 (13.5 overs) ST Rafiq 52*, F Jawad  44*

Jim Hill reports from Albert Park, “St. Ninian’s beat Victoria by ten wickets last night in the Greenwood Trophy final. On winning the toss, Victoria had no hesitation in deciding to bat first. Initially they started out well, keeping the scoreboard ticking over however they couldn’t really break the shackles of some accurate spin bowling by St. Ninian’s. McDonald was the pick of the bowlers as Victoria were bowled out for 100 in the final over of their innings.

“When St. Ninian’s batted, it was the Jawad/Rafiq show, as they knocked the ball around confidently taking well judged runs and punishing any loose ball. Victoria will rue not taking the  chances offered, but in the end St. Ninian’s were well worthy of their win, passing the Victoria total with plenty of overs to spare.

“Thanks to Weirs for hosting and Danny McPhail-Smith and Ronnie Gilliland for umpiring.”

St. Ninian’s 144 for 5 (20.0 overs) F Jawad 65, H Mahmood 2-16
Titwood 96/7 (20.0 Overs) D Forsyth 31, R Patterson 2-7, T Fleet 2-29

Prestwick extracted a degree of revenge over Clydesdale for their loss in the Rowan Cup last week when the respective second XIs fought out a rather one-sided final at Titwood. Batting first St. Ninian’s amassed a fine 144 for the loss of five wickets from their twenty overs. Fazal Jawad was the pick of the batters with an accomplished 65, supported by Ross Patterson and Bartsch with 24 and 24 not out respectively. Hamid Mahmood with 2 for 16 from his four overs being the pick of the bowlers.

In reply Titwood were always behind the 8-ball in their chase and despite a valiant 31 from David Forsyth, the tidy bowling of St. Ninian’s left them well adrift on 96 for 7 at the completion. Ross Patterson was the pick of the bowlers with 2 for 7 from his three overs.

Prestwick 162 for 7 (20.0 overs) T Fleet 45, F Jawad 34, C de Lange 3-21
Clydesdale 132 for 2 (13.0 overs) R Berrington 42*, M Awais 35, M Rao 2-26

A hard hitting display from both sides at Shawholm on Thursday night saw Clydesdale emerge victorious in match that was ultimately rain affected. Batting first Prestwick smashed 162 in their allotted twenty overs, with Tom Fleet top-scoring with a 34-ball 45. Con de Lange was the pick of the Clydesdale bowlers snaffling three wickets for a miserly 21 runs in his full allotment.

In reply Clydesdale blew away the opening bowlers with a powerful display of hitting. Muhammad Awais scored 35 in only twelve balls, Richie Berrington smashed an unbeaten 42 off 34 balls and when the rain came after thirteen overs Clydesdale were well ahead on DLS. Mitchell Rao was the pick of the Prestwick bowlers with 2 for 26.

Ulster Schools 142 all out (47.4 overs) BJ Rose 34, SJ Nelson 32, M Poskitt 31, D McNulty 4-25
WDCU Select 143 for 4 C Brockwell 73

Michael Clarkson reports on a fine win on a fine day. “On a perfect day for cricket, the Western District Cricket Union Select team took on Ulster Schools Under 19s in a 50-over match played at Hamilton Crescent.

“It was the visitors who won the toss and elected to bat first, and Gavin Pitt (Prestwick) and David McNulty (West of Scotland) opened the bowling.  It was the West of Scotland pace man who caused initial problems as the visitors were reduced to 8 for 3 in 3.4 overs. Marcus Poskitt and captain Stuart Nelson steadied the ship as they added 65 for the fourth wicket, before the former was caught by Sachin Chaudhry (Prestwick) off the bowling of Calum Drummond (Clydesdale) for 31. Chaudhry would also have an hand in the next two wickets – as first Nelson (who scored 32) then Jonathan Hunter came too far down the pitch to his bowling, and wicket-keeper Jak O’Connell (Kelburne) had two run outs to his name. The score was now 92 for 6 after 32 overs, and the main batting now fell to Ben Rose who hit some powerful fours to keep the Ulster Schools team in the game. However, wickets feel steadily – as both Chaudhry and Amir Gul (Uddingston) took one each for the Select team, and when McNulty returned for his second spell, Rose (34) became the third run out of the innings. Despite a flurry of runs from tail-enders David Robinson and Matthew Foster, when McNulty bowled Foster, Ulster Schools were 142 all out in 47.4 overs. (more…)

The WDCU are pleased to announce that the following players have been selected to represent the WDCU in a match against the Ulster Schools Under 19s on Tuesday the 18th of July 2017 at Hamilton Crescent.

Shahzad Rafiq (Prestwick CC (Captain), Amir Gul (Uddingston CC) (Vice Captain), Chris Brockwell (St. Michael’s CC), Sachin Chaudhry (Prestwick CC), Calum Drummond (Clydesdale CC), Fraser MacDonald (Prestwick CC), Steven McLister (Kelburne CC), David McNulty (West of Scotland CC), Jak O’Connell (Kelburne CC) (wicket-keeper), Gavin Pitt (Prestwick CC), and Cameron Russell (Glasgow Accies CC).

The game starts at 11am and entrance will be free. The WDCU would encourage as many people as possible to come along and support the Select team.

The WDCU are pleased to announce that, with effect from 30th June, Colin Mitchell of Clydesdale CC has taken up the vacant Cricket Scotland Board position arising from the untimely death of Sandy Strang earlier this year.

Colin brings a vast experience of both playing and administering cricket within the west of Scotland (and beyond) and his passion for the sport, in particular, the development of both youth cricket and facilities will no doubt be of huge benefit to the Board.

Tony Brian, Chairman of Cricket Scotland, is looking forward to welcoming Colin to the Board and states “This is great news! I am sure Colin will make a strong contribution to the CS debates and we look forward to welcoming him to the Board.”

Following the awarding of the above match to Glasgow Accies by concession and subsequent appeal by Weirs CC on that decision.

The Appeals Panel were unanimous that the Appeal be rejected.

While the umpires had made some procedural errors in relation to the calculations following the rain interruptions, these were understandable in relation to the challenging circumstances and inappropriate pressures which they were subjected to. In any event, the Panel agreed that the umpires’ decision has to be respected as being final under the conventions of the game. It was noted that the umpires were correct in deciding that there was sufficient time left to constitute a match.  In all these circumstances there was agreement that there was no reason to overturn the WDCU CMC’s approval of the Umpires decision. Therefore the result and the automatic penalties arising from a concession of a match would stand.

A reminder that the umpires contact details are available to all club reps in the PlayerReg system. In the current unsettled weather the umpires will always appreciate an early call to prevent unnecessary travelling!