2nd 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) 

Nine men nearly show [posted 21/08/10]

It was The Shawholm Nine that travelled to the Henry Thow Oval to play St Ninian's in the final Western Union league fixture of 2010.  And despite the deep sigh that the skipper no doubt exhaled at selection it's probably entirely fair that the season didn't end on other than the note it started on: namely, player unavailability.  This reporter's mother used to say something like "Start as you mean to go on", well the club's cricketers certainly have done that this season - some have been unavailable at the start, and the finish,.....and most parts in between!  So it was nine that travelled - mind you makes travelling easy!  The nine included The Sajjad Three, thanks again to young Kess who is now a virtual 'Holmboy regular and again put in the kind of performance that well nigh justifies his inclusion.  He must've run miles in the open spaces that were the HTO on Saturday afternoon as - in the second half - the boys just didn't quite do enough to get the wickets they needed to sneak a famous [Ed: or would that've been an infamous win] in the dark.  Eight down was the St Ninian's scoreboard display as they limped over the finish line courstesy of,.....an overthrow.  Birch finished unbeaten for the home side, his 30-odd adding to Phil Stafford's earlier 62, these two knocks in the middle and lower orders being the main reasons their side getting the win.  The 'Holmboys had bowled pretty well - as virtually no extras showed - and the efforts put in by the nine in the field were admirable, particularly taking in account the fact that three of the four 'Holmboy bowlers were fasting as part of Ramadan.  It was a great effort by the boys.  Throw in three or four rain breaks in the second innings, a ball that resembled,.....well resembled something other than a ball by the end and was as slippery as a very slippery thing, and - yup - this was a big effort that just came up short.  Josh was back opening the bowling and produced the standout figures, grabbing a "4-for".  Hari' struggled a little with his length, but still got through eight overs.  Zaeem bowled another long spell - this week getting through fourteen overs, and even Youngy had to roll his arm over.  Or should that be "round" given the old man's season-by-season lowering arm angle!  Eight down then, and defeat in the dark, damp and chill of a past-8pm west coast evening.  Well batted to the home side though, not least Birch who accepted the gift of being dropped three times (!) by fielders who couldn't hold on to the bar of soap masquerading as a ball, and to Stafford Snr. who made the most of being dropped behind and getting the benefit of some strong LBW appeals while still in single figures.  201 was the target, and it was reached with those overthrows.  Perhaps summing up the second half, in fact it was overthrows after a mis-hit by Birch to mid-off had been grassed.  Sigh.  But hey-ho, maybe it's right that when we don't field eleven we don't win - maybe there's something we have to learn there?  No criticism to the nine who played, but as was said earlier in the year when the 'Holmboys had to concede a match - others have to ask themselves what their priorities are, and what their obligations to their club-mates, and club, are.

The first innings was much different though: good contributions from the seven batters who batted.  All bar JP - who got a good ball - made runs, with an impressive sixth-wicket partnership from Elliott and Zaeem that saw them bat from the 31st over to the end of the innings.  Poor Kess was sitting gagging for a bat, all padded up, for nineteen overs!  Unlucky wee man.  Elliott finished 34 not out, Zaeem 42 not out.  Both batted sensibly, and both got their due return in runs accummulated.  Before them there'd been runs for Saif, Hari', Ross and Josh too.  Josh top-scoring of those four with 41.  Well batted to each. 

So defeat on the last day, and maybe a season of "what might've been".  With their strongest eleven fielded, the 'Holmboys were certainly too good for this division.  But this happened about twice.  It's a season where the single biggest memory will be lack of availability.  The good thing is that this is at least - or should be at least - easy to fix...... 

And of course staying in Division 4 means we avoid Division 3!  Let's hope results went our way tho' on the final Saturday,.....and Hughenden got up!   

2nd XI WDCU and cup fixtures 2010

The 2nd XI compete in the WDCU Fourth Division as well as the Glasgow Cup, a Twenty20 knock-out competition.

Senior practice

Senior coaching and net practice takes place, at Shawholm, on Tuesday and Thursday evenings starting at 6.30pm sharp.  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 grass 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.

2009 - a season in review

Another season of ups and downs, and - ultimately - "who knows"?  We say this as the WDCU powers-that-be attend to winter admin', Cricket Scotland and the SNCL clubs ponder national league reconstruction, and all Western Union sides await the outcome of a SNCL play-off involving First Division champ's Kelburne.  Complicated or what!

2009 did however see lots of positives as a very young Shawholm XI scrapped in WDCU Division Three.  Most weeks saw two or three Under 13s featuring in the side, with Saif Sajjad, Elliott Rousen and Saad Salim playing 26 leagues games between them.  And all contributed: Saad's two scores of 30 helped him score nearly 100 league runs, whilst Saify held seven catches keeping wicket in more games than not.  Elliott, too, contributed, not least in the shambolic last game of the season when he batted with Matty Coyle at the death to see the side through to the necessary points haul to avoid finishing bottom.  But it wasn't just the Under 13s who performed well - Craig Young and Aamir Kayani, also still juniors, formed an effective opening partnership for much of the season.  Muscles scored 234 league runs with a memorable 96 in the win over Killie.  Pasty meanwhile, in just ten innings as he moved between the 1st and 2nd XIs, made 296 runs at 33 and was just pipped for top run scorer by Jeremy King who played in every 'Holmboys' match and scored 389 at 30 including 126 at Langloan.  Toko was a welcome addition to the side, and along with Youngy, were often the only non-juniors on parade.  The latter skippered the side in his first year outside the SNCL at the club and was the fourth batter to score 100+ league runs, spending the season chaperoning the tail.

With the ball there were promising signs from the youngsters too; Amir Ullah, Josh Sajjad and Pasty all bowled lots of overs - almost 180 overs between them.  Pasty proved a regular wicket-taker too, taking fifteen league wickets at 27, whilst Joshy and Batspeed got sixteen wickets between them.  Getting one more wicket than Pasty - and proving himself adept at cleaning up tails - was Toko, with sixteen scalps.  An all-rounder was born!  But top of the pile wickets-wise was Youngy who, despite not bowling in a couple of matches, somehow managed to take 32 league wickets, including two "5-fors" and a "6-for".  Not too shabby after six seasons of being required for only one-spell-a-year by the 'Loc skipper!

What else to say about season '09?  Well - firstly - and unfortunately - it was another season where player/umpires cheating was far too often the subject of match reports.  Depressing or what.  And, as in '08, it rained a lot.  Throw in too many league games on astro-turf for this scribe's liking [Ed: i.e. more than none!] and some away fixtures were as enjoyable as negotiating with Barometer Bawa over abandoning a match in a monsoon!  But there were positives and it's hoped they've been highlighted.  Biggest plusses must remain the attitude and sheer enthusiasm of the youngsters.  Toko coming to the club was another big bonus - cheers.  And the progress of the youngsters', performance-wise, was also evident to see.  This is best seen in the performances of Aamir and Craig: in 2008 Aamir managed just 27 runs in seven innings; in 2009 he made, as noted, over 200.  Craig meanwhile, still Under 15, made 108 runs in eleven innings in 2008, this rising to nearly 300 in one less knock in 2009.  So the improvement's there to be seen.  And, with another winter indoor programme to come, it's hoped all the club's youngsters will continue to improve.  Here's to 2010, and sunshine?!?