West Lothian cricket round-up

May 20 2010 by Eric MacKinnon, West Lothian Courier

ALL three of the West Lothian County Cricket Association’s sides were in action this week with two winning and one slipping to defeat.

On Saturday, West Lothian Lightning returned to league business after their cup heroics the previous week and high flying Renfrew provided a stern test of their title credentials at Boghall.

The visitors won the toss and elected to bat first on another beautifully prepared Linlithgow wicket and showed they meant business by smashing 12 from the first over of their innings.

West Lothian's bowlers realised they would have to be on the top of their game to prevent the free scoring Renfrew professional Ashmal Said from racking up the runs and it was captain Andy Raven who captured his key wicket — bowling him with 21 runs on the board.

Scotland hopeful Tony McKenna supplied another fantastic spell of pace which strangled the visitors allowing Raven to pick up a further two wickets with his range of varied deliveries.

At 133 for 6 it looked like job done for the Linlithgow based side but the Renfrew lower order had other ideas and came out all guns blazing to propel their final tally to 229.

The West Lothian response started badly with Landsberg and Drylie removed cheaply and at 21 for two Renfrew sensed victory.

The home professional van Wyk and overseas amateur Cookson had other ideas though and their arrival at the crease launched the match winning partnership.

The pair knocked off the required total batting sensibly with an awesome display of physical endurance putting on 209 together with 160 runs scored running between the wickets.

The excitable Renfrew players frustrations boiled over as cramp set in for both batsmen but they battled bravely on and victory was achieved in the 46 over to give West Lothian maximum points.

Van Wyk finished on 114 not out (his second hundred in a row) and Cookson 92 not out.

The Two’s travelled to Inverleith Park looking to build on last week's win.

Inserted on a wicket of irregular early bounce, they struggled until a 50 partnership between Paul and uninjured Kev built the foundations.

The home side's reply started similarly, thanks to excellent opening spells from Gregor and Jordan but their middle order's aggression saw them to 184-4 with a comfortable victory in sight.

However, controlled bowling by young all rounder Michael turned the game upside down with a hat-trick, and well supported by older all rounder Diamond B, and three stumping's from the ubiquitous Snedds gave the Two’s an outside chance of a famous victory.

However, the calming influence of the older heads at the bottom of their order saw the home side stagger over the finishing line to claim the 20 points, with the Twos picking up 11.

The County Third XI travelled to Edinburgh to play Edinburgh South Second XI at Inch Park.

County batted first, scoring 173 all out in 41 overs, Jamie Smith 64, Blair Neilands 27 and Andrew Newman 18 not out.

After tea Edinburgh South batted and scored 167 all out in 43 overs, with Z. Rupani 35 and S. Bardabad 29, Andrew Newman 4 for 20 and Jamie Smith 2 for 27.

County won the match by six runs and get 20 points, with Edinburgh South receiving 11 bonus points. County are unbeaten after three League wins in East League Division Seven.

West Lothian Under 13s played their third league game of the season on Monday against Heriot’s at Goldenacre.

Heriot’s won the toss and batted first. The early batsmen scored well, the opener A Anderson hitting an aggressive 32 before having to retire, and the score was 64 before the second wicket fell.

However, West Lothian then fought back well, taking the last nine wickets for 20 runs. The fielding continues to improve, Rory Thomson and Jamie Szkudlarek took great catches, Adam Blumski poached a caught and bowled with an assist from Matthew Bromilow, and there were two runouts.

The bowling was a highlight, with a much better line and length achieved by all bowlers.

Jamie Szkudlarek bowled a very tight spell, conceding only five runs from his four overs, Adam Blumski took three wickets, Matthew Bromilow took two wickets in his first competitive bowl, and there were wickets also for Rory Thomson, Andrew Sutton and Alexander Ralston.

Heriots finished on 84 all out of the last ball.

The West Lothian innings got off to a bad start when both openers were given out LBW when playing forward to right arm around the wicket deliveries.

After the opening bowlers were seen off, having taken four wickets, the remaining bowlers struggled, and the extras piled up.

Unfortunately the batsmen were unable to capitalise, and other than a sweet clip for four from Sohail Hamed, runs proved hard to come by.

Three runout's also showed there is work to do in training on judging and calling runs. The team were all out for 58, losing by 26 runs.

On Wednesday, May 12, West Lothian County u15 played Penicuik u15 at Kirkhill in the Lothian u15 League.

County batted first and scored 116 for 2 in their 20 overs, with Gregor Thomson 49 not out, Michael Miller 36 and Alistair Napoli 23 not out. Penicuik then batted and were bowled out for 48 in 20 overs.

Rory Thomson 3 for 7, Rory Sheehan 2 for 7, Jonty Small 2 for 10, Chris Whitton 1 for 2 and Jordan Hamilton 1 for 4. County u15 won by 68 runs.