West are always delighted to host Scotland matches - at any age group - and on Tuesday Scotland under 15s recorded a very good win over Herefordshire at Hamilton Crescent.

Guest Reporter Tom Anderson filed the following:

Scotland under 15s lost to Herefordshire under 15s last week by 3 wickets and were determined to even things up at Hamilton Crescent this week. On a beautiful summer's day, on a flat pitch, Herefordshire on winning the toss, had no hesitation in batting first. The par score was probably around 250 but the visitors were immediately put on the back foot by the pace of Neil Alexander from Dumfries, the only Scot from the West side of the country! For a 15 year old this boy was really impressive in that he was able to push the batsmen back with a number of short balls and then fire in yorkers to clean up the Herefordshire early batsmen. Thereafter the visitors' batsmen disappointed and the Scot's bowlers just worked their way through them to end the innings on 157. Scotland showed how good a pitch it was and won the match very easily by 6 wickets in 31 overs.

It may be old fashioned and not be featured in the current coaching manuals but I was taught by people who knew how to bowl to look at the spot on the pitch where I wanted to land the ball. In this match, out of a total of 300 runs scored, 60 of them were from wides. Something not right somewhere!

So Revenge for the Scots! Thanks Tom

It was a real pleasure to meet up with Roger Eggins on Saturday at Carlton. Roger stands beside me in the black and white 1968 Western Union Champions photo in the Pavilion.
Roger passes on his best wishes to those members of that team still in South Africa, particularly David Auld, who I regrettably missed on his recent visit to Scotland.

A despatch from Hamilton Crescent Special Correspondent, Tony Lewis.

The Sunday team lost to Victoria. Another lovely sunny day, guests sitting on the banks of grass, and enjoying themselves. A nice turn out by various 1/2nd teamers too to have a BBQ( The Broons, Scott, Jonny/Karen, Gibbs) + some elder statesmen on the benches ( usual suspects).

West batted first and were soon in trouble - losing three wickets for under 10 runs. Siva Balasubramainen and Miro Ralston fought back to bring it to 57 for 3 before another collapse took hold. Colin Dalziel, a new signing at last gave himself time at the crease to get in, and hit 25 - he is a talented batsman who can score runs.

Another plus point was the long awaited league debut of Lynn Dickson. She bowled against the league's top side. Victoria have not lost a game this season. Lynn will surely learn from this experience. Miro bowled well, and had a specil liking for knocking the middle stump out of the ground. At one point Victoria were 40 something for 4 and West may have sneaked it if another couple had gone. Ultimately, West needed more runs to work with, and were playing a strong side who, as Colin Mair correctly observed, were far and away stronger that any Sunday team of yesteryear's cricket. I agree, but would also add that such Sunday sides have been around for at least a decade.

One prang - the scoreboard gave up (NOW FULLY RESTORED JR) Two prangs- poor Paul Coffey had cracked bones after fielding valiantly on Saturday. I hope both the board, and Paul, make a full recovery.

Thanks Tony - your fee is in the post!

At Hamilton Crescent Partick easily beat East Kilbride. Jon Sedgwick belied age to score an unbeaten 70 as the home team continued their winning run in the SNCL Reserve League.

Meanwhile, after an interesting week, McCrea FS West travelled to Carlton with a much changed team to face the undefeated leaders of 2011 SNCL. Having lost the toss and being inserted, Jats was soon in the pavilion. Dougie and Youngy set about building an innings in superb conditions. At 25 overs they had taken the score to 96 but at 120, Youngy was caught at extra cover for an excellent skipper's knock of 58.

Colin de Pro joined Dougie Lockhart and they proceeded to accelerate the innings and punishthe home bowlers. Colin was caught for a magnificent 89 off 62 balls (4 6s and 6 4s and a damaged car on Grange Loan) shortly before the end of 50 overs at which time McCrea FS West were 275 for 3 with Dougie carrying his bat for a superb 107 not out (1 6 and 14 s)

McCrea FS West's young bowlers set about the task of bowling the dangerous Carlton batters out and they were up for the task. Cedric English scored a wonderful 100 before being out at the fall of the 8th wicket. West had continued to chip away at the other end and with the help of some magnificent outfield catches by Spegsy, the Pro, Youngy and Gav Smith, Carlton were dismissed for 249 in the 48th over. Youngy took 3 for 38 and Spegsy 2 for 36 but all the youngsters, Gurgit, Gav and Craig Brown, and the other "not quite so young" bowlers all contributed to what was undoubtedly the best West TEAM performance for some time. Congratulations, guys - lets now become more consistent as we reach the vital part of this season over the next three weeks.

This result, and others today, prove that teams from the West do, and will, make the SNCL a competitive place. Over the years I have been involved, teams successes have been cyclical. As long as everyone works hard to develop youngsters from their own area there is no reason to suggest that cricket standards will constantly be higher in only one area of Scotland. These efforts, together with a strong SNCL where each team plays each other twice, can result in a strong Club culture which can produce players who are capable of playing at the highest level.

But this was Lesley, not Iain !!

Many congratulations to Lesley and Iain on the birth of their daughter, Violet.

As the second week of West's Summer Camp is in full swing an exciting weekend lies ahead.

McCrea FS West travel to Carlton in the SNCL on Saturday. Last Saturday's defeat leaves us perilously near the bottom 4, a place we do NOT want to be in on 13th August!
Partick play East Kilbride at home in the Lions Western Union on Saturday looking to continue their successful winning run. Inexplicably there is a return fixture at East Kilbride the following Saturday.
On Sunday Hamilton Crescent play Victoria at West in a Strathclyde League Match at 2pm followed by an identical fixture in the Evening League next Wednesday.

This is an historic season for West! Not only is it our 150th Anniversary Season but, arguably, history has also been made recently with 3 Hat-tricks taken by
2 West players within 5 days!

As already reported Gurjit Singh took a hat-trick on 2nd July v Poloc at Shawholm for Partick. Well done, Gurjit!!

August Pandey had figures of 3.3 overs, 1 maiden, 5 wickets for 11 runs , including hat-trick on 29th June against BBC at Hamilton Crescent.
More remarkably, August followed this up on 3rd July , when in a match at Kelburne he returned figures of 7 overs 2 maidens 5 wickets for 19 runs, INCLUDING A HAT-TRICK!!!!

That must be a first and congratulations are due to August for this amazing feat and to Gurjit for being the meat in the hat-trick sandwich.

Brilliant stuff, guys!

It is only 4 weeks on Saturday (Sat 13th August) until the Grand Summer Draw
is made. We started well but sales have gone VERY quiet. Please make every effort NOW to sell the Books you were given. If you need more, get them from behind the Bar.
Thanks to those who have helped already but, come on everyone else, its not what your Club can do for you but what YOU can do for your Club!!

Dunfermline Knights beat McCrea FS West at Hamilton Crescent by 3 wickets on Saturday. Despite torrential rain earlier in the day the match started around 1.30pm as a 45 overs per side game. Dougie Lockhart (71) and Jatinder Singh with a maiden SNCL half century opened with a stand of 120. Despite a quick 34 from the pro, nobody else really fired and the West innings closed on 204 for 5.

Knights were in trouble at 53 for 4 but a stand of 92 for the fifth wicket between Shahzad and Reddy turned the game round. Dunfermline won with 3 balls to go with the pro being despatched for 6. Gurjit Singh Sandhu made a promising debut with an important wicket.

Only 4 SNCL matches to go before the last 3 fixtures are decided based on league positions after the games on 13th August, so McCrea FS West are entering a very important part of this season with some wins essential!

I understand that thunder and lightning on Sunday made life difficult for the 3s and Active Life!

On Wednesday the 3s played Weirs at Hamilton Crescent. I have conflicting reports of the result - one win and one defeat. Can someone please enlighten me?

Last night, again at home, the under 18s had a good win (that's 2 in a week!)
against Glasgow Accies in the Cup.

Saturday brings Dunfermline Knights to West (weather permitting - after all it is the Glasgow Fair!) to play McCrea FS West in SNCL at 1pm. An important game for both sides. Due to the wonderful fixture arrangements of the WDCU, Partick have a Saturday off, just when they have established the winning habit over a number of weeks. And finally on Sunday, the 3s welcome Active Life for a Sunday League match beginning at 2pm