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Junior Awards 2007

At West's Junior Section Awards evening on Monday 17th December, the following trophies were presented for season 2007:

Junior Player of the Year, recipient of the TW Kerr Prize, and also Under 13 Player of the Year:                                     GRAHAM ROBERTS

Under 10 Player of the Year:    JONATHAN MOTT

Under 11 Player of the Year:    BRINLEY TERRELL

Under 15 Player of the Year:    GAVIN SMITH

Under 18 Player of the Year:    OWEN THORPE

Junior Team of the Year:          UNDER 15s

Special Achievement Award:    ANDREW UMEED

The final week of the season saw only the Under 11s in action as they finished on a high with two victories to cement 4th place in the league, behind only the three teams that tied for the title, Poloc, Prestwick and Ferguslie.

On Monday 3rd September, West welcomed Ayr to Hamilton Crescent on a lovely sunny evening. The home team batted solidly, losing only four wickets, and, with the aid of a mountain of extras, scored over 100, resulting in a net 83. The boys then gave their customary tidy display in the field, bowling and fielding superbly. Ayr could only manage 55 runs while losing 13 wickets, to give West a resounding win. It should also be mentioned that a 20 over per side game was achieved, before the light faded.

By contrast, it was a dull and damp evening at Coatbridge on Tuesday 4th September and it was quickly agreed that the best that could be managed would be a 15 over per side match. The game started with West batting in light rain on a green, green uncut wicket. Batting was difficult and West struggled to 79 while losing 8 wickets in bowler friendly conditions. Both Ian Wheel and Tom Donnelly took some bruises for the team as they battled bravely to a net 39. At the interval, the boys were positive, feeling that if they stuck to their usual bowling routines and fielded well, they could defend that total. And so it proved. Wickets tumbled and the boys threw themselves around the damp outfield to stop everything. (Sorry about the state of their kit Mums!) Drumpellier were restricted to a net 24 and West bagged the final win of the season.

Indeed, all our junior sides performed well this year. Miro Ralston led the Under 13s to 3rd place in the league, while Gavin Smith’s Under 15s ended in equal 4th place, and reached the quarter finals of the Scottish Cup. After crashing out of the Frank Smith Trophy in their first match, the Under 18s went on a run of league wins that led them to believe they were invincible. Even a home defeat at the hands of Poloc, didn’t phase them and they were left with four matches in a week to clinch the title. Three wins were needed, but only one was achieved as the crunch games against our main rivals were lost. However, that one win at home to Ayr turned out to be enough to secure 2nd place at the end of the campaign.

There are many people to thank for another great junior season at West: the players, the coaches, the team managers, the scorers, the parents, volunteers, drivers, providers of tea and coffee, the ground staff, the fundraisers, and a cast of thousands. It is a real team effort at West, and it is a very big team. Thanks to you all.

As your scribe may have other duties to fulfil next season, it may be that the weekly junior reports will have to be sacrificed but we will do our best to at least maintain a regular results service.

This was a week of Under 13 and Under 18 multi matches. It was the week that one lot needed to bite the bullet and win the league while the others were simply playing for pride. Unfortunately, they got it all bits of the anatomy about other bits of the anatomy. While the Under 18s lost their bottle, the Under 13s showed us all how to finish a season. And so to the detail.

Your scribe was surprised to receive an e mail from Mr Stanger, the Laird of Clydesdale last week intimating that his Under 13s were looking forward to thrashing West and Poloc this week. He obviously had forgotten to take his anti delerium medication, as, come the appointed day, Monday 27th August, West Under 13s reported to Toytown, only to be confronted by the M Mouse XI. The homesters “batted”, if that’s the right expression, first and 12 overs later were all back in the hutch, extras top scoring with 9. In all, there were six Duddles in a total of 22. The chief destroyer was West’s prodigal son, who took 5 for 1 in four overs. In fairness, Clydesdale bowled very well, but could not possibly defend such a meagre score, and West were able to give some batting practice to a couple of players who are not usually required to put the pads on.

However, despite enjoying a weekend of beating Clydesdale at three different age groups, the clean sweep could not be achieved at Hamilton Crescent on 27th August. This time the Dale held on for a narrow, but deserved, win over West Under 18s and inflicted the first fatal blow to West’s title chances. On a good deck, West elected to bowl first (why??) and performed tidily enough to restrict the visitors to 93, a target that should have been well within the reach of the West batting line up. However, what followed was a perfect example of how not to go about a run chase. The early tempo was too slow, perhaps provoked by losing a couple of wickets early on, but this over cautious approach was then replaced by insane thrashing (and missing) at every ball, despite the fact that singles were all that were required. Only Max Ralston appeared to know what he was doing as collective madness overtook the remaining batsmen. Clydesdale fielded exceptionally well in the closing overs, holding a couple of important catches, and generally showed more bottle than the home boys. If this was to be the game that blew away West’s chances of the title, the boys would spend all winter wondering how they failed to score 16 runs off the last 18 balls with 7 wickets in hand. Instead of cruising home, they managed only 11 runs while losing another 3 wickets.

On Tuesday 28th August, West Under 18s entertained their main rivals Prestwick and again gifted victory by winning the toss and insanely (again) choosing to bowl. Prestwick enjoyed the daylight conditions to the max, dispatching west’s change bowlers for a massive 75 off the last eight overs. West tried to respond in the gloaming but early promise quickly turned to another self inflicted doing. End of title hopes.

At least the Under 18s made the right decision on Wednesday 29th August when skipper Thorpey won another toss and batted first against an Ayr team that were rejected as hobbit extras in Lord of the Rings because they weren’t tall enough. Ayr Under 11s are due at West next week. Did they misread their diary? A comfortable win gave the team a bit of much needed confidence.

That same evening West Under 13s travelled to Paisley and dispatched Kelburne in very professional fashion, apart from the mad prodigal son who ran himself out in the first over of the match. How can such a gifted player have such a huge blind spot about running 22 yards? This early loss did not halt West’s remorseless run accumulation as Messrs Ralston and Galloway took the attack to the home team. An impressive 111 off 16 overs was always going to be too much for Kelburne and so it proved. An all round bowling and fielding performance made sure of a very competent win.

On Thursday 30th August, West Under 13s were due to play at Ayr. Due to your scribe’s incompetence (getting boxed in a car park and then struggling through roadworks), the team left Glasgow late and by the time everyone was at Ayr, there was only time for a 12 over per side match. West quickly reduced the home side to 9 for 4, thanks to more spin wizardry from the prodigal son, but, bizarrely, skipper Ralston removed Umeed from the attack in favour of a number of apparently trained expert wide half volley merchants. This was much enjoyed by Ayr’s Stewart, whose one shot was (yes, you’ve guessed it) the off drive. We were being treated to another glimpse of the arrogant West that we saw at Greenock the previous week. Anyway, Ayr recovered to reach 50, which, in the gathering darkness and rain, was quite a target. Full marks to Ayr and their coach as they stayed out in the rain to get the match finished. The prodigal son committed his customary suicide dash first ball but Messrs Barnes and Ralston, batting cautiously at first, gradually stepped up the tempo, before both falling with the score on 35. The last four overs were extremely tense, but the Queen Bee used the edge of her bat to just enough advantage to sneak a win with one ball to spare.

Friday 31st August was the evening that West Under 18s had earmarked for a title clash and celebration, but of course events earlier in the week had put paid to that. However, Accies were not to know that would happen so it was absolutely astonishing to pitch up at New Anniesland for what might have been a title decider, only to have to play on a wicket “worse than Kilmarnock”. Pretty damning. Maybe West should have hired the Ayr hobbit rejects to play for them, but none of the West batsman could get down low enough to play the Barnes Wallis Accies style offensive.

A low scoring ugly match and another defeat was the outcome. What an anti climactical end to the season.

On Sunday 2nd September, West was one of 30 sides attending the Cricket Scotland National Under 10 Kwik Cricket Festival at the magnificent new cricket facility at Stirling County. This was a superbly entertaining and well organised day, with each team playing five matches during the day. The west squad performed superbly and have really moulded into a “team” during the course of the summer. Although they were well beaten by an outstanding Forfarshire side, West enjoyed excellent wins over Corstorphine, Prestwick, Biggar and Dunfermline.

As the season draws to a close, West Under 11s will complete their programme in the coming week with games against Ayr and Drumpellier. The under 18s have finished (in some disarray) and while both the Under 15s and Under 13s have one fixture each outstanding, there is no sign of East Kilbride or Drumpellier wanting to play us.

As the season rolls towards its climax, the fixture list becomes clogged up with rearranged matches. The next few weeks will be hectic.

On Monday 20th August West Under 18s travelled to Kilmarnock to play the local outfit on what the previous day had been a duckpond. Only David Hettle showed any grasp of what was required to survive on the soggy surface, scoring 48 out of 85, the only support coming from Sunny Ahmed with 15. However, the meagre total proved sufficient as Messrs Ralston and Hawkins strangled the home batsmen, who came up short despite a late flurry of runs.

Meanwhile, Kilmarnock Under 13s travelled to West, but were well beaten by the Partick squad. The usual suspects, aka Umeed and Roberts put runs on the board and the Ayrshire boys had no answer. At least it was a sunny evening.

On Tuesday 21st August, West Under 18s took on Greenock at Hamilton Crescent, and despite a late batting wobble, eased to a comfortable win to stay top of the table. Good, tight bowling once more restricted the opposition until an uncharacteristic last over from the governor yielded 16 runs and made the target slightly more distant. Chasing 74, West reached 62 without loss before stumbling over the line with just over two overs left.

The following evening, Wednesday 22nd August, West enjoyed a double fluke. First, when your scribe contacted Drumpellier to rearrange some fixtures, Drumpellier’s junior convener said he thought the early season Under 15 Cup match had been a league and cup double header. Your scribe was happy to go along with this since West won, and another three points were in the bag. Next, it was West Under 13s turn to travel to Greenock, where they somehow came away, in masks and striped jerseys, with a one run victory, from a game where they were outclassed and incompetent (with a few exceptions) for almost the whole match. West performed in a disappointingly arrogant manner for much of this match, but Lynne Dickson had something to say and made the important breakthrough with two wickets in two balls. Thereafter Jed Stubing bowled out of his skin with support from the metronome aka Graham Roberts, and as batsmen of ever decreasing size (Russian dolls?) came to the wicket, West grabbed victory from the funeral pyres of defeat.

Scores: West 86 for 2 (A Umeed 25, G Roberts 21no, M Ralston 20no, J Terras 2-9)

Greenock 85 for 9 (A Baum 30ret, S Anderson 28no, J Stubing 4-4, L Dickson 2-18)

And then on to the joys of Friday 24th August and a double victory over the southside has beens, Clydesdale.

At Hamilton Crescent, on a real size cricket pitch West Under 11s came out on top in a game dominated by excellent bowling and fielding, the homesters showing great determination to defend a fairly low score with outstanding teamwork.

Meanwhile, in the southside Lillipution realm that somehow has ODI status, West Under 15s wafted a brisk 176, with the help of a boundary that was nearer than the stumps at the bowler’s end. Once Clydesdale’s Gulliver (P Barbour) was removed, the match was nailed.

To prove the sun shines on the righteous, West’s Under 10 Kwik Cricket festival on Sunday 26th August was blessed by superb weather and a great turnout as over 100 enthusiastic kids blazed a trail across the Hamilton Crescent acres. West achieved their standard two wins and a defeat, and the Taggarts Trophy was awarded to Prestwick for absolutely no reason at all.

Weather again features strongly this week, with Monday’s Under 18 fixture at home to Ayr, and the Under 13s visit to Ayr both falling foul of the rain. The main casualty was West’s Junior Section reputation, as a communication failure resulted in one young player and his parents travelling to Alloway for a non existent match. Grovelling apologies required.

On Tuesday 7th August, West Under 15s and Under 11s should both have been playing East Kilbride. The Under 15s match in deepest Lanarkshire was called off by the hosts due to ground conditions, but there were no such problems at Hamilton Crescent. That proved too much for East Kilbride, who conceded the match after failing to find enough players to travel.

On Wednesday 15th August, your scribe was enjoying himself at a Cricket Dinner, while, at Hamilton Crescent, West Under 15s lost a B League match against Poloc. Details from Poloc website.

Another Under 15 rearranged match took place on Thursday 16th August, this time at home against Ferguslie. Again your scribe was neglecting his duties by enjoying another jolly, so all that can be reported about this match is that the visitors only had seven players and West, batting second, won the match. It is believed that Sunny Ahmed was the main run scorer. Sorry guys.

On Friday 17th August, West Under 15s travelled to Prestwick and suffered only their third league defeat of the season, while Prestwick Under 11s visited West and also enjoyed success.

By all accounts the Under 15 match was a low scoring match, which the home team, batting second, won with a couple of overs to spare.

West Under 11s found it very hard to score against a disciplined and accurate Prestwick bowling attack, spearheaded again by the ginger midget (see earlier reports). It was easy to see how the visitors had won all ten of their previous fixtures and a total of 227 was never likely to be enough. And so it proved, but West gave the Ayrshire lads a fright in the second half with some outstanding bowling, fielding and catching. In fact the Under 13s should have been made to watch this display in the field. The same Master Khan, who blasted them to all parts a few weeks ago, may have scored 15 in this game, using what must be his dad’s bat, but was out twice, to two superb catches, and was nearly caught a third time

Clydesdale’s Kwik Cricket Festival was washed out on Sunday 19th August, to disappoint the Club’s Under 10s who are restless for more action. We must hope for better luck next week, when West takes its turn to host a Festival.

Judicious advance planning (it had been pouring for a whole day and night) by the respective junior conveners saw the Monday night U13 and U18 matches between West and Hillhead postponed until Wednesday 8th August. Better advance planning might have been to scrap the whole season!

On Tuesday 7th August, West Under 18s travelled to Weirs for a rearranged fixture and secured another comfortable three points. Your scribe umpired the match but as he was then heading off to London for a jolly he parted company with the scorebook after the match. From memory Weirs scored approximately 72 off 18 overs, thanks largely to the elderly H Akram. West bowled tightly with skipper Thorpe eventually picking up some wickets. Despite Chris Hawkins’ early departure, waddling off with Duddles, West racked up a winning response with overs to spare.

And so to Wednesday 8th August, and the Hillhead double header. The Under 18 match at Hughenden was a complete mismatch as West crushed the home team – sweet revenge for a ridiculous defeat at their hands last season. Batting first, West finished just short of 100 off 18 overs, before dismissing the opposition for a meagre 26. Details are based on a text report from Chris Hawkins.

Meanwhile at Hamilton Crescent, West Under 13s completed an excellent evening’s work by putting their west end neighbours to the sword. (Oops, that cliché was also used in last week’s report. Replace “putting” with “sending and “the sword” with “think again”.) West’s total of 106 was largely due to skipper Miro Ralston holding the innings together early on, before an exhilarating partnership between Jed Stubing and Chris Barnes added 33 in the last 3 overs. Despite losing an early wicket in reply, Hillhead scored freely early on through Messrs Cairnduff and Ali, but thereafter wickets fell steadily and the challenge fizzled out.

Scores: West 106 for 5 (M Ralston 31ret, J Stubing 19no, C Barnes 14no, H Azhar 2-9)

Hillhead 77 for 10 (R Cairnduff 14, H Ali 13, J Steedman 13, A Graves 3-11, M Ralston 2-13)

The Under 15 B League match against Inverclyde, scheduled for Thursday 9th August, was postponed at the opposition’s request.

On Friday 10th August, it was the turn of West Under 15s and Under 11s to enjoy double header success, this time against Renfrew.

The Under 11s went a wandering through the Renfrew meadow lands, and enjoyed one of their easiest outings of the season against a less than interested home squad. West lost only 1 wicket, and that was a run out, in amassing 338, then took 12 wickets in restricting the home team’s reply to 213.

Details are sparse regarding West Under 15s home win against Renfrew on the same evening. Again your scribe is relying on a text report to advise that Renfrew scored 144, with West reaching their target for the loss of 4 wickets, thanks largely to 49 from Gurjit Singh. He was bound to score runs eventually.

Poloc’s Kwik Cricket Festival fell foul of horrendous weather on Sunday 12th August to bring a nice symmetry to the week.

Monday 30th August saw a win for West Under 18s but a real thumping for the Under 13s. At Hamilton Crescent, West Under 18s restricted Kelburne to 89 and comfortably reached their target with overs to spare. Nice to play our Paisley cousins in daylight for a change.

Scores: Kelburne 89 for 6 (R MacLean 20, M Donaldson 20 no, O Thorpe 3-24, C Gibb 2-18)

At Prestwick, West Under 13s were humbled for the second week in a row, this time by an eight year old ginger midget, who smashed what passed for bowling all around the Henry Thow Oval.

On Wednesday 1st August, West Under 15Bs visited Poloc and came second best in a very close and entertaining encounter.

West Under 11s finally tangled with Hillhead on Thursday 2nd August in a match postponed from April and moved to Hamilton Crescent. The Wheel Deal marched on with another impressive win, demonstrating yet again the importance of bowling straight and fielding aggressively. The home boys only lost 3 wickets but took 10 to secure victory.

Continuing in the same vein, West Under 11s picked up another three points by demolishing Weirs at Albert Park on Friday 3rd August. This was another classy all round performance, but the game gave even more credence to rumours of in breeding in Scottish cricket. West fielded two Wheels and two Ewings, while Weirs retaliated with two Forresters and three Watson-Sweeneys.

The same evening, West Under 15s put Hillhead to the sword at home with Andrew Umeed warming up nicely for Scotland under 13s trip to Denmark next week. Hillhead’s reply flattered to deceive as West experimented with their bowling attack, which delayed the finish until well after dark, at which point Gurjit was let loose to spray wides and no balls all around Partick.

And then came the Parents v Kids much hyped encounter on Sunday 5th August. This time the Gods were not with us as the rain poured down, so it was really encouraging to see such a big turn out in such terrible conditions. Thanks to everyone who made the effort and played for over two hours in the Partick monsoons. An interminable number of kids kept appearing as the game progressed and somehow they amassed 105, which proved just too much for the parents. Many thanks also to Janis and Annette who improvised with an indoor barbeque, which kept the bedraggled players happy after their exertions. This is exactly the sort of event that epitomises the spirit of West’s Junior Section.

The annual West Junior Summer Camp was held from Monday 23rd to Friday 27th July. Many thanks to Stewart Leggat and his coaches for another successful event. Comments from many of the parents suggest that the Camp is so popular it should be extended next year.

Double disaster was the order of the day (or evening) on Monday 23rd July as southsiders Poloc put West Under 18s and Under 13s to the sword. At Hamilton Crescent, West Under 18s’ unbeaten run came to a shuddering halt. The visitors bowled tidily and fielded superbly to restrict a poor home side to a paltry 69. Only Liam Howgate and Sunny Ahmed could muster double figures as the rest of the top order threw their wickets away. In reply, Noman Kenneth indicated that he was in a hurry to get home by smashing the West bowlers to all parts. Despite skipper Thorpe’s efforts, it was all over in less than 10 overs.

Scores: West 69 all out (L Howgate 21, H Mahmood 3-19, K Mughal 2-9, Z Mirza 2-10)

At Shawholm, matters were almost as bad. West Under 13s started solidly enough but managed to stumble from 47 for no wicket to 72 for 8 in ten overs. Saif Habib, playing in his last match, bade his colleagues farewell by running three of them out. Six players scored zilch and only Graham Roberts challenged the opposition bowlers, except for Scott MacAuley who smacked the last two ball sof the innings for boundaries. When Miro picked up a wicket with the fourth ball of Poloc’s reply, it looked like game on, but Messrs Saleem and Choudhry thought otherwise. Proceeding to treat the West bowlers with disdain, both raced to 30 before retiring with victory assured. This was a worryingly disappointing performance from a West side that showed none of its early season composure.

Friday 27th July saw the reappearance of the real West Under 11s, in place of the shambolic imposters who turned up at Glasgow Accies last week. The real deal welcomed Motherwell to Partick and won with some ease thanks to a steady bowling performance backed up by great fielding, including three run outs. Although West’s batsmen struggled to set a target, their bowlers gave little away, with 5 maidens out of 20 overs. Jonathan Mott again contributed well and the return of JR and Bobby, the Ewing brothers, gave the team a real boost.

This week’s Kwik Cricket was at Weirs on Sunday 29th July. A ruthless West outfit secured a 100% success rate with crushing victories over Inverclyde, Weirs, and Kilmarnock. The unsolved mystery, though, is why did Rebecca and Kaitlin fail to turn up. Answers next week perhaps.

Monday 16th July was another thoroughly wet and miserable day, like so many others this season, so the Under 18s match at Weirs was sunk without a trace.

On Friday 20th July, the Under 11s and Under 15s returned to action against west end neighbours Glasgow Accies. Somehow, West Under 11s travelled to New Anniesland and contrived to lose against six players. Although on paper a close match, it was a thoroughly disappointing display by a team that had previously shown great improvement since the start of the season. The batting was ponderous and lacked any conviction, but even with very few runs on the board, the game would have been won if the fielding had been remotely adequate. A number of stunningly easy run out chances were spurned with remarkable incompetence. A new low for the season!! On the plus side, however, Jonathan Mott made an encouraging debut.

Luckily, West Under 15s were more successful with their run out attempts at home to Accies, and it was the Accies outfit that managed to throw away their chance of victory. West batted like clowns, with the exception of James Bissland’s fighting effort, and were all out in 16 overs. James was the only batsman to reach double figures and, astonishingly, all 10 wickets were clean bowled. Straight shooting Accies were just as inept with the bat, apart from Mr Malik. West bowled tightly and three run outs eventually secured a narrow win.

Scores: West 76 for 10 (J Bissland 26, C McNaught 3-9, H Malik 3-10, E Crawford 3-19)

Tony Mott stepped into the breech on Sunday 22nd July and took the Under 10s to East Kilbride’s Kwik Cricket Festival in the absence of your scribe, who was attending a wedding at Airth Castle. Details are scant, but rumours abound of two defeats and a tie. Luckily, details of the wedding weekend are even more scant.

This was another relatively quiet cricketing week for Partick’s finest juniors. On Monday 9th July, West Under 18s maintained their unbeaten league status with a last over win at Ferguslie. Details are sketchy as the players have not yet returned the scorebook, but, chasing 88, thanks to 3 wickets to the Hawk, 2 to Supergate and 2 to new 1st XI star Max Ralston, West eventually won by 7 wickets.

Approximate scores: Ferguslie 88 (R Torrance 46, C Hawkins 3-8, M Ralston 2-14, L Howgate 2-24)

The previous weekend saw 16 year old Max Ralston enjoy his 1st XI debut, picking up 2 wickets in a good spell against Ferguslie in the SNCL on Saturday, and another wicket in West’s Scottish Cup win at Poloc on Sunday.

On Wednesday, Andrew Umeed scored a very mature 60 for Scotland Under 12s as in their impressive victory over the border against Northumberland Under 12s.

The only other junior cricket this week for West was Kwik Cricket at sunny Prestwick on Sunday 15th July, where our enthusiastic squad beat Kilmarnock and then Ayr, before losing to a Prestwick/Ayr select and a host team, featuring the son of the Prestwick Pro, an outstanding prospect at only 8 years old. To emphasise how enthusiastic our kids really are, on Sunday Peter Dennis travelled to Prestwick to play in the first three games before he had to dragged away on a family holiday, while your scribe arrived at West at the early morning meeting time to find James Wilson and dad, just back from their holiday. Next Sunday we are due at East Kilbride and one family is already planning to go there on the drive home from a holiday down south.

West's Summer Camp runs from Monday 23rd to Friday 27th July. Please contact me asap if you have not yet booked your place for this super week of cricket.

The annual Parents v Kids kwik cricket morning is set for Sunday 5th August, to be followed by a BBQ. Veterans of previous years will vouch that this is an extremely popular evrent. The outcome of the cricket can cause family feuds which will simmer all year until the next match!

Our old friend rain won the first battle of the week, washing out Monday’s Under 18 fixture at Glasgow Accies, and with the younger age group fixtures on hold as the holidays kick in it’s been a quiet week. The Under 18s were also due to play Kelburne on Friday 6th July, but that had already been postponed by the opposition before fresh downpours arrived.

The real story of the week was in Edinburgh where the two Andrews featured in the West District Under 12 team competing in the Inter District Festival. Because of this appalling summer, West only played one match out of four scheduled. That was on Wednesday against the East District and was notable for an astonishing innings of 149 off 110 balls by the prodigal son, Andrew Umeed. Andrew is only 11 and will still be eligible for the District Under 12 team again next year.

Fortunately, the weather improved over the weekend, allowing the Kwik Cricket Festival at Renfrew on Sunday 8th July to go ahead. Your scribe felt like Rambling Syd Rumpo as he warbled through the flowering meadows that passed for Renfrew’s cricket outfield. Another fun morning saw the Partick maestros fumble their way to defeats at the hands of Clydesdale, Hillhead Rejects, and Ayr, before redeeming themselves by actually taking wickets and demolishing the Hillhead A team.

To begin with some more housekeeping, here are the scores from the Under 15 B League match at Inverclyde on 14th June. A brief report appeared in an earlier epistle and it is not worth any further mention, unless you are a fan of Solzhenitsyn.

Inverclyde 87 for 6 (G Llowles 26no, S Anderson 16, A Roberts 2-12, B Burslem 2-13)

On a familiar theme, the weekend rains left Langloan waterlogged, so West Under 13s were idle again on Monday 25th June. Luckily, Hamilton Crescent drains much better so West Under 18s welcomed the rag, tag and bobtail outfit otherwise known as GHK for a league fixture. RT&B had, of course, already knocked West out the Frank Smith Trophy so, one would imagine, West would be pumped up for this one. Yeah, well imagine on. By the 7th over West’s suicide squad was 24 for 4. At that point there stepped forward someone who, apart from his habit of wearing his underpants on the outside, seemed a most unlikely superhero, but young “Clark” Howgate proceeded to dispatch the RT&B bowling to all parts. Liam’s 74 was stunning and his unbeaten partnership of 62 with “Cymbals” Mowat (9 not out) proved to be a match winner. Not that Supergate was content to rest on his laurels. Singlehandledly, he did his best to keep RT &B in the game by shoulder charging Cymbals as he was about to pouch RT&B’s batsman. However, that only delayed the inevitable, and who should pop up with a cheeky three wicket haul but Supergate! Another three points for the mighty.

Your scribe held another Girls’ Cricket session on Tuesday 26th June. Slowly, slowly we are building a team.

Then more blooming rain wiped out the Under 15 B League fixture at Poloc on Thursday 28th June.

However, Friday 29th June was more like old times as West Under 11s and Under 15s racked up double success against Greenock. The Under 11 match at Hamilton crescent started badly for the home boys as they lost three wickets in the first nine balls of the match. If you are going to have a nadir, have it early. From that point, West fought back and took control, scoring 110 runs and only losing one more wicket. Brinley started the fightback with three boundaries after he’d twice been bowled. A good all round batting performance followed. Conor Ewing top scored with 6 and Calum “one L” Roberts added 10, but their partners also made important contributions. West then got in about Greenock’s batsmen early and Greenock never looked likely to get near their target. The bowling was pretty accurate, with Iain Wheel and Alex Ewing proving particularly effective. The fielding was passable, with a couple of good catches and four run outs. The only downside of the evening was a paucity of headwear. Short memories!

Meanwhile in Greenock, West Under 15s secured a fine win. Having been set a challenging target of over 140, West took full toll of a weakened home bowling attack to cruise home by 9 wickets. Full details will follow when the book is recovered but, in the meantime congratulations to James Bissland and Andrew Umeed, both of whom notched unbeaten half centuries.

West did not attend Greenock’s Kwik Cricket Festival on Sunday 1st July, partly because of players taking off on holiday, and partly because your scribe was at Grange, freeloading at the Scotland v Pakistan match. No cricket, but a superb lunch!

West Under 13s returned to winning ways on Monday 18th June when they steamrollered the visitors from East Kilbride. Your scribe,aka “the special one” rotated his squad and rested a few of the stars. Graham Roberts took full advantage of his chance to open the batting, scoring an undefeated 33 before retiring. The two Andrews also scored heavily, which was just as well, as skipper Miro and the queen bee both got first balls. 133 was a solid total, and once West broke the visitors’ opening partnership the game was over. Graham secured his man of the match status with a five wicket spell and all 10 outfielders got a bowl. Miro also pouched an excellent slip catch.

Scores: West 133 for 5 (G Roberts 33ret, A Galloway 30ret, A Umeed 26, J Dalgleish 3-30))

East Kilbride 57 for 9 (ao) (L Cooke 20, G Kelly 18, G Roberts 5-2, A Galloway 2-9)

On the same evening, West Under 18s travelled to Motherwell and returned with another victory. Taking first dig on Motherwell’s artificial track, West found it very hard going against an impressive home bowling attack. Leg spinner Husafa was particularly devastating, picking up 5 wickets in his spell. 86 looked well short of a decent score, but West bowled and fielded exceptionally well, and the home boys were skittled for 59. The champagne moment was keeper Alfie Lloyd’s superb one handed catch off skipper Owen Thorpe.

On Tuesday 19th June West Under 15s hosted Drumpellier in the Portman BS Cup. It was a low scoring affair on a damp, soft wicket, but the homesters held their nerve in the field to pinch a narrow 6 run win. Skipper Gavin Smith was the batting hero, scoring 32 of West’s meagre total. M Stewart produced a similar performance for the visitors but Omaar Habib bowled out of his skin, and the fielding was top class, to ensure West’s progress to the next round.

The next round took place at West on Thursday 21st June, with Ayr the visitors. Alfie Lloyd saw West off to a blistering start but after his retiral the scoring rate slowed and wickets fell to halt the home team’s progress. Ayr started slowly in reply but West’s appalling fielding (was this the same outfit who performed so well on Tuesday?) helped them to gain a foothold, and although Messrs, Smith, Habib and Bissland bowled well, the supporting cast was cannon fodder and Ayr eventually cruised into the semi finals.

Revenge was on the menu as West Under 15s headed down to Ayr on league duty the following evening, Friday 22nd June. A decent batting performance was, however, once more undone by shocking fielding. Both the Ayr batting stars were dropped early in their innings and West were sent home to contemplate another self induced defeat.

On the same evening West Under 11s hosted Ayr at Hamilton Crescent as thunder and lightning crashed and flashed on all sides. After half an hour the inevitable downpours arrived, and another match was lost to the elements.

The weather remained miserable all weekend and led to cancellation of Renfrew’s Kwik Cricket Festival on Sunday 24th June.

Every report seems to be dominated by the weather this season and this will be no different. However, first a bit of housekeeping. Your scribe has repossessed the Under 18 scorebook and can confirm that West, indeed beat Uddingston on 28th May as the players claimed.

Also, in his delirium, although your scribe reported on last week’s U11 victory over Kelburne’s Saga squad, he omitted the statistics.

And so to a baking hot evening on Monday 11th June. Junior practice had to be interrupted for drinks breaks to prevent over exuberant weans overheating. Meanwhile West Under 13s utterly demolished a visiting seven from Weirs. Three more points for West but a meaningless exercise as far as playing cricket is concerned. If anything it made the squad far too cocky prior to their cup visit to Titwood later in the week. Any report on the game would be equally meaningless.

Scores: West 179 for 1 (M Ralston 31ret, A Umeed 30ret, A Galloway 30ret, L Dickson 29no, J Stubing 27)

Meanwhile West Under 18s made the short trip to Renfrew worthwhile with a very comfortable win. On the eve of his holidays, Chris Hawkins was already in relax mode, strolling to an unbeaten 40. This is often referred to as carrying one’s bat, except with the mighty Hawk, you’d imagine some poor little oink having to carry it for him. The innings was galvanised by Max “Wilson” Ralston and breath was much baited to see if 122 would be enough. No worries. The governor made sure of victory with another smooth bowling masterclass, with the Hawk snatching some late glory.

By Wednesday 13th June, Titwood had turned into Siberia as Clydesdale “welcomed” West Under 13s to the south side for an Under 13 cup tie. Ironically, this centre of cricketing excellence recently stole, sorry borrowed, an area of ground from its neighbouring school to enlarge the playing area to One Day International standards. Yet, this national cup tie was played on an area of full length but no wider than three lanes of a motorway, while some joke BBC bounce match was on the main square. That West managed to lose this tie was entirely their own fault. Skipper Miro Ralston ran out Andrew Galloway before he had faced a ball and Andrew Umeed and Jed Stubing surrendered their wickets in horrendous fashion, to leave West 9-3, including a joke six that Miro blew over the boundary. A recovery was fashioned by the queen bee, but that was going too well so Miro ran her out as well. Courtesy of a sequence of dropped catches, Miro reached 30, and Imran pushed the score along, before some tight bowling at the end of the innings put the brakes on and 94 didn’t look enough.

Thanks to skipper Lyle Hill, Clydesdale reached their target in the penultimate over. However, the batting looked thin after the first three and West had to head home with the realisation that semi sensible batting would have put this game well beyond their hosts.

The weather was no warmer on Thursday 14th June, when Hamilton Crescent hosted the Glasgow Primary Schools Kwik Cricket Competition. Despite the conditions the seven teams all thoroughly enjoyed their day out and the final ended in a last ball victory for Hyndland Primary over St Peters Primary. Many thanks to all coaches and helpers.

That evening, West made its debut in the Under 15 B League at Gourock, one of the new Baltic States. Your scribe needed gloves to keep his hands functioning as he umpired and scored the match against Inverclyde. This was an encouraging win and performance from West’s “fringe players”, with the exception of the fielding, which was crap. Sunny Ahmed top scored with 20 on debut and played confidently on a very tricky and damp strip. The scores will follow when the score book is retrieved.

Friday 15th June saw the return of the rains and West’s Under 11 and Under 15 matches against Drumpellier were both non starters. The weather did not dampen spirits at The Junior Parents buffet evening and a fine time was had by all. Indeed, it is possible some parents were in more jovial mood than usual because they didn’t have to watch any cricket. The grub was all prepared and produced by the parents and there was more than enough food on display, thanks mainly to the absence of Chris Ross on Duke of Edinburgh award duty. Your scribe is grateful to all parents who contributed to the success of this evening, especially Helen Dickson, who made all the menacing phone calls, and Bridget, Anne Marie, Beverley, Paula, Geraldine and all the many others who responded!!

Better weather returned in time for Drumpellier’s Kwik Cricket Festival on Sunday 17th June, and West’s troops, now augmented by three girls, performed admirably to secure the traditional two wins and a defeat. The hosts beat West in the first match, but thereafter West bounced back to beat Drumpellier/Ayr and Hillhead/Kilmarnock “mongrel” teams.

The rains referred to at the end of last week’s report were sufficient to wipe out West’s Under 13 and Under 18 matches against Greenock on Monday 4th June. At least we managed a useful practice session for all age groups.

On Friday 4th June, West Under 11s picked up more points by beating Kelburne at Hamilton Crescent. Kelburne are struggling to put out a team at this age group and by prior arrangement conceded the points but travelled with an Under 13 squad of six players. Your scribe elected not to alert his team to this agreement, so the outcome was doubly pleasing as Wheel’s Suitably Hatted Mercenaries wiped out the opposition. Callum “crasher” Roberts again led the way with the willow, and special mention must be made of Ian Hettle’s career best figures of 3-5. If this boy could bat, run and field, he’d be a genuine all rounder.

The evening reached a perfect conclusion with news of West Under 15s commanding win at Kelburne. That seemed an unlikely outcome when West’s innings got underway as both openers were sent packing without a run to their name. Skipper Smith and that quiet spoken chap Ross then took command and set about establishing a match winning partnership, with Chris eventually reaching his maiden half century. The nine man home side was never going to chase down 130, but they managed to delay the inevitable until the penultimate over. This West side are beginning to enjoy serial winning.

And so to Hillhead’s Kwik Cricket festival on Sunday 10th May and West was delighted to include Rebecca and Kaitlin from our newly formed Girls’ Section. Both girls proved their worth in another morning of fun cricket as West beat Renfrew and Inverclyde/Hillhead, but lost to Greenock. We hope to have even more girls in next week’s squad at Coatbridge.

28th to 3rd June 2007
Sensational news for followers of West juniors! For the first time in many a moon, this week saw West win all their league fixtures at every age group. Your hallucinating scribe will provide the details.

On Monday 28th May, Uddingston Under 13s returned to the scene of last week’s cup defeat, only to suffer a similar fate. Bowling first, West Under 13s found wickets hard to come by but kept things tight, and only Messrs Eyles and Saltwell caught the eye for the visitors. A target of 75 was never going to trouble the prodigal son, and, with the help of Andrew Galloway and the queen bee, victory was assured with five overs to spare. A decent all round performance, but tougher challenges await.

On the same evening, West Under 18s travelled to Bothwell for the opening league game of the season and easily disposed of the six man Uddingston outfit. Followers of these reports will recognise this as something of an achievement given West’s recent efforts against numerically challenged opponents. For the moment, let us dream of a glorious victory. The scorebook is currently outwith your scribe’s possession so the truth, and any details, will come out in a future report.
A little bit of history was made on Tuesday 29th May when West held its first junior coaching evening for girls. Enthusiasm was high and a second session will follow shortly. Hopefully, we will have a girls’ team playing kwik cricket on Sunday mornings before long.

On Friday 1st June, West enjoyed yet another visit from Uddingston. This time it was the turn of the Bothwell club’s Under 15s to taste defeat at the hands of West’s minors. For once, the whole top order, led by Biffer Lloyd, fired and the result was a very satisfying 131 for 4. Despite some resistance from D Eyles (see Under 13 match above), the outcome was never in doubt and the visitors were routed in less than 16 overs.

Uddingston 52 for 8 (all out) (D Eyles 19no, C Roxburgh 2-1, G Smith 2-10, J Bissland 2-11)

West Under 11s were the odd team out this week. As Uddingston don’t have an Under 11 team, they had to find someone else to beat on Friday 1st June. The selected target was Helensburgh and the troops set off for Ardencaple in the early evening. Your scribe has rarely seen such a vicious thunderstorm as was experienced on the journey through Dumbarton. The sky was a constant flicker of electricity as we ploughed through flooded streets under a bombardment of giant hailstones. The weather didn’t relent until Loch Lomond appeared in front of us, but bizarrely, the storms had by passed Helensburgh and the match was played in lovely evening sunshine, under a haze of less lovely evening midges. While the storm was undoubtedly the highlight of the night, West’s all round performance was not far behind, and the spectacularly multi hatted Partick boys thoroughly deserved their first win of the season. Batting first, each West partnership contributed to the cause, with Callum Roberts and Alex Ewing proving particularly productive. Helensburgh’s response never got going as five wickets fell in five overs. The skipper was “wheely” mean, taking 3 wickets for 1 run in his four overs. The supporting cast all did their job, and the kids all discovered the art of fielding was so much easier, thanks to their new visual aids. The next step will be to have them wearing matching caps, but the present motley display is the first step of a long journey.

The all too prevalent rain returned on Sunday 3rd June, putting paid to the Greenock Kwik Cricket Festival.

21st to 27th May
The most surprising feature of this week was that West juniors’ matches all actually took place as we finally saw a bit of sporadic sunshine in Glasgow and the environs.

On Monday 21st May, West Under 11s visited one of those environs to take on Ferguslie in a match that had been abandoned earlier in the month. This time, the home outfit batted first and Brinley Terrell set them back on their heels with a couple of miserly overs and two wickets. However this is a very strong Ferguslie team that is looking to emulate its success as league winners last year and some powerful batting saw them reach a daunting 292, scoring 112 runs for only 4 wickets. Brinley was the outstanding bowler but everyone played his part. Unfortunately, the ground fielding continues to be a concern (or should that be disgrace). Memo to the boys: You all have headgear. Why did only one player wear a cap on a sunny evening with the sun low in the sky? Think about it. The West reply started disastrously, with 5 wickets falling in the first 4 overs. The subsequent fight back to respectability was therefore the “positive” that the boys will take from this match, but the outcome was still a comfortable win for Ferguslie. One of the “negatives” was probably young Donnelly’s dissent at being adjudged run out by your umpire scribe. Yet again choosing to ignore everything he has been taught over the last few years, he was actually running with his bat held daintily in a vertical position about two feet above the ground. At least he won’t get it dirty. Your scribe sometimes thinks that young Tom’s ears are only there to stop his cap falling over his eyes; except he doesn’t wear his cap.

On the same evening, Ferguslie completed the double as their Under 13s came to Hamilton Crescent and won a close encounter against West Under 13s. Poor fielding contributed to this defeat for the homesters as catches were spilled and run out opportunities spurned right, left, and centre. Ferguslie started relatively cautiously but kept wickets intact. This allowed them to push on and after 14 overs, the total was 64 for 1. Led by Messrs Galloway and Habib, however, West started to make inroads and Ferguslie finished on 94 for 7. West’s response was led by Andrew Galloway, but he received very little support, until Graham Roberts held the middle order together. However, when six players get ducks, you are unlikely to win, and so it was for West, who were all out in the last over, still 11 runs short. The home team was not at full strength, but it was still a disappointment to drop points at this stage of the season.

Scores: Ferguslie 94 for 7 (M English 30ret, J Rutnagur 19, S Habib 2-5, A Galloway 2-8)

West Under 13s had an early chance to bounce back as they hosted Uddingston on Tuesday 22nd May in the Under 13 National Cup Competition. West won the toss and batted first. The team was even weaker than the previous evening, so there was considerable alarm, as some of the more experienced batsmen threw their wickets away to leave West at 29 for 4 in the seventh over. Thank goodness for the queen bee who batted superbly and marshalled the remaining batsmen, all of whom deserve praise for their part in the recovery. Although Lynne was out in the last over, West finished with a respectable total. Uddingston’s reply started strongly, with Messrs Eyles and Greenshields dispatching the ball to all parts. However, at 34 for 0 in the sixth over, who should come to West’s rescue but the queen bee again. The dangerous Eyles was clean bowled, and although the away batsmen continued to bat well, pressure in the field meant they were dropping behind the run rate. West nibbled away with wickets at critical times, including a direct hit run out from the boundary by skipper Miro Ralston. Who would have thought that his horrendous mis-field was actually part of a cunning plan? The match finished with West taking victory by 9 runs and the teams will resume battle next week in the league.

On Friday 25th May, West Under 18s started their season with a home tie against GHK in the Frank Smith Trophy. Following recent tradition, West promptly exited the competition in the first round, due in the main to batting poorly against a disciplined GHK bowling attack. It all started so well as, after being inserted, West progressed at a run a ball for the first four overs. Then came an all too familiar batting collapse. Cammy Gibb has perfected a shot unique to him, where all in one movement, and on the walk, his bat moves from high backswing through an arc, not quite in line with the ball, just enough for a nick, and follows through to finish tucked under his arm, and the walk continues all the way to the pavilion. That was followed all too quickly by Messrs Ralston and Thorpe getting bowled on the back foot when they should have been forward. Liam Howgate rode his luck to keep the score moving and Alfie Lloyd started to put bat to ball, but the match changed in the pivotal twelfth over. West had GHK rattled as 12 runs came off the first four balls. Instead of settling for that, Messrs Lloyd and Ross then gave their wickets away in horrendous fashion to the next two balls. Advantage GHK! Liam and the tail carried on as best they could, but the damage was done and 95 was a poor result on a super batting surface.

GHK responded very positively, with an opening stand of 60 from Messrs Alcock and Thomson in 11 overs. Ian Thomson was particularly impressive and it was his unbeaten half century that eventually won the game in the last over as West produced an impressive fight back in the field. This fightback almost pulled the game out of the fire, but GHK just made it over the line. For the upcoming league campaign, West must take heart from, and build on, the fighting spirit in the field, and they must learn from their batting errors and play in a more disciplined from now on. Hopefully, it is just an early season transition from indoor practice, where batters can play back foot shots, to outdoor cricket in May/June, where the same ball requires the batter to get on the front foot.

Scores: West 95 for 8 (L Howgate 23, C Gibb 16, A Lloyd 16, I Hussain 2-16, U Afzal 2-19)

And so to Ayr on Sunday 27th May, as the Under 10 Kwik Cricket season finally got underway. Although it was a cold morning, there was only one brief shower of rain and that was not enough to stop the entertainment. West pitched up with a squad of five players, and promptly amalgamated with the Clydesdale five to play against Prestwick. In turn, Prestwick adopted two Renfrew players to make it ten a side and proceeded to hammer the West/Clydesdale combo. Normal hostilities were then resumed as the second fixture saw West take on and soundly thrash the Clydesdale five. As thoughts drifted towards the burgers being provided by our generous hosts, the kids had to endure one last match. This time, West’s titans were assisted by the aforementioned Renfrew two and a spare Ayr lad, and this produced a team that comfortably dismissed the challenge of a youthful Kilmarnock side. Two wins out of three meant the burgers tasted even better. Next week, West will have a bigger squad available for the trip to Greenock.

14th to 20th May
Another week of miserable weather prevented much cricket being played this week, the exception being a miraculously sunny Tuesday, which allowed west Under 15s to begin their National Cup quest. Apart from that brief interlude it was yet another week of frustration all round as the fixture backlog mountain casts its ever increasing shadow over Hamilton Crescent.

On Monday 14th May our Under 13 guests from Ferguslie had just arrived at West when the heavens opened. On Wednesday 16th May, our first Girls’ Coaching Session was washed out, although it was pleasing that eight new recruits came along despite the conditions. We will try again on 29th May.

On Friday, the Under 11 and Under 15 double header against East Kilbride also fell victim to the elements, although your scribe knows for a certainty that, had the weather been alright, one of the games would still have been off because East Kilbride had selected 5 or 6 of their Under 11s to play for the Under 15s!

To cap a great week, the first Under 10 Kwik Cricket festival of the season, scheduled for Sunday 20th May at Helensburgh, was abandoned due to a waterlogged pitch.

On Tuesday 15th May, West Under 15s hosted Prestwick in the Portman BS Cup match, postponed from the previous week. The visitors batted first and, with the aid of some horrendously erratic bowling and indifferent fielding, finished with a challenging total of 109 for 7. It was a poor half of cricket really, but the second half was a complete contrast. Prestwick bowled much better than West but West’s batsmen, especially Chris Ross and Andrew Umeed, rose to the occasion. Chris in particular played one of his best ever innings, with an array of attacking shots on both sides of the wicket. With victory in sight, both boys fell, and panic gripped the home side. The last over began with West needing four to win with five wickets left. Three runs were scrambled off the first four balls. With the scores tied, West were in a winning position because they had lost fewer wickets, but the players in the middle were unaware of the position. The penultimate ball saw Harry Prince bowled trying to heave the ball away for the winning run. Enter Ramesh to face the last ball. Before going in, Ramesh was told exactly what the situation was, i.e. “We have won if you don’t get out to this ball. Just block it.” Ramesh, who was later to claim that he thought there were five balls left, promptly patted the last ball back to the bowler and charged off mindlessly towards the other end. (Just a thought but this all too common lack of awareness amongst those of our players whose seat of learning is at Old Anniesland makes one wonder if CDR Mair might be taking money under false pretences.) The resulting run out gave Prestwick a seventh wicket and your scribe an apoplectic fit. As managers and umpires then examined the scorebooks, it became clear that West had scraped through as a result of the “countback” rule. The home team’s score at the end of the 19th over had been four more than Prestwick’s at the same stage. It couldn’t have been much closer but this was West Under 15s first win for over a year, and all the sweeter for that. It augurs well for a better year, especially as this result was achieved without skipper, Gavin Smith, and wicket keeper Alfie Lloyd.

West win on countback and will now host Greenock or Drumpellier in the next round.

If the weather relents, we will try to tackle the fixture backlog by playing Under 11 and Under 13 matches against Ferguslie on Monday, and the Under 13s have a home cup tie against Uddingston on Tuesday. Then it’s time for the big boys to start their season with an Under 18 Frank Smith Trophy match against GHK on Friday, and on Sunday, the kwik cricket circus rolls in to Ayr.

Monday 7th May. It was a dark and stormy night everywhere. So no Under 13 match at Kelburne.

Tuesday 8th May. It was a dull and damp night in Glasgow. So no Under 15 match against Prestwick.

Thursday 10th May. It was a wet and windy night in Glasgow. So no Under 13 match against Uddingston.

Friday 11th May. It was a dry but cold and overcast night in Glasgow. However, the wicket was still a pudding so no Under 15 match against Ferguslie.

Friday 11th May. It was monsoon time in Paisley. So West Under 11s played Ferguslie. Bizarre! However, the rains eventually won after 9 overs and the game was abandoned with West on 30 for 1, or 225 as we tell the kids.

Once more, the coming week should be busy with junior matches on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday, but the weather forecast is less than encouraging.

The other highlight of the coming week is West’s first dedicated girls’ cricket night on Wednesday.

Friday 27th April 2007. It was a dark and stormy night. Well no, actually, the sun was splitting the sky and the heat was wonderfully welcome for late April, but still West’s hosts, Hillhead, found a way to cancel the first Under 11 fixture of the season. Apparently, our Hughenden neighbours were blissfully unaware the cricket season was starting and their ground was “under prepared”. “So what’s new?” mused your scribe. “Why scrub this game in particular?”

So, a normal start to a West junior season was endured, i.e. your scribe and his better half set off to enjoy a few libations in the West End.

The season finally started in earnest on Monday 30th April, when West Under 13s welcomed Glasgow Accies to the home of cricket.

Last season West Under 13s closed their campaign with a solid win at Accies, and in a nice piece of symmetry, they produced a similar performance and result to kick off 2007. To boost their ranks this year, West were pleased to welcome Andrew Umeed back to his spiritual home. The player formerly known as Judas in previous reports will henceforth be referred to as the prodigal son. That being said, Andrew’s first contribution with the willow was shortlived. However, this did not stop West, led by excellent contributions from skipper Miro Ralston, Andrew Galloway, Lynne Dickson and Graham Roberts, from setting a challenging score. Although Accies matched the run rate for the first half of their reply, they lost too many wickets and a home win was soon secured. Newcomer Scott MacAulay was the pick of the home bowlers.

Scores: West 111 for 4 (M Ralston 32ret, L Dickson 17, G Roberts 14no, A Galloway 13)

On to Friday 4th May and a familiar occurrence. A double whipping from our southside rivals Poloc.

West Under 15s made the short journey to the picturesque Poloc ground and were making comfortable progress at 45 for 1 off 10 overs when Poloc produced their “ned” diversion tactic. A full scale ned v ned gang fight broke out in the park, leading to all sorts of mayhem and the intervention of the local constabulary. This apparently normal spectator sport at Shawholm had no effect on the homesters, but for the shellshocked (as opposed to shellsuited) West boys, this was a major intrusion on their cosseted sense of normality. Quickly, they subsided to 61 all out and Poloc cruised to a well deserved win. Alfie Lloyd kept tidily on his West debut, picking up a catch and a stumping to make the result a little more respectable.

Meanwhile, at Hamilton Crescent, Poloc completed the double with a relatively easy win against West’s Wheelers. At the end of last season, Bridget, better known as mum of Max and Miro, kindly donated three brand new bats to the juniors. Our extremely caring Under 11s obviously intend to look after these new acquisitions. Out of a total of 72, 5 runs were scored off the bat, and one of those was an overthrow. The positives to be taken from the first half were that we only lost 4 wickets and the forward defensive shot has been perfected. Poloc, by contrast, laid bat to ball, perhaps because West bowled straighter, and won the game with plenty to spare. Second half positives were that West took 8 wickets and gave away relatively few extras. On the downside, with the exception of Alex Ewing, the fielding was horrendous. Unfortunately, Alex only came along to watch his big brother play, but ended up fielding for Poloc, who were a player short!

The coming week should be busy with junior matches on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday, but the weather forecast is less than encouraging.

The West junior season ended in anticlimax this week. First, Kilmarnock Under 11s could not raise a team to visit the Crescent on Monday 4th September. Points in the bag but no cricket. Then, the same evening, West Under 18s travelled to Kelburne and lost a close match on a sporty wicket. In a game reduced to 16 overs per side, West struggled with the bat and were all out for a disappointing 68. Although the wicket helped the bowlers, too many batsmen gave their wickets away with either poor shot execution, namely Messrs Howgate, Choudhry, Smith and Ralston junior, or poor shot selection, ie Messrs Hettle and Ralston. Add to that, an absurd run out of Hawkins (Gibb struck ball straight to mid on and called “yes…… no” leaving SS Hawkins under full steam north and no chance of turning) and a shambolic performance was complete. However, when Kelburne batted, the boys bowled and fielded really well. A couple of hard chances were missed in almost total darkness, before the home team scraped victory with 4 balls left. The winning hit was shelled at mid off, missing the static Hawkins by a whisker. No one saw it leave the bat but, had it been slightly straighter, your scribe would probably now be penning Hawkins’ obituary. Mention must be made of another miserly bowling spell from the governor. Gavin has really come into his own as the season has run its course, finishing top of the averages with 13 wickets at 12.08. Yet, once again he finds himself travelling with the Glasgow Under 14 Inter City team to Belfast, and not getting a bowl. He was also, amazingly, overlooked for West District Under 14 squad

There was more frustration for West Under 11s on Tuesday 5th September as torrential rain put paid to their league decider at home to Ferguslie.

West Under 18s eventually acquired another 2 points to finish their season when Uddingston could not raise a team to come to Partick on Wednesday 6th September. Avid readers are referred to an earlier report which utilised the analogy of the Cuban missile crisis in relation to obtaining a concession from Weirs. This was a similar, but more lengthy episode.

The weather had by now improved dramatically, so the long awaited Under 11 title clash with Ferguslie got under way on Thursday 7th September in lovely sunny conditions. As it turned out, “clash” was a poor choice of expression. The might of the opposition simply steamrollered West’s youngsters, whose batting proved woefully inadequate. Eight wickets fell, six bowled and two run out, in a poor display. West’s bowling and fielding was much better, and it was pleasing to note a couple of good run outs and some competent catching and ground fielding. It was not enough to stop the Ferguslie juggernaut and the Paisley boys deservedly secured the league title, leaving West as disappointed runners up.

Hopefully, this finale will not detract from West’s excellent performance in finishing joint runners up in the inaugural Under 11 League competition.

Andrew Galloway has led the team well all season, contributing 196 runs at an average of 49, and taking 25 wickets at 7.28. His trusty lieutenant Saif Ali Habib also scored heavily with 123 runs at 20.5 and took 18 wickets at 7.67. There were also good batting contributions from Paul Griffin and keeper Steven Lynch, with the team’s top bowler being Iain Wheel. Iain proved the benefit of bowling straight, securing 12 wickets at only 6.83, with an amazing economy rate of only 2.56.

The Under 13s enjoyed a good season and were well worthy of third spot in the League. Euan Larter was outstanding with the bat, scoring 186 runs at 23.25 and there were also major contributions from Chris Ross (144), Omaar Habib (122), Miro Ralston (98), and Ramesh Wanigasuriya (95). Mention should also be made of Gurjit Singh, who only played six matches, but scored 84 runs at an average of 28. If he ever starts to listen to the coaches, who knows what he might achieve? The Under 13s are very much a team unit, and this is particularly demonstrated that 12 different players took wickets during the season. The top wicket takers were Omaar Habib with 14, Lynne Dickson with 7, and Harry Prince and Miro Ralston with 6 each. Graham Roberts sneaked to the top of the averages with 4 wickets at 9.75.

The Under 15s had a thoroughly depressing season, losing all nine League and Cup games played. They finished the season, propping up the league table, but, in truth, this does not tell the real story. Max Ralston led the boys well all year, and the team never lost heart, despite losing 3 or 4 games by the narrowest of margins. Luck never favours a losing side, and that was never clearer than in West’s matches against Greenock, Ayr, and Hillhead. Your scribe would also point out that three of the matches lost to the weather were against the poorer teams in the league.

Skipper Ralston scored 187 runs at 26.71, with Ewan Mowat, the next highest contributor with 81 runs. The aforementioned governor was the pick of the bowlers, picking up 8 wickets at 16.

The Under 18s started the season, with the conviction that they could mount a serious challenge for the League title, and were rocked back on their heels right away with an early exit from the Under 17 Frank Smith Trophy. Nevertheless, the League campaign had started well, and progressed reasonably comfortably, until August. A serious injury to Owen Thorpe coupled with a serious employment misjudgement by skipper Luke Moreland started the rot as a weakened side lost at Prestwick and this was promptly followed by a disgraceful display against bottom of the league Hillhead. This put an end to any real hopes of winning the league, although the team plugged away, benefiting from Luke losing his job, and particular highlights were the successful run chases in the dark at Clydesdale and Poloc.

The main batsmen were Cammy Gibb with 342 runs at 26.31 and a top score of 77, Luke Moreland with 312 runs at 39 and a top score of 80, and Chris Hawkins with 269 runs at 33.63 and a top score of 60 not out. As previously mentioned the governor was West’s top bowler, with major contributions from Chris Hawkins (21 wickets at 13.43), Cammy Gibb (14 wickets at 12.86) and Max Ralston (14 wickets at 20.07).

On the representative front, Miro Ralston and Chris Ross were members of the successful Glasgow Area Under 13 squad, and Miro also represented the District Under 12 side that enjoyed an unbeaten season. Max Ralston and Gavin Smith were stalwarts of the Glasgow Area Under 15s and Max, along with Cammy Gibb and Chris Hawkins played important roles for West District Under 16s. Cammy also made his international debut with a game for Scotland Under 17s against Durham. Why he did not play more matches at this level is a mystery, but when he was cut from the squad after winter training, he probably didn’t expect to get another chance. Now he has a challenge for next season. And then, we had our own Queen Bee. Miss Dickson trained through the winter with various Girls’ age Group squads and ended up playing for Scotland Ladies’ Under 21s in Holland in the European Championships, despite only being 12 years old. The Ladies were well gubbed but Lynne acquitted herself well.

Your scribe must sign off, after consigning season 2006 to the history books, by thanking the innumerable people, who have helped West Juniors throughout the season. Thanks to Brian for providing the teams with quality wickets, to all the coaches and managers, Gregg, Tim, Tony, Barrington, Spegs, Ross, Tim L, Wilson, the parents as drivers and supporters, Jonathan, George, Alistair, Wilson, John, Graham, Colin, Tony, Liam, Huw, Marcus, Anne Marie, Bridget, Anne, Helen, Rekha, Beverley and a cast of thousands. Special thanks to all parents who supported and helped run various social events and made generous donations to the Club. Thanks for the new bats, Bridget. You’ve obviously spotted our weakness!

Finally, thanks to the juniors themselves. We’re blessed with a good bunch of youngsters at West and it’s a happy camp to run.

TWTWTW. The end of the season approaches and the number of matches being played (mostly in the dark) seems to increase exponentially. Hence, dear reader, this will be another wordy epistle.

For West Juniors, it was to be a week when one team saw its title aspirations crushed but fought back to finish with some pride, another kept its title hopes alive, just, and yet another raced up the table with an impressive late charge, but realistically will not quite be able to catch the league leaders. Those familiar with these reports will immediately realise from that summary that the Under 15s did not have a match. J C Dubbs tried frantically to rearrange some matches against the diddy teams in the league, but as he failed, West must remain, officially, the diddiest of them all.

On Monday 28th August, the swaggering southsiders from Clydesdale came to Partick to crush West’s previously unbeaten Under 13s with considerable ease. Disappointingly, West’s players largely “bottled it” and performed well below their abilities. Only Euan Larter produced the goods with the bat, and, defending a low score, Skipper Ross bizarrely chose to ignore his most successful and accurate bowlers. Full marks to the ‘Dale boys who showed exactly why they are league champions this year. The bowling was tight and well done Mr Chaudhry on your hat trick. In fact Clydesdale only needed half their allotted overs to chase down victory as Patrick Barbour despatched West’s pies to all corners.

Scores:     West 68 (E Larter 30ret, U Chaudhry 5-10 )
                Clydesdale 69 for 1 (P Barbour 32ret)

Meanwhile, at Titwood, West Under 18s produced a terrific run chase in the dark to send the disgruntled homesters slinking off into the night. Clydesdale won the toss and chose the light. They scored at a reasonable rate but West kept nipping wickets at regular intervals. Still, 107 looked a good total, especially as West’s reply was always behind the rate. However, with wickets in hand, the Partick boys eventually unleashed David Hettle on the unsuspecting ‘Dale. 20 needed off 10 balls. David wasn’t even going to wait for the drama of a tight finish. 4,4,4,1 (to retain strike),4,4. All over. 45 not out in seven overs.

Scores:     Clydesdale 107 for 7 (M Borthwick 26, B Tanq 24, M Ralston 2-23)
                 West 109 for 3 (D Hettle 45no, C Hawkins 28)

If it’s Tuesday it must be Kelburne. This time it was West Under 11s on the road, and despite their worst performance of the season, they managed to sneak another win, but by only one run! West got off to the best possible start with Saif Habib taking 3 wickets in his first two overs. A couple of Kelburne tiny tots then came in and smacked the bowling around to good effect. This, coupled with the most appalling fielding display ever witnessed by your scribe, got the home team back in the game. Eventually Kelburne finished 42 to the good, exactly the total of West wides and no balls! West’s reply was tentative as no one seemed able to hit the ball. Again, relying largely on wides, West clawed their way into contention, and although Kelburne held a couple of good catches they also shelled a plethora of sitters to keep West afloat. The last pair required 15 off 4 overs and skipper Galloway batted positively to gain the lead. Come the last over West were 6 ahead, but Tom Donnelly was on strike. Tactics were discussed and it was resolved that Master Donnelly would defend stoutly. Swish and miss, swish and nick but dropped, swish and miss, swish and ball in air but not to fielder, swish and bowled! Tom and his coach seem to have differing views on what constitutes batting defensively. (Needless to say Tom is right.) Anyway, it was left to Master Galloway to demonstrate a perfect forward defensive shot to keep the last ball out.

Scores:       Kelburne 242 (A Humphries 12no, S Habib 3-13, A Galloway 3-13)
                   West 243 (A Galloway 10no, A Humphries 4-6)

On Wednesday August 30th, the less swaggering, but equally talented southsiders from Poloc came to Partick to crush West’s previously only beaten once Under 13s with considerable ease. Sound familiar? It sure was, except this time the visitors batted first, posted an impressive total playing real cricket shots, and then bowled tidily as West, Gurjit apart, made no real effort to chase the target. It must be said that this match was a personal nightmare for skipper Ross, who persevered with his policy of ignoring some of his more successful bowlers, bowled a full and expensive spell himself, and then, in the second half, ran two of his partners out. The pleasing thing about Chris is that he is happy to take criticism and react positively and this was exactly what would happen later in the week. Poloc deserve all the plaudits from this match. The batting was immaculate with Master Chaudhry and Master Shorty putting bat to ball, while Judas anchored the innings. The aforementioned run outs contributed largely to West’s failure to chase, but all the bowlers were accurate and difficult to get away.

Scores:        Poloc 97 for 0 (D Chaudhry 33ret, A Umeed 28no, C Young 21no)
                    West 54 (G Singh 15, O Habib 13, U Amin 2-6)

On the same evening West Under 18s travelled to Shawholm and produced yet another super run chase in the dark. The home team started with a purpose and posted 51 in the first 5 overs or so in daylight before West managed a breakthrough. Poloc continued to push along at an impressive rate but West dug in and a cluster of wickets in the latter stages put the brakes on. Even so, it was hard to imagine at half time that West could chase 142 in only 18 overs. The fact that they achieved victory with an over and a half to spare (in pitch blackness) has apparently led to something of an inquest at Poloc. The ground staff also apparently have an issue with Hawkins, who has been accused of damaging the square by breakdancing at the crease. The batting heroes this time were skipper Luke Moreland, the mighty Hawkins, and another trademark Hettle finish.

Scores:        Poloc 142 for 7 (N Kenneth 69, S Jayaratne 31, M Ralston 2-31, C Gibb 2-31)
                    West 144 for 3 (L Moreland 59, C Hawkins 37, N Kenneth 1-12)

On Thursday 31st August West Under 13s and their deflated egos made the short journey to New Anniesland to finish off their season. Pride was restored as Glasgow Accies were narrowly beaten in an exciting match. The West nippers should be congratulated on another gritty performance. The defeats earlier in the week meant this fixture was largely meaningless, so it was very pleasing to see the team fight so hard for another two points. A third place finish is fair reward for a very good season.
West lost early wickets but new hero Gurjit Singh put bat to ball with great effect and, after his retiral, Omaar Habib and Blur Moffat made sure a reasonable total was posted. Accies main threat was Kieran Raju and he was well supported by Ian Cuthill. However West bowled tidily and fielded well. Some good catches were pouched and Accies’ innings disintegrated in a flurry of run outs at the end. Skipper Ross used all his bowlers, except Miss Dickson who had sustained a shoulder injury from overuse of her mobile phone. This time the star turn was left arm spinner Blur “Shane” Moffat, whose 3 wickets knocked the stuffing out of Accies.

Scores:         West 93 for 5 (G Singh 33ret, O Habib 11no, B Wallia 1-4, C McAteer 1-5)
                    Glasgow Accies 89 (K Raju 32ret, I Cuthill 19, B Moffat 3-20)

Hamiton Crescent was unplayable on Friday 1st September, so the Under 11 clash with Ferguslie was postponed and will now take place on Tuesday 5th September. There were no such problems at Allanton where West Under 18s won an entertaining fixture against a youthful, and very friendly, Paisley team. This is the first year of Paisley’s existence, and they are a very welcome addition to the Junior League. They have a very fluid approach to the game. On Friday, they started with 9 players and fielded with the help of a West sub. Halfway through the innings, a tenth lad arrived, took off his jacket and immediately came on to bowl. Then they changed keepers with the first keeper coming on to bowl left arm seam and he quickly took 4 wickets. When Paisley batted, their last man decided he couldn’t wait till the end and went home just before he was due to bat. Meanwhile, the other players made cups of tea for your scribe and the West parents. West, having won the toss, batted in daylight and raced off to an opening stand of 151 in 14 overs. Messrs Moreland and Gibb were scoring freely, but, strangely, were heckled by a triumvirate of team mates, who considered their progress to be “boring” and the bowling “hopeless”. Eventually, these big mouths got their opportunity, and contributed 5, 0, and 5 before all being clean bowled. In reply, Paisley lost a wicket in the first over, but a whirlwind called Taqi then blitzed the West opening bowlers, who were rather naively trying to bowl far too fast in the dark, and after 9 overs the total was 86 for 1. Your scribe is not sure how to describe the sound of complacency being wiped off collective faces but it could be heard all over Allanton Park at that moment. However, the Governor came to the rescue. Gavin Smith came on first change, removed the dangerous Mr Taqi with his first ball, and bowled an excellent spell in tandem with the ubiquitous Hawkins to secure victory.

Scores:        West 183 for 5 (L Moreland 80, C Gibb 65, Umair 4-51)
                    Paisley 101 (Taqi 46, Ali 25, G Smith 4-9, C Hawkins 3-3)

A waterlogged pitch led to the cancellation of Renfrew’s Kwik Cricket festival on Sunday 3rd September. The kwik cricket season is now at an end and your scribe can report that West’s band of tiny enthusiasts (and Peter Thorpe) attended 12 Sunday morning festivals and played 34 matches, winning 24 of them.

This was one of the more surreal weeks for West’s Junior Section, not for any home based reasons, but rather for events on far flung playing fields. Can any other Club claim in the same week to have a 12 year old girl play for her national Under 21 side in the European Championships in Holland and a 21 year old product of its junior set up appear at the Oval as 12th man for England in a test match against Pakistan. And as it transpired, not just any test match!!!

Well done to Lynne Dickson on a creditable Scottish debut and congratulations to Ian Young, who carried a mean water bottle.

Anyway, back to life as we know it. On Monday 14th August, West Under 18s continued their plunge towards mediocrity by losing at home to bottom of the league Hillhead. This was a textbook display of ineptitude against a team that should have been summarily dismissed. There are no redeeming comments that can be made. Max Ralston, however, is excused.

Scores:     Hillhead 93 for 8 (C Hawkins 3-11)
                West 79 for 7 (M Ralston 25no, A Fergus 4-18)

On the same evening, West Under 13s returned to action after six weeks out of action, but slipped quickly into gear at Hillhead by quickly crushing their hosts. West used all 10 bowlers to strangle Hillhead before rattling off the target in jig time.

Scores:     Hillhead 46 for 4 (H Azhar 18, H Prince 1-4, O Habib 1-8)
                West 47 for 4 (A Galloway 17)

West Under 13s entertained Ayr on Thursday 17th August and were lucky to come out with their unbeaten record intact. The visitors batted with purpose and set a very challenging total against a tentative bowling attack. Wickets tumbled after the break and West found themselves eight wickets down and needing 23 off the last 3 overs. Step forward Gurjit Singh and Jacob McDonald, who put bat to ball to steer West home with 3 balls to spare. This was too close for comfort.

Scores     Ayr 108 for 4 (H McLaughlin 30ret, C Gordon 25no)
                West 112 for 8 (G Singh 22no, H Prince 17)

The weather that your scribe was enjoying at the Oval also visited the central belt on Friday 18th August, preventing West Under 15s securing their first victory of the season at Motherwell and cancelling the Under 11 home fixture against Kilmarnock.

The fixtures are piling up. J C Dubbs is frazzled.

West’s juniors were in action again on Monday 21st August, and your scribe can report as follows from his vantage point in the departure lounge at Luton airport:

The Under 18s travelled to Burn’s country to register a comfortable win and put their season back on track. The batting star was Liam Howgate, who is now starting to realise his potential. Hard work and a good attitude will take this lad far.