Cricketers enjoy a friendly jaunt to Northumberland

Apr 16 2009 by Eric MacKinnon, West Lothian Courier

ON Easter Saturday a party of 16 players from West Lothian County Cricket Association travelled down to Seahouses in Northumberland and only narrowly lost a pre-season friendly match against a Bamburgh/Benwell Hill Invitation XI.

Benwell Hill play in the North East Premier League, so they are a very strong team, making this a great challenge for the West Lothian XI boys.

Their home matches are played on Castle Green which sits below historic Bamburgh Castle. The weather was lovely and sunny at the start of play but got colder in the evening.

This was a great chance for both teams to have a match under excellent conditions this early in the season before the start of SNCL hostilities which start on Saturday May 2.

Benwell Hill won the toss and decided to bat first in the 40 overs per team match.

After their 40 overs Benwell Hill had scored 166 for 8, their captain A. Maiden made 93, T. Cant 19 and F. Fisken not out 15.

West Lothian bowlers enjoyed a good start to their season, playing against Premier League opponents from the North East.

Five bowlers took wickets Gus McNab 2 for 15, Anthony McKenna 2 for 19, Andy Raven 2 for 33, Mattie Norris 1 for 33 and Alan Williamson 1 for 44. After tea County chased the 167 runs required for victory.

David Drylie and Andrew Hamilton opened the batting for County. Drylie made 36 and Hamilton contributed 21, this was great knocks from the two of them who opened the first XI batting on quite a few occasions last season.

Two of the County all rounders also made great contributions with both Anthony McKenna and Alan Williamson scoring 32 each.

Captain Andy Raven made 14 not out and wicketkeeper Ken Thomson was 4 not out. County made 163 for 7 in their 40 overs and finished three runs short of a winning start.

Off the last ball Ken Thomson needed to score a boundary 4 but could only manage one run. The team had a good run out on grass for the first time in 2009.

This Saturday County First XI travel to Stirling for a friendly match against a Stirling County First XI at New Williamfield with a scheduled 1pm start.

Boghall will have their first match of the new season when County Second XI have take part in a friendly against a Westquarter XI from nearby Falkirk with, again, a 1pm start.

George Strachan, the club head groundsman and his dedicated band of helpers have been beavering away since mid-March to get Boghall ready for a busy season of cricket.