4th Amigos Scoreboard Stint Evokes Memories of Seasons Past!

The 4th Amigo first set foot in the big wooden scoreboard at West in 1961!  Little has changed up there since then apart from the middle ladder being mysteriously loose at the top (nothing to do the recent visits of the other 3 Amigos!).

As gentleman Robert Kettlewell, our esteemed current scorer, politely asked me at the end of each over if I had the runs and overs correct, memories flooded back – the cricket was pretty slow at this point – to the heady juvenile days of the 60s when a strict disciplinary code was applied to the army of willing scoreboard youths upstairs in the box.

Hardline scorers like Mr Barbour, the redoubtable and dangerous Staff Sergeant Charles Bishop and the quieter but enigmatic Nick Larkin kept a tight rein and woe betide anyone who missed a run, over or wicket – or even spoke! In later years I can recollect Peter Storch – the previous adjectives, and more, apply to him – the late, legendary Bobby Henderson and his team of Alexander Brothers, Lesley and Thomas.  How they would all have coped with Duckworth Lewis I hate to think – and that takes us back to Bobby Kettlewell!

My scoring memories were completed during Dob’ s turn in the box (he soon mastered which drum was which) when I had an enjoyable chat with ertswhile St Mirren Secretary, Alastair McLaughlan, who was West’s scorer between 1945 and 1950.  I don’t remember him form then!  If the current bunch of juniors realise what fun it is in the box (no sore heads, bruised knees or stiff backs the next day – honest)  they would be queuing up to help and even have a chance of earning the Queen’s shilling.

Finally it was great to welcome back to West George Applebey who played in the Juniors in the 60s. George has lived and worked in Birmingham for many years and was one of the many who came to West from Jordanhill School – something to do with J L F Harris, but that’s another story!  Thanks for popping in, George, and we hope to see you again soon.

Whirlwind Week’s Update

Last Saturday McCrea FS West returned to winning ways by beating Ayr. Partick lost to Kelburne and on Sunday the 3s played Renfrew – sorry, don’t know result.  Rain washed out Tuesday’s Greenwood Cup tie v Weirs (now rearranged for next Tuesday at West.)  The 3s easily beat Clyde on Wednesday while the 2s snatched defeat by 1 runfrom the jaws of victory in the Western Cup semi v Irvine – but watch this space!!

McCrea FS West entertain Heriots tomorrow while Partick head for Galloway (weather permitting)  On Sunday the Accies play the 3s at West, Tues is the game mentioned above and on Wednesday McCrea FS West go to Renfrew to play the delayed semi final of the West League Cup.  A busy time for all including the weathermen!

McCrea FS Man of the Month – May and June

Late news – Congratulations to Dougie Lockhart and Ian Cran on being voted McCrea FS Man of the Month for May and June.  The awards were presented to the guys earlier this month.

Thanks also to Douglas McCrea for his continued support.  It will soon be time to announce the winner for July.

More pressure!!!

A Week is a long time in Politics……..

14 to 21 days in a Cricket Season is even longer!!  During your bloggers enforced absence things seem to have changed!!

No point in looking back , lets look forward to the remaining 6 weeks of this season and get the show on the road once more. Thanks to the guest bloggers’ pithy comments – straight to the point and full of enthusiasm.

After this weekends vital game against Ayr at West – and Partick’s visit to league leaders, Kelburne we can look forward to 2 important cup ties next week – both at West – and worthy of everyone’s support!!

Tue (28th) sees the 3s playing Weirs in the Greenwood Cup quarter final  (Who might turn up for that one?)

Thu (30th) has Jonny Graham’s Partick playing Irvine in the Western Cup semi final.

Negotiations continue with Renfrew to finalise a date for our visit to Renfrew for the West League Cup semi final.  (Our 2nd WLC semi of this season and an opportunity to atone for the failure in the earlier one).

Enough ramblings for now.  Lets all get back on track. Be positive, enjoy our cricket and give each other our full support.

McCrea FS West , Partick, 3s and Juniors  - Yes we can!!!!

The case of the missing wickets

Today’s blog sounds like a Perry Mason mystery but is it ?

The morning after the wonderful sponsor’s party was appropriately dull, just like your bloggers heid, and the day got a whole lot worse when our regular scoreboard operator failed to trap.The three amigos volunteered to go where no-one over the height of four foot should. It’s a great view from there but would the performance be worth it?

Once again we were back on that “minefield” and once again we chose to bat first, the logic escapes me but then again what do I know. At 21 for 3 we were back in the smelly stuff, once again largely due to poor shot selection, in the second round of the Scottish Cup against Ayr. It took a good partnership of 90 between Youngy and Ross to get us back on track and with Dion chipping in with 37 we closed on 194 in 45 overs. The question was how would the Ayr batters fare on the “dodgy” surface? We were soon to find out! Papps (86) and McElrea (45) were totally untroubled and then it happened, with the score at 121, or 321 for the weekend, we got our first wicket You could not make it up – it was a run out! When Elly trapped his fellow countryman in front at 167 there was just the chance that Ayr,who are having a dreadful season, would forget how to win. However it was not to be as Bod and Duggie Johnston saw them through but not before Bod had a tantrum when he was run out – some things never change.

So we have had our weekend from hell and the question will be, has the West bubble burst? Well it will have if we go around with a hangdog expression and display a negative attitude whilst the opposition just get on with the job. You just cannot argue against inividual scores of Rodden(102), Astle(86), Papps(78) and McElrea(45)

Well was it a Perry Mason mystery? In some respects it was but on balance more like a comedy of errors. Was the view from the scoreboard worth it? Not really but at least the three amigos got their tea

McCrea FS West spoil Sponsor’s Party

On a hot Partick Saturday the Club Sponsor, McCrea Financial Services Ltd hosted a wonderful party with guests looking forward to the West – Aberdeen top of the table clash. Once again many thanks to Douglas for his generosity and support. Unfortunately, West turned into party poopers  and for “clash” read capitulation.

On a balmy summer’s afternoon, all seemed fine at first with Dougie and Gregg putting on 51 for the first wicket. However in a brief 10 overs we were reduced to 77 for 4 thanks to poor shot selection and one dodgy decision. Top four gone. However, there was staunch recovery work from Ross Brown (wearing his often misplaced sensible hat) and barman McCall and then an outstanding cameo from Scott Robertson (33 in 23 balls). Scott displayed a finesse that has been well hidden in his career thus far but his efforts provided much optimism at the tea interval, especially as it was “a poor wicket”. 70 runs off the last 8 overs. Still, West mostly played like it was a minefield so what would the second half bring?

Answer. A harsh lesson as two quality batsmen made West’s depleted bowling line up suffer. The league leaders’ “Aberdonian” openers, Astle & Rodden, quietly and clinically punished some very ordinary bowling on the alleged minefield and the only mystery was why the batsmen made no effort, with all wickets in hand, to win in 40 overs and secure the extra points. An error they may regret later in the season. A selfless Astle retrained himself to allow Rodden to complete a superb century and it must be said neither batsman offered a chance. This was a real humbling at the hands of a team we beat twice last year and perhaps indicates we have been punching above our weight so far this year. It certainly indicates that we lack a bit of strength in depth and it could be a difficult second half of the season. On the other hand, if we are bold and put a bit more trust in our back up boys, who knows what we can achieve.

Finally, congratulations to the Aberdeen boys. They are worthy league leaders. Did we make it too easy for them?  Given the boys’ belatedly expressed concern about the wicket, which was either lifeless or flying over heads from a length, depending which player’s opinion was canvassed, and given a makeshift bowling attack, was it wise to bat first?  After this outcome, we would surely not make the same decision again…..

Murgitroyd campaign hits the skids

The chance to win some prizemoney disappeared with an inept performance against Clydesdale

At 59 for 7 Clyesdale were pretty much dead and buried but we allowed them to scramble to 114 which proved to be 14 runs too many for us to chase. Only Greig(34) made any runs but to balance that up he was involved in three run outs.

Cool heads are needed in tight situations, not many on show tonight.

McCrea FS West close in on leaders

Following a good win against Watsonians,West comprehensively defeated the Scotland Under 19s by 105 run and are now only2 points behind Aberdeenshire.

Batting first on a very good deck,West posted a substantial score of 271 for 6 largely due to a partnership of 180 between Elly(90),Duggie(26),who worryingly retired hurt,and Youngy(61). Credit is due to the Under 19s bowlers who had initially been given a bit of a mauling but managed to stem the flow of runs in the latter stages of the innings but gave away 38 extras,26 of which were wides.

Although 272 to win was a big ask the Under 19s batsmencame with a reputation for chasing down big targets.However, they got off to the worst possible start when Coleman was brilliantly run out by Kashwith a direct hit at one stump and then Gav , who had his radar working better,bowled the other opener Hairs. Chalmers(27) and Petrie (52) put on 80 for the third wicket and looked dangerous for a time but once they had gone the innings petered out for 166 in the 34th over. Crannie, with a good second spell took 4 wickets and together with Elly and Dion broke the back of the innings.

Make no mistake this was a very good wi against a talented group of young cricketers who have competed well at this level throughout the season. On this occasion they came up against a team which has grown in stature and self belief as the season has gone on and even coped with the injury to Duggie on the day. Youngy did a pretty good job as stand in gloveman.

So on to next  weekend with home matches against Aberdeenshire in the SNCL and Ayr in the Scottish Cup. Duggie, get that hamstring sorte ‘cos we need you !!

Mad Hatters Tea Party

Independence Day and West were back in  Edinburgh on league business. This week we visited Watsonians, once famous for their teas but now, sadly, on the wrong side of a contract with the schoolthat allows them only leftovers if they are lucky. Not only were the hangers on and bloggers left starving but there wasn’t even enough grub to feed all the players. Such was the chagrin of our hosts that one of our hosts, the inestimable Brian Adair, promptly left the scene of the crime and returned with a Tesco bag filled with sandwiches, pies (pork, not bowlers) and empire biscuits. What a hero. The dormouse and his buddies enjoyed this repast from the hosts’ “viewing balcony” while feeding 20ps into the array of binocular machines mounted on the railings.

Before all this West won the toss and batted, producing a typical performance. In other words, we started briskly, Dougie scored loads of runs, Gregg got out, followed by Elly, and after Youngy and Dougie put on an untroubled 75, Ian got out and from 147 for 3 in 34 overs, we decellerated and somehow only scored 214 in 50 overs. Why can we not learn to build on these starts? 250 was the minimum we should have scored, but without Scott’s late flurry we wouldn’t even have reached 200. Congratulations to Raj Routray who finished with 7-46. Batting successes were Dougie with 71 and Youngy with 43.

West were three bowlers light, with the absence of the Pirate, Soody and CT. The new ball was thrown to Gavin “wide boy” Smith whose profligacy several feet outside off stump contributed a dozen runs to the hosts’ first 40. After 20 overs Watsonians were 88 for 1 before Dion came into the attack and promptly removed the dangerous Flannigan. By now the Pro was tying up one end and the required run rate started to rise. The main dangers to a West win were the home Pro, Andy Del Boy and the aforementioned Watsonians catering. In the first dig, the Watsonians bowlers were given drinks after 17 and 34 overs, but now West were fielding it was drinks after 25 overs!! Was this a cunning plan to dehydrate us into submission? The ploy failed as Dutch worked his magic and golden arm Youngy duped a couple of victims. As wickets fell, West’s only danger was Del Boy, but Youngy pulled off a final masterstroke, bringing Wide Boy back on for an over. Wide boy delivered the goods by bowling his thirteenth wide of the innings so far off the cut bit that Del Boy fell over trying to reach it and was brilliantly stumped by Dougie. That was game over and Messrs Cran and Ellis mopped up the tail. Yet again West pick up the points without firing on all cylinders. If we ever really click, someone is in for a mauling. This could be a big weekend as on Sunday we will host another league match, this time against Craig Wright’s After School Club.

It was double success on Saturday as the Partick XI comfortably beat Meikleriggs in the WDCU First Division.

McCrea FS West Finish Second

Despite knocks of 37 from Youngy, 28 from Ross and 27 from Elly West finished 11 runs short of  Clydesdale’s total of 143 and now face an away trip,to who knows where,in the semi-final of the WLC