The Roon’d-up: West and Partick maintain momentum
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.
A sun-drenched weekend saw West of Scotland's First XI claim an important win over East Kilbride, keeping their championship hopes alive with a composed four-wicket victory in South Lanarkshire. After winning the toss and opting to bat, East Kilbride struggled early against disciplined bowling. Dave McNulty led the charge with a superb spell, taking 3 wickets for just 10 runs from his allocated 10 overs. Fellow opening bowler Gurjit Singh supported ably, as they worked together to reduce the hosts to 22/4 by the 11th over. Though East Kilbride’s middle order mounted a brief recovery, spinners Tony Hulatt and captain James Fennah shared six wickets between them to bowl EK out for 155. Despite a spirited effort from East Kilbride’s premier bowler Jack Loram, who claimed 4 wickets, West’s chase remained on track. Contributions from Junaid Malik (32) and Sam Page (28) guided them home with over 16 overs to spare.
In Western Championship One, the Partick XI also delivered a convincing seven wicket win against Cambusdoon. After being asked to bowl first, Partick’s attack quickly took control. Opening bowlers Sarwar Mohammad and Santosh Kadavath struck early, each taking two wickets, while spinner Zeyd Clayburn was especially economical, returning figures of 1/18 from his 10 overs. Athsham Hussein and captain Johnny Williams also chipped in with two wickets apiece, limiting Ayr’s second string to a modest 148/9 from their full 50 overs. In reply, Partick’s chase was measured and assured. Wicketkeeper Andy Carswell led the way with a composed 54, supported by Andy Appleton (29). Williams (20) and Matt Farr (11*) sealed the win with 27 overs to spare, underlining a professional team performance.
Hamilton Crescent couldn’t complete the clean sweep, however, suffering a heavy 161-run defeat to a strong Renfrew 2nd XI. Renfrew started brightly, racing to 85/3 inside 13 overs. Youngster Himansh Joshi offered some resistance with a composed spell of 1/15 from five overs, briefly stemming the tide. But the damage came late, as Hijratullah Omarkhil lit up the closing overs with an unbeaten 101 from just 85 balls, propelling Renfrew to an imposing total. In reply, West’s chase never quite sparked into life. A composed 27 from Gregor MacDowall and some big hitting from skipper Moosa Vakil (23) gave fleeting hope, but Renfrew’s Taral Khasiya proved too much, claiming four wickets to dismiss West well short of the target.
The Sunday XI couldn’t overcome a strong Stenhousemuir outfit at Hamilton Crescent, falling to an eight-wicket defeat despite a promising start with the bat. Openers Ali Maddock (24) and India Harrison (32) laid a solid platform with a 50-run partnership, before contributions from Swami Ananthanarayanan (26) and Akshat Fondekar (31) carried West to a respectable 187 all out with the final wicket falling on the last ball of the innings. Early breakthroughs in the reply gave West hope, with Andrew Strong removing opener Quin and Abdul Hameed dismissing Iftikar to reduce the visitors to 45/2. However, Stenhousemuir took full control from there, with Townsend and Atif both reaching half-centuries that saw them chase down the target with ten overs to spare.
On Thursday Partick visit Victoria at Bellahouston Park in the quarter final of the Greenwood Trophy, a 6pm start.
