Cricket Around Scotland: early April 2010
Website of the Month
Like all voluntary sports organisations, Cricket Scotland is keen to minimise costs and to maximise use of the internet for its communications with clubs, players and supporters. So it is always pleasing to see clubs making the effort to improve the scope of their own websites, just as Cricket Scotland did just over a year ago.
We are therefore introducing a new 'Website of the Month' accolade, designed to put the spotlight on a club that's also raised their online game. For the present - in these uncertain financial times - there is no fiscal reward - but we feel that warm-hearted acknowledgement will be an encouragement to other clubs to look afresh at how they present themselves on the web.
So, with a fanfare of trumpets, the winner of the first Cricket Scotland Website of the Month award is: Watsonian Cricket Club.
They've revamped the look of the home page, of course - and it's very clean and simple to follow, with some excellent individual features promoted with good pictures. At the same time, you can quickly find the news items you want through the drop-down menu, and you can navigate to your own team's page in an instant through the permanent topline menu and similar contents list to the right. And the contacts page for the club's officials is admirably clear and direct.
Good prominence is given to the club's principal sponsors (Ryden Lettings), and there's even space at the foot of the home page for some small-ads from other commercial supporters.
All in all, there's a good community and club feel about the Watsonian website - and maybe this will be reflected in their membership numbers and results this coming season.
If YOU believe your club's website deserves such an accolade, or if you would like to nominate another Scottish cricketing website you've stumbled across, then please e-mail mike.stanger@btinternet.com with your comments - for the May Website of the Month feature.
Kinross Ladies march on
On Sunday (28 March), Gytes Sports Centre, Peebles, was the venue for the inaugural Scottish Universities Women’s Indoor Cricket Sixes competition. Edinburgh University played host to teams from George Watson's College, West of Scotland Women and a combined ladies and girls team from Kinross Cricket Club.
The first match, between West Women and Kinross, saw West Women score 33 in their allotted five overs. Kinross opening bowler Fiona Willis set the tone for the game, putting the West Women under pressure with a tight first over. And wicket-keeper Wendy Conway’s excellent work behind the stumps proved to be invaluable throughout the tournament. In reply, Kinross lost an early wicket, but then captain Kirsteen Ross and debutante Elaine McCreanor batted solidly to reach 34 without further loss, and an over to spare.
The second match saw a strong George Watson's team defeat Edinburgh University, also with six balls remaining.
In the third game, Kinross were asked to bat by George Watson’s and lost their first wicket with the last ball of the first over. However, 13-year-old all rounder Zoe Conway took on the mantle of lead batsman, ably supported by big-hitting Laura Walker in her debut cricket match. The pair quickly had the fielding side struggling as Kinross raced to 57 in the following four overs.
Watson’s seemed overwhelmed by such strong batting and they struggled to score against some excellent fielding and good bowling. The pick of the Kinross bowlers was Lauren Megginson, as Watsons played out their five overs, scoring 38 for 2.
Kinross Ladies were now set for an unexpected victory if they could beat Edinburgh University. They won the toss and put the University in to bat. Edinburgh found runs difficult against some tight bowling and fielding, and had reached only 15 after three overs when team captain and Scotland Wildcats player Cat Tams started to hit out. The Uni scored 20 runs in the final two overs, reaching a very competitive innings score of 35. In reply, Kinross kept calm under pressure against some very good, accurate bowling. With two overs to go and 14 runs needed to win, however, an outstanding over from the Edinburgh University captain left Kinross needing a substantial 11 off the final over. But some good calling and fast running between the wickets by Kirsteen Ross and Lauren Megginson took Kinross to victory with two balls to spare.
So Kinross Ladies were overall tournament winners, with George Watson’s College taking second place. Zoe Conway was acclaimed as Player of the Tournament for her excellent performance against Watson's, and was presented with a cricket top from Cricket Scotland.
Wild, wild weather
Cricket groundsmen in Scotland who are wondering whether the weather will ever allow them to complete their pre-season preparations in time must be cursing the return of wintry and snowy conditions as we enter April.
But spare a thought for the groundsman at the University of Western Australia as his season draws to a close. After a scorchingly hot and dry summer that made growing grass an unlikely crop, divine retribution arrived with a vengeance last week.
After 120 days of no rain whatsoever, an awesome electrical storm arrived and dumped hailstones of up to six millimetres diameter, along with 35mm of rain in the space of half an hour. $100 million of physical damage was done, with the windows of buildings and car windscreens smashed to smithereens.
Our exclusive picture shows the University cricket ground, the James Oval, with the net pitches in the foreground and the 'curators' wondering what on earth they could do to protect the square in the middle-distance. Needless to say, there was no cricket in Perth for at least the next 24 hours!
Cricket takes off in Oban schools
Oban Cricket Club and the local Active Schools team have got together once again this year to introduce cricket to P7 pupils from Oban schools. Rockfield, St. Columba’s and Park Primaries were all given a chance to take part in a separate taster session for each class over the last few months. The sessions included skills-based activities, including catching, throwing, and batting.
This was followed by a fun Kwik Cricket competition and a rapid-fire cricket finale so that the children were able to put to the test their newly-acquired skills. The sessions were led by Ronnie Kelly, who is a newly-qualified Level 2 coach, ably assisted by other members of his club, Active Schools co-ordinator Dale Kupris and sports coach Ben Pollock from Atlantis Leisure. Over the five sessions, more than 120 children were able to take part in the sport.
The cricket tasters were then followed by a Cricket Festival on March 4, where each school was invited to send along teams of eight players. Eight teams were entered, with 64 participants. The competition, sponsored by the Oban Veterinary Surgery, who kindly supplied the trophy and medals, was run over a three-hour period, the team from Rockfield taking home the trophy.
Oban Cricket Club is currently running weekend sessions at Atlantis Leisure to give the new aspiring players a further chance to develop their skills.
