Helensburgh U11 62-4 (2 pts) beat Glasgow Accies U11 68-7 (0 pts) by 9 runs.
Match played at Ardencaple, Helensburgh on Friday 2nd September 2016 at 18:00.
West District U11 League, 20 overs-a-side.
Toss won by Helensburgh U11, who elected to field.
Umpires: CAC Dawson and I Chambers.
Everyone was in high spirits tonight down at Ardencaple - demob happy was the phrase!
The match was always going to be in the balance until the final Helensburgh pair came to bat. Strategy was that the "best" bowlers would take the final overs in the hope of combatting the power of Graham Lang's boy but, in the end, to no avail. Unfortunately the bowlers [unnamed] bowled leg side balls that were promptly despatched to the square leg boundary.
Helensburgh's first three pairings had mustered 29 for 3 up to that point but Lang and McArtney added 33 from their 5 overs for the loss of one wicket to Paterson and finishing winners by 9 runs. Other wickets for Accies were shared between Johnston, MacAndie and Shabbir.
For Accies batting Rory Paterson was again the powerhouse and he looks forward to playing against Helensburgh next season after they lose young Lang to the U13's.
Much time will be spent over the winter months on straight bat defence, calling and bowling at and hitting stumps. All three skills have been better adopted by opposition teams this season ….. but we'll show them next year!
This has been a wildly enthusiastic bunch all season and I have enjoyed every minute umpiring …except when out to straight balls! My thanks to everyone in the team, to Rory Paterson [and to Faatima as his stand-in] for his ability to work out orders for bowling so that all get an equal chance.
Finally my thanks go to all the parents for their patience in receiving hundreds of emails from me and replying promptly and also for transporting the team to away matches. The team could not play without this help and encouragement. For those that move up to U13's next year my best wishes and to those remaining for another season let's get rid of those minus scores! Thank you and I'm off on my hols soon.
….. and finally, finally please diarise Friday, 4 November 2016 for the Cricket Section Dinner and Awards night in the Clubhouse at Accies - a very successful family event in past years.
Colin Dawson