West Lothian County Cricket action

Aug 19 2010 West Lothian Courier

WEST LOTHIAN County Cricket Association’s First XI stayed fourth after Edinburgh enjoyed a capital gain on their travels.

The visitors batted first, notching 289 for eight in 50 overs, with U Farooq scoring 71, K Hussain on 46, A Mir with 40, Anthony McKenna three for 44 and Gregor Thomson two for 40.

County bowlers had a bad afternoon, conceding 36 extras, which was later to prove costly.

After tea County batted, chasing 290 runs for victory.

The highlight of the innings was a partnership of 151 for the fourth wicket between Jared Cookson (83) and Kruger Van Wyk (62).

Other County batsmen made promising starts but then faltered in the teens.

Captain Andy Raven was not out on 15, while Michael Miller, was not out on four.

County ended up on the losing end by 29 runs, after a bad afternoon bowling and fielding.

Edinburgh picked up 10 points for the win, with County collecting two bonus points, which keeps them in fourth place in the SNCL Second Division.

The County Second XI were also in action as they hosted Murrayfield/DAFS Second XI at Boghall on Sunday afternoon in the East League Division Three.

Murrayfield/DAFS won the toss and chose to make first use of a batting-friendly Boghall wicket.

Opener Setty was dismissed by Jordan Hamilton after scoring just five.

A solid but unspectacular partnership took DAFS past 50, before they lost three wickets for just 13 runs, as the twos fought their way back — with George Heath (3-27) doing the damage for the second week in a row.

DAFs recovered as Banks hit an attacking 49, but with Baikie (20) the only lower order batsman to make a significant contribution, they posted 202-9, which looked an achievable target.

Bruce Kilpatrick (2-45) and Hamilton (2-31) were the other main wicket-takers.

In response, the twos quickly passed 50, with Alan Whitton hitting a half century.

However, he and Ken Thomson departed within five overs as the gap narrowed.

After some stabilisation, two wickets once again fell in quick succession to leave the score on 99-4.

Good running between the wickets then saw Dougie Voas (45) and Alan Williamson (33) wrestle back the initiative, but both fell as it looked like they would see the team home.

Snedden and Raven then followed, as the rollercoaster match swung back towards DAFs once again.

Late heroics from Heath and Kilpatrick saw the team home though, with Heath hitting a four off the last ball of the match to claim victory.

And the County Third XI hosted Largo Third XI at Gyle Park in Edinburgh in the East League Division Seven.

County batted first, scoring 203 for six in 45 overs – with Chris Ronaldson 58 not out, Angus McNab 33, Pat Bennie 28 not out,Andrew Newman 20, P Pass three for 31.

After tea Largo batted, scoring 90 all out in 36 overs, with S Gillespie 18 and A Matthews 12. David Brown four for 21, Pat Bennie three for 28 and Andrew Newman two for 16.

County won the match by 113 runs and collect 20 points, with Largo picking up five bonus points.

With two matches to be played, County are still unbeaten after 13 games.

Finally, on Sunday morning, West Lothian Under-15 XI travelled to Edinburgh to play Carlton Under-15 XI at Grange Loan in the East of Scotland Under-15 Cup semi-final.

Carlton batted first scoring 111 for four in 20 overs, with G Currie 50 not out, Michael Miller two for 13 and Jonty Small one for 15.

West Lothian batted and scored 88 for six in 20 overs, with Michael Miller hitting 35 not out and Gregor Thomson scoring 25. G Currie hit nine, C Everett one for 12 and W Brown one for 15.

Carlton won the match by 23 runs to claim their place in the final.