Prestwick’s win last week against Kelburne gave them breathing room and lifted them out of the relegation zone. Another result today and other fixtures going their way and Prestwick would find themselves slightly further up the table. But today’s opponents were Stenhousemuir, 3rd place and always a match with a challenge.
Prestwick chose to bat first in an innings that became reduced by the weather. Finishing on 143-7 with Tom Fleet top scorer with 25 not out, Prestwick had set Stenhousemuir a competitive target to reach in 38 overs.
When Stenhousemuir were finally taken from the field after the 28th over, they were 86-6 and 57 runs behind. They had lost 3 wickets cheaply around the 50 run mark and then a further 2 around the 79 run mark, and although the possibility of victory was certainly attainable if the final 10 overs were bowled, the loss of those 5 wickets earlier in the innings had affected their Duckworth Lewis Stern permutations and when play was ceased, Stenhousemuir were about 14 runs light of where they needed to be.
Not the best way to lose a match but Stenhousemuir will also have to look at another contributory factor for their result today – 2 no balls and 29 wides – that’s 31 runs given away for a start plus the extra runs from the extra balls bowled – another 15 at least. Stenhousemuir were 15 runs light of a winning score when play was stopped.
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Joel Garner at the Tryst – Monday 25th August 2025
There are still a few tickets left for this event but not for long – The cost of this once in a lifetime event is £40.00.
Contact Tom Dickson tom@tdickson.co.uk for tickets — your email should have the subject Joel Garner Ticket.
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A win for Drumpellier today would maintain their safety mid-table and avoiding the dog fight below them, but for Kelburne, a win was imperative if they were to maintain their hopes of avoiding relegation come the end of August.
Kelburne won the toss and asked Drumpellier to bat first, a decision that Ross MacLean can thank the weather for snuffling out and him not having to possibly rue making in the future.
Kelburne did not bowl badly, far from it as a couple of early wickets had fallen and Drumpellier were 18-2 after 5 overs. What happened next is hard to describe but it was like I had entered a time machine that had transported today’s game back to the 1980s and Drumpellier had inserted two of their heroes from that epoch in Budhi Kunderan and Sajid Ali to the crease – it wasn’t explosive or destructive batting, it was expansive batting – gaps were exploited, quick runs taken and the bad/loose ball very much punished. A 150 run partnership came in 25 overs, and when the umpires took the players from the field due to the falling rain, Supeshala Jayathilake was 45 not out and Chathuranga Kumara was 93 not out and Drumps were 168-2 off 30 overs.
The weather did not improve and the match was eventually abandoned but I was disappointed that I never got to see how this contest was going to pan out with bat and ball for both sides.
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Stenhousemuir’s oldest surviving former player, Gordon Taylor (90 years old) and his wife Joy, who now live in nearby Barrassie, were at Prestwick today to watch the cricket and catch up with friends of old.
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GHK v Clydesdale Cricket Club
Revenge was first and foremost on the GHK mind before a ball was bowled today – they had been given a serious doing in the reverse fixture at the start of the season and would have been itching to prove a point. For Clydesdale, this was a difficult fixture against a side that can really make oppositions struggle.
An interesting decision by Clydesdale to ask GHK to bat first given the weather forecast and the blitzkrieg the Clydesdale batting would probably have to face chasing in potentially rain-affected conditions, but it probably was the correct one and also cognisant of DLS equations and match outcomes, especially when chasing a title.
When the rain did come and the match was finally abandoned, GHK were 111-2 off 33 overs. Zishan Zaman (29) and Fazal Jawad (56 not out) had been responsible for 85 of that total and, like elsewhere on the card, the ‘what if’ factors come into play – what if GHK scored 200?, what if GHK were 150 all out? what if Clydesdale lost early wickets? what if Clydesdale got off to a flier?
We will never know but it was shaping up to be an intriguing game of cricket at Old Anniesland.
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Uddingston played 2nd place Ayr today and needed a performance from their players to guarantee a win that would go a long way to avoid the drop in 6 weeks time. Ayr needed a win to maintain their place chasing Clydesdale and the percentage in the bank to use if attempting to leapfrog them in the coming weeks.
A fascinating contest was developing at Bothwell Policies with the Villagers batting first. When rain stopped play for the day in the 40th over, Uddingston were 141-3 with Mohammad Ramzan 71 not out and Zaighum Ahmad 14 not out. 200+ was a distinct possibility especially with the damage that Ross Lyons and Abdul Sabri are both more than capable of inflicting on bowling in the death overs of an innings.
A finely poised match that, as a neutral, would have been one to see come to a conclusion. Michael English had taken 2-29 off 7 overs with Flack and Tahir bowled out, so a final Uddingston total would have been interesting reading. A flicker of a revival amongst the Uddingston batting ranks perhaps, but it would have been a spectacle to enjoy as a whole and what the Ayr reply would have been.
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Rowan Charity Cup Finals Day
Sunday 20th July 2025 at Langloan
11.00 BST Semi-Final #1 – Prestwick v Uddingston
14.00 BST Semi-Final #2 – Clydesdale v Ferguslie
18.00 BST Final
With possibly being the World’s oldest Twenty 20 style competition, having been continuously played for 100 years, The Rowan Cup is the premier short form competition of the WDCU.
The Rowan Charity Cup competition was instituted in 1922 on the initiative of Mr. G. R. Beattie of West of Scotland Cricket Club, with the cup itself to be presented by Mr. H. B. Rowan. Eleven clubs participated in the first season’s play in 1923, with twenty five clubs participating in 2023.
There have only ever been 16 winners of the Rowan Charity Cup with the traditional Western Union clubs all having at least one success along with Glasgow University, Glasgow Accies, Glasgow HSFP, East Kilbride, Stirling County, and most recently, Prestwick in 2023.
With Drumpellier celebrating its 175th anniversary in 2025, it seemed particularly apt that the semi-finals and final for the Rowan Cup are played at Langloan. In the long history of the competition, there have been a many great finals over the years, but perhaps the most thrilling climax in the competition’s long history was held on Thursday 12th July 1945 – a glorious evening for cricket as a large crowd of nearly 3000 souls filled the Hamilton Crescent enclosure in Partick to witness The Rowan Charity Cup Final between Drumpellier and Kilmarnock.
Drumpellier prevented Kilmarnock scoring 3 of the last over to win their first Rowan Charity Cup, and according to the press reports of the time “deserved not only the cup, but medals as well”.
Here’s hoping for an exciting finish in this year’s final.
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A trip to Meikleriggs is never easy but the prospect of facing the Ferguslie batting first-up is a daunting one. An expensive afternoon in the field lay ahead for Dumfries if their bowlers weren’t spot on from the start and their batting was going to have to produce totals throughout the order if they were to have any chance at all.
Ferguslie won the toss and asked Dumfries to bat first. The variation of the Ferguslie bowling did for Dumfries with only Adam Malik (24) and Max Corbett-Byers (11) hitting double figures. The Dumfries innings was silenced in 24 overs with them 70 all out. The pick of the Ferguslie bowling was Ettiene Jewell 4-20, Daoud Tahir 3-10 and Haroon Tahir 2-2
The Ferguslie reply was brisk – it only took 8.3 overs to post 73-2 – the only wickets to fall were David Stafford (27) and Taimoor Ahmad (7) with Uzair Ahmad 27 not out and Saif Sajjad 11 not out.
Richard S Young