The Roon’d-up: Pillay masterclass conquers Kelburne
The Roon’d-Up is our regular summary of events on the field at West over the 2026 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 events on at Hamilton Crescent.
Saturday
A dominant all-round performance from Allied Vehicles West of Scotland’s overseas star Mekyle Pillay inspired an emphatic eight-wicket victory over Kelburne at Hamilton Crescent. Opening the bowling, the South African produced a superb display, removing opener Gurveer Singh with his second ball before going on to claim figures of 6 for 33 as the visitors crumbled to 86 all out. His efforts were backed by a tight spell from the ever-reliable Graeme Etheridge, who finished with 2 for 24, while James Fennah and Tony Hulatt also claimed a wicket apiece. Despite the early loss of Ramsay Brown, West were never seriously troubled in their chase of 87. Pillay continued his remarkable afternoon with an unbeaten 42 from just 25 balls, including three sixes, while youngster Avaneesh Yilapavanam provided excellent support with 31 not out. West reached their target inside 16 overs to maintain fourth place in Premiership One with two games remaining.
The Partick XI, meanwhile, inflicted only a second defeat of the season on Whitehaugh, winning a topsy-turvy encounter by 59 runs in Paisley. It seemed an unlikely victory early on as the visitors slipped to 24 for 4, with opening bowler Blair Cameron making hay. However, a quickfire 56 from 58 balls, including seven fours, from Andrew Galloway helped West regain some momentum. When he was dismissed with the score on 120 for 9, though, it looked as if Partick would fall short of a defendable total. Enter number 10 Jainill Vadalia and number 11 Gurjit Singh. The pair produced a battling display, putting on an unbeaten 46 for the final wicket to swing the game back in West’s favour, with Vadalia finishing on 25 not out and Singh 28 not out. Spin proved decisive in the reply as dangerous and stingy spells from Ben Cole (4 for 18) and Jonny Williams (3 for 18) saw Whitehaugh crumble to 107 all out. Fittingly, the final wicket came via a stumping from Tanishq Charde off the bowling of Vadalia to complete a remarkable victory. The win sees Partick leapfrog Titwood into second place and, with two weeks remaining, keeps alive an outside chance of claiming the Championship One title.
It was another difficult day for the Hamilton Crescent XI, as missed chances in the field came back to haunt them in a 31-run defeat at Anniesland. Despite the early wicket of Qasim Qayyum, Anniesland built welll as both Kush Patel (71) and Anandu Sivan (54) were dropped on low scores, allowing the pair to make the most of their reprieves and take the hosts to 157 for 2. Shaheer Hussain then dragged West back into the contest with an impressive 4 for 32, but Anniesland still closed their 40 overs on 208 for 8. In reply, Hussain and Rehan Mirza Ahmed put on 36 for the opening wicket, but runs proved difficult to come by against the new ball, with Akshat Gupta conceding just 15 runs from his eight overs. Swami Ananthanarayanan produced another accomplished batting display, scoring 43, while a quickfire 23 from just 11 balls by Manish Kaushik offered some late hope. Ultimately, however, the target proved too much and West finished on 177 for 9. The defeat pulls Hamilton Crescent into the relegation battle, holding just a slender points advantage over 9th placed Anniesland with two games of the season remaining.
Sunday
On Sunday, West Women’s 2nd XI concluded their season with a defeat to Westquarter & Redding Women. Two wickets apiece for Cammy, Inaya, Sanjana and Anita gave West a strong start with the ball, while contributions from Amy, Cammy and Inaya with the bat helped keep the visitors in contention. Ultimately, however, it wasn't enough to secure victory. Westquarter & Redding finish top of the Women's Challenger League - West group, with West runners-up.
Meanwhile, the XL Club lifted the John Cameron Memorial Trophy at Hamilton Crescent, defeating our Sunday XI by 28 runs. Batting first, the XL Club posted 206 from their 35 overs, with Anshu Kapila scoring 50 and holding a 90-run second-wicket partnership with Hafeez Siddique before West squad members Jonny Williams (18), Jesse Mills (25*) and Graeme Etheridge (23*) all turned out for the visitors. There were wickets across the Sunday XI attack, however, with James Fennah, Manish Kaushik, Adhrit Singh, Oliver Leadbitter and Tanmay Nikam all finding success. In reply, an impressive partnership between former 1st XI captain Fennah (50) and Akshat Fondekar (50) took the Sunday side to 123/2, but they ultimately fell short, finishing on 178/3 from their 35 overs.
The players celebrate the inaugural presentation of the John Cameron Trophy.
