Clydesdale U18 v Glasgow Accies U18 (14/07/08) scorecard

It was like sending lambs to the slaughterhouse tonight with only 3 U18's in the side with the rest made up from U15's and U13's - great credit must go the the enthusiastic younger players who perhaps didn't quite realise that they were to play against a full strength Dale side.

The early excitement was provided by Scott Young who delivered almost unplayable balls to Calum Lindsay, Andrew Scobie and A. Allan all clean bowled by absolute snorters! Unfortunately his other deliveries either went to the boundary or were wides or more disconcertingly no balls that resulted in skipper Ali Crawford staving his left thumb and taking no further part in proceedings. Meanwhile Duncan Kelso continued his good form from yesterday's 2nd XI uprooting the stumps twice and not conceding any wides at all - it is a pleasant change to see a smile on his face for a short while at least! Euan Crawford and Tom Sutton contrived a couple of crazy run outs and Euan also shocked everyone by pouching a good catch in the deep.

At 42 for 5 after 8 overs an unlikely result looked possible but messrs Williams and Tariq then plundered the bowlers taking 87 from the last 12.

Poor Duncan's smile vanished when he hit his first ball [a would-be wide] straight to the keeper and Scott completed the double when he was bowled first ball at the other end! The inevitable procession followed held up by entertaining little knocks from U15's Sam Reilly and Adam Watson and the usual stubborn resistance by Tom Sutton.

Well beaten but not disgraced although the well used phrase by Michael Vaughan [Eng] and Graeme Smith [SA] rings true - "room for improvement and plenty to work on" applies. Anyone willing to offer odds on an Accies' win at Ferguslie tomorrow evening?