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poloc cricket club

1st xi news and match reports


(please note that no offence is intended to any third party in the undernoted match reports that are produced with the primary intention of [hopefully] entertaining club members)

safely thru'.....just

glasgow accies were the 'loc's oppo' in the first round of the [now named] murgitroyd rowan cup.  as defending champ's you'd have thought everyone'd be "right up for it" as regards getting out there - 'especially now there's money at stake.  but in typical 'loc fashion there were call offs on the day - the most notable being lexicon's call saying he was still in blackpool (?) the afternoon after the night before, having be in manchester for some fighting,....sorry, footy, the day before.  drafted in were baby and doogie.
 
batting first the oppo' made a respectable 100 for 7, murray (28) and soman (19) top-scoring in the middle order after a sluggish start and early wickets threatened to derail their side.  and it was the return of golden arm that was the main cause of the top order collapse.  dg walton esq. had been seen scraping a spike just north of the stumps at the scoreboard end pre-match; little did observers realise he was marking out a bowling run up!  and bowl he did: 4-1-21-3 thank you very much, the three being none other than numbers 2, 3 and 4!  welcome back ga - you're a veritable bowling all-rounder!  elsewhere in the bowling stakes im'y showed his class returning 4-1-6-2 no less - mind you the dangermen had all gone, eh danny-boy?!?
 
101 to win then.  no cause for panic, nice and steady, run the singles, scoreboard ticking over, blah-di-blah.  eh, nope.  37 for 4 with the bowling all-rounder gone for 7, bean gone too for 10, mohsin for 5 and nj for 4.  "hmmm",...and for not the first time in recent times.  luckily the man-in-form, matty coyle, steadied things and his middle order 21 would prove vital.  as would the accies' bowlers generosity on the extras front: 11 wides gave the 'loc said number of runs but, crucially, an additional nine balls.  and they'd need'em.
 
with the last over starting, 11 were needed.  and it was now persil and baby at the crease.  andar was bowling.  1124 were the first four balls and it was advantage poloc.  then when ball #5 flicked the pad and skuttled to the boundary the 'board showed 102 for 8 and victory was secured.  who needs the full complement of deliveries; send the unused one back!

next round - round two - sees ferguslie visit shawholm.
 
catches win....
 
okay, here's saturday's match in summary form: 'loc bat first and properly compile competitive 204 for 4 with boothy getting unbeaten 83.  part 1 complete; check.  part 2 requires early breakthrough, getting oppo' pro' in and then - if possible - sending him packing a.s.a.p. too.  over 2 of the feegie reply.  young 'keeper/batter dave stafford miss-pulls 'lexy delivery and is out c&b.  enter de lange.  couple of deliveries of deliveries later "snick!" - ball to first slip, waist-high, into hands,.....out of hands,.....into hands again,.....out of hands again!  oops.  34 overs later de lange collects bottle of bubbly as m.o.t.m. after unbeaten 98 secures win for his side.  oopsy.

the 'loc's first three league defeats have, therefore, seen the oppo's pro's score - in order - 163*, 62 and 98*.  they're averaging 323 against us!  and, they've each been dropped early enough on to have made a difference.  that's why we love cric' i guess.
 
and to rub salt into the de lange-inflicted wound, the 'loc's efforts yesterday amount to nil points.  hmm.

to the detail: as said, the 'loc's innings was a "proper" one.  on a drizzly day with three or four rain interruptions, and a after a delayed start, the 'loc's top order performed.  openers bean and dan put on 28 for the first wicket, before dan and sal' added 35 for the second.  then spen' and boothy had a 95-run partnership before im'y's cameo 12 with boothy added 36 - im'y despatching a nice maximum in the process.  so, a proper innings: steady start, batters batting in pairs, the pro' doing his part and time at the end for a hit.  204 for 4 was thought by all - including the home side - a pretty good target given the conditions.  feegie had, of course, failed to get near this in their last outing on [possibly] a better deck at bcp the week before.
 
but a stiff target it didn't turn out to be in the end - 207 was rattled up inside 37 overs when de lange smacked a straight 4 to finish unbeaten on 98 [ed: "thanks omer" i'm sure being con's instinctive reaction to his partner blazing away at the other end to prevent him reaching three figures :-)].  so what had happened?

well as good as the batting was, the bowling and fielding was bad.  granted the almost continuous drizzle didn't help; "bar of soap" being the usual illustrative term.  but, still, de lange's "life" was probably the turning point.  without majid haq, their "overseas amateur" and even grizzled veteran rutters, the home side's batting line up wasn't its usual length.  getting de lange out would've changed the pressure level on skipper murray and number four omer hussain.  but he wasn't caught, and the pressure didn't change.....and the 'loc didn't win.
 
but it wasn't just de lange who was dropped.  opener murray, who made an impressive 65, was dropped a number of times as well as seeing edges fly through gaps.  there were stumping opportunities, run out chances and more miss-fields than in a beauty pageant at an agricultural show!  as said, catches win...
 
but you've always got to look for positives - and there were some.  yet again the 'loc boys felt afterwards that the scorecard didn't accurately reflect the game.  the gap between the sides hadn't been that wide.  feegie's bowlers had struggled too, three going at 5s or higher.  so the positives: a much better batting display, boothy getting runs, spen' playing a crucial anchor role in the key partnership, and the side generating plenty of chances to take key wickets.  the negatives we've already covered.  of the bowlers, probably only bean comes out with real credit as his ten overs cost just 38.
 
next week it's league leaders carlton at home.  i wonder if the boys'll get their pro' out?  what did he do in week #3?  oh yeh, 130*.....


the 1st xi


2007 was yet another "poloc special", by which of course we mean it was a roller coaster of a ride!  two cup wins and a semi-final were interspersed by league form that would make an east stirling fan blush!  [ed: apologies to the non-footy fans and overseas visitors out there who just don't get that one!]  to the detail of the season.

2007 started with pro' garry hampson returning to shawholm for another year, bringing with him another young south african - this time in the [not inconsiderable] shape of robin "cheesy" cheesman.  cheesy would prove to be an enigma with the blade, often getting "out" just when he looked "in" - but it would, ultimately, be a match-winning knock from him against aberdeenshire that would see the side survive in the premier division.  to that game later however.  aside cheesy's arrival, 2007 saw other big changes in the side: drew parson, mo' saeed and dan walton no longer featured, with drooper moving to pro' at irvine, and mo' and dan seeing work commitments keep them away.  these three had averaged 86 in the league in '06 and replacing them would be difficult,.....so difficult, the club didn't manage to!  and a lack of runs would prove the side's achilles' heel  2006 saw the top eleven batters in the league average 230 between'em, 2007 saw this team average collapse to just 184 - the "missing" 50-odd runs being the cause of most league defeats.  and there were lots of those!  in fact '07 saw only two wins as heriot's and west of scotland were seen off.

but it wasn't just the batting that frustrated - the rain started in may and went off in september!  only twelve of eighteen matches were played as the scottish "summer" fell foul of the trade description act.

and so as august finished the 'loc found themselves in a relegation/promotion play-off decider with aberdeenshire who'd finished runners-up in the first division.  neutral venue - new williamfield - was the scene of the drama as the 'loc posted 213 batting first.  cheesy's 71 was pivotal, with hampo's 39 and sal's 44 being equally valuable.  and when the dons were 44 for 7 in reply it looked all over.  162 for 7 looked a tad different tho'!  and only when 'lexy nipped out mcgillewie for 76 could the 'loc faithful exhale!  a typical roller-coaster.....all in one game!

the season then finished in style as premier division rivals ayr were beaten in a close rowan cup final to see the club land the west district's twenty20 cup for the second time in four years.

what will '08 bring?  who knows, but it'll certainly not be dull!


senior practice


senior coaching and net practice takes place, at shawholm, on tuesday and thursday evenings starting at 6.30pm. sessions involve net practice whenever possible but, even if underfoot conditions are not conducive to having "nets", fielding and catching practice is undertaken.
 
the club has a large practice square with two mobile net cages as well as an all-weather, concrete base net.
 
indoor net sessions are also organised from time-to-time both pre-season and during the season (when weather conditions prevent any outdoor work).
 
outdoor practice sessions start in april and run throughout the season - new members (of whatever standard) are always welcome.
 
directions to shawholm can be found on the "contact us" section of the website.


1st sncl and cup fixtures 2007 and 2008


the 1st xi compete in the sncl premier league as well as the scottish cup, scotland's national club knock-out competition.  in addition, the side competes in the cockspur cup, a uk-wide knock-out cup competition and two west district cup competitions, the twenty20 rowan cup and the west league cup.  the latter is played in two sections: a preliminary "round robin" league, followed by knock-out semi-finals and a final.


friendly fixtures (including pre-season matches)


as well as competitive league and cup matches, the 1st xi also play a number of [mainly sunday] friendly matches.  these provide invaluable "time in the middle" for batters and allow younger players to be "blooded".