The Roon’d-up: 1s edged out but Kitchen cooks up a storm
The Roon’d-Up is our regular summary of events on the field at West over the 2025 season. We’ll cover all the results as well as outstanding and notable performances throughout the season to keep you up to date on the latest goings on at Hamilton Crescent.
There were mixed fortunes across West’s sides this weekend in glorious sunshine.
At Hamilton Crescent, the West of Scotland XI were narrowly defeated by Stirling County, falling short by just 19 runs. Opener Elliot Bunn avoided the loss of early wickets to score a magnificent 101 from 114 balls, giving Stirling the upper hand, supported by 60 from Malik as the pair built a 4th-wicket stand of 148. West skipper James Fennah and John Strachan both claimed three wickets as Stirling’s innings ended at 233/8. In reply, West 1s started defiantly with Joe Carrasco’s 48 and 25 from Strachan building a solid base, but it was John Oliver who brought the game close. A swashbuckling 84 from 78 balls, featuring 6 fours, in the final overs wasn’t enough, as Bunn backed up his match-winning innings with four wickets to secure the win for Stirling.
Meanwhile, Partick scored a commanding 165-run victory in the reverse fixture at New Williamfield. There were strong batting performances throughout for the visitors, with openers Rauhit Krishnan (22) and Jesse Mills (36) both making starts, before Sarwar Mohammad added 34. The standout performances, however, came in the form of fifties for Rob Corner (55) and Laurie Kitchen (53) as Partick posted 258/7. Kitchen added two wickets with the ball to round off a man-of-the-match performance, while Oscar Fry claimed 4-27 to continue his good form. Young spinner Blake Stanton closed out the game with an excellent 3-14 as Williamfield were bowled out for 93.
Laurie Kitchen (right) congratulated by Partick captain Jonny Williams.
There was disappointment for the 3s as the East Kilbride microclimate claimed its latest victim and the Hamilton Crescent XI were unable to take the slippery outfield and the game was abandoned without a ball being bowled.
On Sunday, West’s Women’s side completed their Cricket Scotland Women’s Premier League season with a commanding 68-run victory at Murrayfield DAFS. Batting first in the shadow of Scotland’s national rugby stadium, West were led from the front by opener Jenna Stanton, who scored a superb 121 off 96 balls. The Scotland Under-19 international was supported by 24 from Laavanya Varadarajan and 23 from Beth Haley as the visitors posted a strong 207/7 from their 30 overs. Murrayfield struggled to keep up the pace in response, falling to 139 all out. Abbey Gore was once again in the wickets, claiming a five-fer and conceding just 22 runs in the process.
West’s Women’s XI celebrate their victory in the shadow of Murrayfield Stadium.
There was also an impressive 9 wicket victory for our Sunday side at Hamilton Crescent who defeated Hillhead. Wickets were shared across the team as Hillhead posted 198/7, but it was with the bat that West’s class truly showed. Opening the batting, wicketkeeper James Scott scored a quickfire 52 off 41 balls before retiring not out. Swami Ananthanarayanan also retired on 52 after a classy maiden half-century knock for the club. Amad Khan (39*) and Athsham Hussain (27*) completed the job for West with more than 12 of their 40 overs to spare.
James Scott, Swami Ananthanarayanan and Amad Khan celebrate their batting exploits for the Sunday XI against Hillhead.
It’s a rare midweek without a game for the West sides. Look out for the Forecast later this week for information on next weekend’s games.
