Gary Heatly looks ahead to Saturday’s matches in the Eastern Premier Division…
Craig Yelverton arrived in Scotland to take up his role as head coach of RH Corstorphine last month and already he has made an impact – now he wants to help the first XI move up the Eastern Premier Division table.
On Saturday, Yelverton and Co. will make the trip north from Edinburgh to take on Stoneywood Dyce looking to reinvigorate their league campaign.
After they defeated Watsonians on June 5 things were looking good, but since then RHC have lost two and seen two other games end up as no results due to rain, so they want to get a positive result this weekend and kick on from sixth in the table.
“There is an excellent core of a team at RHC and the great thing is that there are young players coming through who are already in, or who want to break into, the first XI,” South African Yelverton, 32, said.
“What we need to build up during the rest of this season is a bit more consistency in performance and also make sure that when players are unavailable for whatever reason, others from the wider squad are ready and able to step up into the top team.
“The last few weeks results-wise and weather-wise has been slightly frustrating, but that has not dimmed the guys enthusiasm at all and training has been excellent with everyone enjoying watching and learning from someone like Scotland player George Munsey who we are lucky enough to have in our ranks.
“Recently Brandon James, who is from Zimbabwe and recently spent time in England, has joined our squad too and he looks an organised young cricketer and a good addition.
“Stoneywood Dyce will be a handful on their own ground, so the team know they will have to play well on Saturday.”
Yelverton grew up in Durban in his homeland and took to coaching at quite a young age while he has recently spent time coaching in Northern Ireland, so he is a solid addition to Scotland’s ever-improving cricket coaching landscape at all levels.
Like RHC, Stoneywood Dyce have had an up and down spell in the league of late, but last week’s home win over Stewart’s Melville was a big boost for Jamie King’s men and the eighth placed side want to build on that.
Elsewhere on Saturday, first plays third in what should be a hard-fought contest at Portgower Place.
Gen!us Grange and ion8 Forfarshire have had some great battles in recent years and by the end of this weekend they will know each other very well as they also meet in a Scottish Cup quarter-final replay at Forthill on Sunday.
Second placed Heriot’s, fresh from beating McCrea West of Scotland and the rain last Sunday to make it to the Cup semi-finals, are on the road to Victory Park to play Meigle.
Bottom side Meigle will be looking to cause an upset to give them a lift ahead of Sunday’s home Voneus Village Cup last 16 replay tie on home soil against Houghton Main.
Fourth placed Carlton are looking to keep the pressure up on the top three by making it five league wins on the spin when they take on ninth placed Stewart’s Melville at Inverleith.
Fifth meets seventh at Myreside as Watsonians host Arbroath, the former looking to make the most of home comforts this weekend as they also have a Cup replay with Drumpellier in Edinburgh on Sunday.
Craig Yelverton of RH Corstorphine is pictured
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