Junior Cup Finals 2009

Stirling County Cricket Club’s New Williamfield ground provided the venue for the 2009 Junior Cup Finals Day on Sunday.  On a day of mist and drizzle it was credit to the players and umpires that the standard remained so high throughout.  Over 80 Clubs entered the cups and the final four came to challenge for silverware in each age group.  The respective semi-finalists were:

Under 13s
In the first semi final Largo took on Grange. The Edinburgh side won the toss and elected to bat first posting a very competitive score of 127/4 with Angelini and Sole retiring having made 30s, for Largo Briony Gillin was the stand out bowler returning 1-21.  In reply Largo never got going and ended 98 all out, with Brown top scoring on 17 and Player being the chief destroyer for grange taking 3/32.  Grange advanced to the final to await the winner of the West vs Carlton game.

In the second semi Carlton won the toss and decided they would like to bat first against their rivals from the west.  Having decided to bat the 31 (retired) from McPherson was invaluable as Carlton were all out for 94 with Majhu returning superb figures of 3/11.  It was a similar story to the first semi with the team batting second never able to make significant in-roads towards the total as they were bowled out for 70 with the twin threat of Gosain and Everett taking three wickets each, 3/16 and 3/6 respectively.  Therefore the final would be an Edinburgh derby.

Having seen both semi-finals won by the team batting first would the Grange skipper do likewise after winning the toss?  Indeed he did.  The decision proved a fruitful one with Grange racking up an impressive 137/5 with Sole and Player retiring at the 30 mark, in Sole’s case the second time on finals day, Aslam returned impressive figures of 2/14.  The question was , could Carlton chase down the total?  Despite the efforts of Simpson 33 (ret) and Everett 26, Carlton ended 41 runs short closing their 20 overs 96/6 with Sole continuing his great day taking 3/10.  Grange were duly crowned as National Under 13s Cup winners.

Under 15s
In the first semi the hosts Stirling were paired with Poloc, would home advantage pay dividends for the New Williamfield boys?  Unfortunately for them in a high scoring encounter their 127/6 was not quite enough with Poloc chasing down the score for the loss of only 4 wickets.  Standout performers for Stirling were Tierney with the bat scoring 36 and for Poloc the leg spin of Craig Young picking up 3/13 followed by team mates Ullah and Sajaad both scoring 27.

In the other semi Carlton took on Huntly Highlanders.  The Edinburgh side winning the toss and inserting the team from the north, the Highlanders made good sue of the wicket scoring 115 for the loss of only two wickets with Mitchell scoring a fantastic 50 (ret).  The Carlton reply was built around the contributions of Ahmed (33) and Yousuf (38 n.o.) as the capital side chased down the total for the loss of 6 wickets.

The final came down to East meets West with Carlton taking on Poloc.  After winning the toss the Carlton skipper won the toss and decided to bat, a decision which bucked the trend in the semis with each captain wining the toss and fielding.  Carlton never got into a rhythm under the tight bowling of the Poloc team with Chaudhry proving very miserly with figures of 3/8 as Carlton were bowled out for 94.  In reply the Poloc batters were dominant as they progressed to a 10 wicket victory chasing down the total easily with Ullah scoring a great 50(ret) supported by fellow opener and Captain Young who finished 25 n.o.

Steve Paige, Cricket Scotland’s Head of Community Development commented, “it was great to see such good quality cricket being played in both competitions.  In addition it was a great experience for all players to play in front of so many spectators.”

Both winners now go on to play against English opposition in the next round .