Cricket: Vale of Leven Cricket Club toils against Hamilton

Jul 2 2009 By Andy Galloway

ON Saturday a depleted Vale of Leven side made the trip to table topping Hamilton in the Western District Cricket League Division Four.

Captain John Birnie only had nine players available, which meant it was likely to be a long day in the field against a Hamilton side that has only lost once this season playing on their own artificial pitch.

The Vale bowled first and some good bowling and keen fielding kept the score respectable, but the Hamilton batsmen eventually took advantage of the spaces in the field that were a result of being two men short.

Alex McAdam took five wickets for 70 runs, with good support from Robin Henry, who took one wicket at a cost of 33 runs, and Mohammed Qayyum with a haul of three wickets for just 56 runs – an excellent display on an artificial wicket.

Youngsters Ivan Lawrence, Martin Corrigan and Gavin McWilliam all performed well in the field, and Robin Henry and Chris Dalby took two catches each as Hamilton were finally bowled out for 284.

The Vale batsmen set about the task of chasing this large total effectively two wickets down before the first ball was bowled.

It was unlikely that this would be a successful run chase, but there were still bonus points to be made that would help in the relegation dogfight.

Alex top scored with 47 and Tony Duncan shared an excellent stand of 39 with Warwick Darkins, the pair with a combined age of half the Hamilton total!

They took the Vale past their initial target of 100 to pick up a batting point, but with the next point needing another 25 runs they fell just short as the last wicket went down with the total on 124, Tony remaining unbeaten on 20.

Given the reduced numbers and with three youngsters and two OAPs in the ranks, this was a very good performance by the Vale, and the seven points gained may be the difference that keeps the Vale up at the end of the season.

The Vale is the only cricket club in West Dunbartonshire and is looking to recruit new players, especially from the Clydebank, Dumbarton and Vale of Leven areas.

The Vale are always looking for anyone who may wish to take the game up or are looking for a club to play for. Contact Hugh on 0141 951 8133 for more details or look up the club website at http://valeofleven.play-cricket.com/home/home.