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12:08pm February 10th, 2010 By bbcscotlandcricket
I'm not sure how we did it, but we did... "We are staying up, we are staying up."
Apologies for the lengthy shutdown. However, we can all look forward to another season in the middle tier of the Western Division Cricket Union's Evening Leagues.
The AGM to discuss the forthcoming campaign, which will be our third, will be held at Clydesdale Cricket Club on 10 February. Try and make it along.
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12:24pm August 1st, 2009 By bbcscotlandcricket
22 July WDCU Evening League Division Two – BBC Scotland v Vale of Leven
BBC Scotland recorded an emphatic nine wicket victory over fellow strugglers Vale of Leven to spark some hope of Division Two survival.
The bottom of the table clash only just went ahead after a fraught and disorganised pre-match build-up. With Titwood waterlogged and Auldhouse swarming with Queen’s Park footballers, the game was eventually switched to Nether Pollok; a much maligned track, but one which is starting to prove a good hunting ground for the BBC.
Peter Mellis, captain for the night, won the toss and controversially elected to bowl. After thirteen runs had been hit off the first over, it looked like another long night ahead.
However, finally a slice of luck came the way of the home team. In the third over a smart piece of fielding by Ewan Crawford and poor calling by the batsmen allowed Tony Followell to run out opener Mo Qayyom – a former Afghan international.
Qayyom looked to have his eye in and his wicket was a crucial turning point in BBC Scotland's favour.
No Vale batsman was allowed to settle and the wickets came steadily. Followell's 3-14 and Bharat Balani's 2-16 were both impressive, while David Blane too got in on the act with a couple of wickets and a tight spell of 1-5 from Colin Moffat ensured there would be no repeat of the previous week's debacle.
The bowling was aided by an aggressive and efficient field and the skipper can take great encouragement from the success of the field placings. Vale gamely batted out their overs but their score of 70-9 was a mouth-watering target.
Memories of that first league collapse at Cumbernauld last season have now all but vanished from the consciousness of this team, but it never feels like a complete disaster is that far away.
When Ewan Crawford was dismissed for a third ball duck, it would have been easy to panic. But Mellis and Nick Rougvie offered a combination of experience and maturity and they stuck to their task diligently.
Rougvie (22 no) played several splendid cuts for four and one huge six back over the bowler's head. There was particular delight for Mellis, however, who created an impressive wagon wheel of boundaries on his way to a season's best, 31 not out.
His joy was clear for all to see and for him this should be a line drawn in the sand of what has been an otherwise disappointing season. It may well be too for the whole team.
Vale of Leven: 70-9
BBC: 72-1 (10.3 overs)
MOTM: Peter Mellis
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12:08pm August 1st, 2009 By bbcscotlandcricket
15 July WDCU Evening League Division Two – Clyde v BBC Scotland
A few weeks back this reporter used a golfing metaphor to describe the difficulties of putting together all the elements at the same time to get a good result. Another bit of golfing advice is never to count your score before the end of your round.
Welcome to the eighteenth over of BBC Scotland's match away to Clyde.With some sound fielding and excellent bowling for seventeen overs, BBC Scotland had restricted Clyde to 76-4.
David Blane, Humphrey Tauro and Bharat Balani all left with excellent bowling figures. They would have been better still had Peter Mellis held onto a pull to 'cow corner' in the 16th over from Clyde no.6 batsman, Bradley.
The catch was dropped and at no point this season has one moment swung a game more significantly.
Phil Wells stepped up with the ball to start the fateful eighteenth over. His first three overs had been right on the money, with excellent figures of 2-13.
There should have been nothing to fear. 'Just pitch it up Phil, make him come forward to you.' Easy as that. Last three overs, even if we get hit for eight or nine an over... there's still a good chance we'll chase a double-digit score. Counting the score.
Wide. Single. The single was another crucial moment because Bradley took the strike. What followed was the stuff of nightmares.
Five sixes were dispatched over the leg-side with alarming ease. Any hubris about the performance up to that point evaporated and with two more expensive overs to follow, the final total of 133 included a 50 for Bradley from three overs and 57 runs added in total.
The stunned BBC Scotland team re-grouped at the boundary. It was a gettable target, but any hope of reaching it was quickly extinguished by the early dismissals of David Holmes (8), Ewan Crawford (10), Jack McGill (3) and Blane (0).
Blane in particular can count himself unlucky facing an inswinging yorker which removed his leg stump, first ball.
It looked for a time like Mellis (9) and Nick Rougvie (13) might make a stand but in fact the main contribution came from the leisurely Balani (16) and frantic Stephen McGuigan (18), whose subs have been arbitrarily increased by an irate kit secretary counting the tears in his pads.
It was a batting performance of some resilience, but no one was able to lead from the front for long enough.
Clyde: 133-5
BBC: 109-8
MOTM: Bharat Balani
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12:36pm July 19th, 2009 By bbcscotlandcricket
8 July WDCU Evening League Division Two –Whitehaugh v BBC Scotland
Going up against a team relegated from Division One last season at the lovely Kelburne Club in Renfrew, BBC Scotland produced the best batting performance of the campaign.
However, the visitors were left to rue a few dropped chances in the field as the prospect of back-to-back wins, slipped through our fingers.
Ewan Crawford scored a fantastic 58, ably supported by Nick Rougvie and Toby Stevens.
The bowling was also of a good quality, with Bharat Balani working wonders with his new off-break, but the catches just didn’t stick.
That said, there was a lot to be proud of and plenty of good things to build on for the rest of the season.
MotM: Ewan Crawford
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12:32pm July 19th, 2009 By bbcscotlandcricket
26 June WDCU Evening League Division Two – Hillhead v BBC Scotland
A win at last! BBC Scotland ended their losing streak thanks to a memorable bowling performance on a scruffy Hughenden pitch.
Having slumped to a miserable 82 all out, with only David Holmes and Nick Rougvie reaching double figures, victory looked out of reach.
But a tremendous bowling effort from Toby Stevens, Colin Moffat, Danny Rawling and Gregor Dean saved the day.
Hillhead’s opener enjoyed a charmed life, with a number of edges flying to safety but his partner wasn’t so lucky.
The batsman’s face was a picture when he was run out by an amazing direct hit from the powerful arm of Rougvie, who was just a dot on the horizon as he shied in from the boundary.
Stevens, bowling down a pronounced slope, was too hot for the home side to handle, with a series of wicked deliveries.
He was rewarded with remarkable figures of two wickets for just eight runs from five menace-laden overs.
An excellent throw from Stevens was also gratefully snaffled up by wicket-keeper Jack McGill for la run-out.
Rawling also deserves great credit for a nerveless penultimate over, conceding just one run at a crucial stage of the match.
With victory apparently wrapped up, Dean gave us all a fright with a loose full-toss midway through the last over, which was duly scudded for six.
With three required for victory from the final ball, Hillhead could only scramble a single before the bails were clipped and the celebrations began.
BBC Scotland 82
Hillhead 81
MotM: Toby Stevens
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10:46am June 14th, 2009 By bbcscotlandcricket
12 June WDCU Evening League Division Two - BBC Scotland v West of Scotland
With the sun shining at Titwood and news filtering through that the visitors had left their main strike bowler at home, there was a feeling of optimism in the home ranks.
It had been a shaky start to the season but something had to give soon, right?
How wrong we were.
Hope flickered for a while as David Holmes (26) and Nick Rougvie (21) forged a promising partnership after another early exit from the luckless Peter Mellis.
However, any prospect of a contest quickly vanished as wickets tumbled quicker than Scott McDonald in the opposition penalty box.
Jack McGill managed a quickfire 10 but the scorer’s pencil didn’t need much sharpening on the way to a meagre total of 92-9.
West of Scotland surpassed the home team’s score in just 10 overs, thanks to some big hitting, ragged bowling and woeful fielding.
Phil Goodlad dislodged the bails in his only over, Mellis and Danny Rawling took fine catches and McGill snaffled up a nick behind the stumps but basic blunders in all departments continue to hamper the BBC.
BBC Scotland 92-9 (20 overs)
West of Scotland 96-4 (10.1 overs)
MOTM - N/A
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2:44pm June 6th, 2009 By bbcscotlandcricket
5 June - WDCU Evening League Division Two - Glasgow Uni staff v BBC Scotland
In golf it's often easy to shoot a great front nine and fall apart on the way home - or vice versa. The driving's on song, but you can't buy a putt. It isn't often that an average club golfer strings together every element of their game and sustains it for eighteen holes.
The same can be said for the BBC's cricketers. On Tuesday, what seemed like a good chance of par ended instead as a messy double-bogey with a three-putt to boot.
Two days later it was more a case of par golf with even the odd birdie for the front nine and a seriously bad case of the yips from then on.
Skipper, David Holmes, mixed up the bowling offering a rare chance of opening to Michael Hines. He and Tony Followell bowled steadily and after a few early extras settled into their rhythm. Followell took 2-18 from 5, with David Blane producing a remarkable running catch at long-off.
Danny Rawling who, hitherto, had an astonishing strike rate of about 135, then put in easily his best performance in BBC colours. As has previously been suggested to him, controlled line and length would reap rewards and the over-confidence of Glasgow's middle-order resulted in four impressive catches including one ninja-like response from Hines at mid-on.
Blane also got in amongst the wickets, but some wayward leg-side deliveries relieved pressure on Glasgow when the screw had been tightening. In hindsight a slightly more packed legside field might have saved a few boundaries.
BBC Scotland's batting has taken a serious turn for the worse in recent weeks but Holmes goes from strength-to-strength.
A weakened line up had little depth and the team was relying on sloggers Nick Rougvie and Jack McGill to help build partnerships and Peter Mellis - who's been unable to buy a run - to find some form.
None of those things happened and with the exception of Hines who scored a brass-necked 19, none of the middle-order broke five runs. Three batsmen failed to get off the mark at all.
It was all left to the man in the pink cap and his unbeaten 62 was as good as any innings this team has seen. That it came off only 67 balls made it all the more impressive.
With four losses from four the league table doesn't look good but there's a growing feeling that something's gotta give. If only two other batsmen had stuck around long enough to get into double figures the result could have been very different.
It's about stance, a still head and not trying to take the skin off the ball... just like golf.
GU Staff: 120-8
BBC: 111-9
MOTM: (shared) David Holmes (62*) and Danny Rawling (4-20)
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8:00pm June 5th, 2009 By bbcscotlandcricket
3 June - Greenwood Cup, second round, GHK/Strathclyde v BBC Scotland
BBC Scotland showed some signs of improvement at Old Anniesland. Fielding first, openers Tony Followell and Phil Goodlad bowled consistent line and length and with the field set to complement that. GHK skipper Nav Hussein seemed to think he had the measure of them but both bowlers stuck diligently to their task and were repaid with the first three wickets of the game and great bowling figures - Goodlad narrowly missing out on a double-wicket maiden.
Pegged at less than five an over, GHK looked to be struggling and Toby Stevens and Phil Wells both made bright starts with their bowling; Wells repeating Goodlad's feat of two wickets in an excellent over. Stevens bowled with vim and vigour and was a welcome return to the team.
With four overs remaining, GHK were 85-8, but the ninth-wicket partnership proved too tough to break with both batsmen finding the gaps and the shorter fielders to launch a series of boundaries. Let off the hook by a poorly placed field and a couple of catching chances gone abegging, GHK eventually ended on 125-8. Goodlad's 24-2 from 5 was the pick of the bowling.
In response the BBC batsmen had an opportunity to take hold of the game and go for it. Peter Mellis, restored to the no. 2 berth, unfortunately added to his credentials for membership the Primary Club, top-edging an attempted pull. David Holmes, as he does, lasted considerably longer and his partnership of 42 with Nick Rougvie silenced the GHK fielders for a while. Rougvie's lash of an innings came to an end on 22, but with Holmes at the crease and Crawford and Stevens still to come, the BBC's position was still a strong one. At this crucial juncture, however, the wheels came aff the bogie.
Holmes was the first to depart - caught - and was swiftly followed by Stevens whose lofted shot over mid-on was plucked one-handed from over the shoulder by the diving fielder. Crawford's contentious wicket moments later completed the mid-order collapse.
It was left to the tail-end to restore respectability to the total and Jack McGill contributed an unbeaten and - at times - fortunate 25, aided along the way by Goodlad, Followell and Hines.
It was a game the BBC weren't expected to win but, having put themselves in a strong position, perhaps might have expected to make more competitive.
GHK/Strathclyde: 125-8
BBC: 89-7
10:45am June 1st, 2009 By bbcscotlandcricket
1 June - It may only have been a bounce match but on a sun-soaked afternoon at Titwood, an under-strength BBC Scotland finally put the Clydesdale kids in their place.
After repeated disappointments over the last two seasons, the BBC batsmen finally found their feet and capitalised on indiscipline within the Clydesdale ranks to post an impressive 172 from twenty overs. David Holmes led the way with a blistering 62, and Jack McGill (24), Nick Rougvie (23), Peter Mellis (20) and Michael Hines (17) also made important contributions.
BBC Scotland's early fielding was hampered by the loss of four members of the team, but they were swiftly replaced by three toddlers who were more than equal to the task. Indeed, it was the adults who let down the side in the field: behind the stumps, the hapless Rougvie had to be replaced; Phil Goodlad dropped a tricky chance; and McGill forgot to catch the ball at extra cover and instead allowed it to cannon off his knee for four runs.
Bowling plaudits belonged to Colin Moffat who took four wickets, although Goodlad can also be pleased with his wicket and a terrific catch at the boundary. After an excellent opening over, Danny Rawling suffered an inexplicable collapse of form and will want to forget his second (and final over) with its many high numbers.
In a tense final few overs, Clydesdale's wickets went down like skittles but only needing two runs from the last two balls for victory, they were unable to close the deal and Colin Moffat secured BBC's win with his final wicket and one ball remaining.
BBC Scotland: 172-7
Clydesdale Oiks: 171 all out
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9:12pm May 21st, 2009 By bbcscotlandcricket
20 May - WDCU Evening League Division Two - BBC Scotland v Queen's Park 2nd XI
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