latest win for 'locster under 11s

the under 11s finally got their season up-and-running at anniesland on friday, and ran out comfortable winners. there were three debutants to hard-ball league cricket and so it was encouraging to get win #1.  the tale of the match - played on a night that started in mid-summer, and ended in mid-winter weather conditions-wise! - was that, batting first, the home side made 229 for 7 under the adjusted scoring system in play in under 11s league cric'.  the 'locsters then successfully chased this - and more - finishing on 285 for 3 in their twenty overs.

for the 'locsters, on the bowling front, skipper ak'y was pick of the bunch with 2 for 5 in his five overs, kess grabbed 2 for 15, whilst hasan and robert - on debut - picked up a wicket each.  everyone bowled pretty well in fact with amit and lewis also sealing debuts with decent-enough displays with the ball.  well done guys.  and the bowlers were well supported in the field too.  jock breckenridge starts the season as 'keeper and put in a great display taking a running catch [ed: never easy with the gloves on] and letting only 2 byes through.  and hasan ran out accies' forbes with a direct hit from point - nice.  there were also good efforts from lewis (still recovering from a busted nose) and kess who covered a huge amount of grass chasing balls.

in reply the 'locsters' total was built around decent defence - only three wickets fell - and three sound innings from jock (6), hasan (9) and lewis (9).

everyone played their parts, although there's still plenty to do at preactice - see you monday guys.

latest pretty academic for 15s

the 15s saw seeing off their accies oppo' at shawholm, skittling their visitors for under 50 on friday night.  the damage was done by the new-ball combo' of hari' and umer who had accies 15 for 5 after five overs, with three and two wickets respectively.  at this juncture the skipper threw the ball to saad and humza and, tho' the visitors staged something of a recovery, it was only deferring the inevitable and the last wicket fell with the scoreboard showing just 45.

humza and the cricket champ' had grabbed two apiece, and umer had run out mccallum.  top scorer for the visitors was faith who made 16.

and 16 was to be the 'locsters' highest score too - shorty making this opening the batting before getting cleaned up by george clark.  and, at least momentarily, it was "interesting" when the 'loc's reply stood at 1 for 2 with max and nicholas black esq. both gone for blobs.  max'y bizarrely ran himself out; mr black was trapped leg-before.

scotty millen finally got himself an under 15 average too as he hit a 4 then departed, out caught, leaving hari' and josh to see the side home with more than ten overs to spare.

so a decent comeback after the disappointment of just losing out to the dark side the day before - next week ek come a-calling.

nearly but not quite

let's hope it's not the start of something!  bowl and field like diddys then nearly pull off a remarkable run chase.  what's wrong with the more traditional approach of bowling line-and-length, setting sensible fields, doing the basics in the field and then chasing down the target in regulation fashion?!?

we're talking about the 'locster 15s cup exist to the dark side.  147 for 3 beat 139 for 3.  bonkers scoreline - forget the ipl people, it's toytown titwood for thrills and spills.....the latter referring to outfield catches!

lets' start with some positives - the word that's in vogue just now: dani' and scotty showed they can punish rank bad bowling, saad showed he's a fearless wee cricketer, umer demonstrated he can worry the best batters at his age group, shorty again showed he can turn a ball square and saify demonstrated creditable technique up against the big boys.  so not all bad.

but this was a game that the 'loc could, and should have won - and we know hindsight's 20-20.  batting first the home side got off to a flyer.  in fact almost every new 'locster bowler seemed intent to bowl rubbish first over: umer's went for 13, saad's 14, shorty's 13, dani's 9.  hari', whose first went for just 5, joined in in over two though, going for 10.  and it was generally poor bowling, and it was punished.  long-hops and full tosses - ouchay guys!  umer did pull his stat's back bowling another three for just 9 runs, but the running start had given the 'dale the boost they were looking for.

the only home batter to fail was ex-'locster asad alam who swung and missed at four before being cleaned up by hari'.  in fact it'd be a tortured evening for asad as his first balls in a two-over spell went for 4 no balls.  and his two overs cost 17 - yikes.  for the dark side paddy barbour made 38 from 38 balls, whilst shreyas chitnis made 50 from 46 balls.  but the knock of the night was lyle hill's 47 from just 26 deliveries - extraordinary.  and it'd be his night as, arguably, his four overs for just 20 runs in the 'loc reply was crucial.

but the 'card doesn't tell you everything: the 'locsters dropped three or four catches in the outfield (hill being dropped off shorty's bowling, by hari', when on just 14!  and then there were the miss-fields.....it was horrible to watch; particularly gaulling given it's about all we've practised since indoor nets finished!  the shambles was best summed up when shrek miss-hit a ball into the infield and scampered a single.  the ball was fielded and thrown at the stumps at the bowler's end for 2 overthrows.  then it was collected and thrown at the same end, again, for a further 4 overthrows.  that'll be a 7 to chitnis then!  madness.  and even tho' at the time they don't believe it, every run lost in the field counts - remember guys fielding isn't just waiting to bat; it's when most matches are won.  throw in the 9 wides and no balls and you start to see how 147 could've been much, much less. as ever it's good to analyse what happened on the extra balls bowled resulting from the wides and no balls.  answer: 13 runs were scored.  so they actually cost the side 22!  so add in the 6 overthrows and you're at 28 already - guys, guys, guys,.....think!

to the 'loc reply.  saify opened to create a left-right combo' and to try get some early bunting in.  he batted manfully and would put on 55 with dani' for the first wicket, getting 12 himself.  when saify went scotty millen came in and the run rate had to improve.  the boys stuck to their tasks and to their strategy of waiting for bad balls.  and when halftime came they were 66 for 1.  82 needed off ten.  then, perhaps, a turning point.  the strategy stuttered.  no bad balls came.  only 2 were gained off 22 balls between the middle of over 10 and the end of over 13.  over 14 did produce 18, but this still meant the previous 28 balls had only produced 20 when a run-a-ball was needed.  12 then came off over 15 and the 'locsters were ten ahead of where the 'dale had been.  they were three ahead after seventeen, but crucially scotty had been dismissed, stumped off paddy barbour's bowling.  28 needed off 18 balls then.  dani' then retired having reached 52, leaving shorty and hari' to try and get the runs fresh to the middle.  they added to the score at a run-a-ball but it wouldn't be enough.  and even saad's heroics - 13 from six balls - couldn't bring the 'loc home.

so one that got away.  lessons to be learned and lots - lots - to improve on.  the first chance comes versus glasgow accies in the league.

and here's maybe the two biggest lessons: 1. "fielding's not waiting to bat"; and 2. scoring quickly is about scoring regularly, not just waiting to hit bad balls".  1. means the 'locsters must stay awake, think, and do the basics they've practised so hard in the winter.  2. means that a big chunk of the 61 dot balls in the 'locsters' innings - yes, more than half of the total balls! -  will become singles and more totals will chased down more quickly.

overall all then disappointing, but plenty to work on and lots more cric' to play!  revenge versus the 'dale 15s comes on the last game of the league season....

15s open up with easy win

the reigning under 15 champ's, the 'loc's under 15s, opened up their defence of their league title at bellsland on friday. 

the oppo', kilmarnock, put up a brave fight but were outclassed by a full-strength  'loc side.  20 all out was all killie mustered, a target reached inside three overs for none down.

winning the toss, skipper shorty inserted killie with rain in the air and a gloomy outlook forecast.  and, sure enough, with hari' and umer running in to bowl their respective first overs the rain started to fall.  luckily for the 'locsters the home side wickets fell as steadily as the drizzle with the h&m combo' causing all sorts of trouble. 

hari's first over cost just 1, umer's first ball was edged thru' shorty's fingers at first slip.  then it was 6 for 2 when hari' collected his cap after over three.  jordan flynn'd been cleaned up and number three marshman had been sent packing by a direct from the cricket champ' picking up and throwing from extra cover.  good stuff saad.

from this point it was all downhill for killie as only ollie raine offered any real resistance, again demonstrating against the 'loc that he's got sound technique.  but he was inexplicably run out by murphy!  here's some advice for the perhaps-too-timid mr raine: "no!!!".  stand your ground, send'em back we say....

raine's wicket was the sixth to go down and was the main event before the josh sajjad show.  josh came on second change and, in 7 balls, cleaned up the tail: 1.1-0-2-3 - nice.  19 all out.  the only downside: 9 extras, including 7 wides!

the 'loc's run chase was efficient and brief.  20 racked up in eighteen balls.  thanks, too, to killie for 14 of these being extras.  max'y and nicholas black esq. were the openers; both finished unbeaten.

next week sees two more games; a far more formidable trip to toytown in the cup followed by entertaining glasgow accies at home the day afterwards.