Eighteen weeks of league cricket saw Ferguslie crowned Western Premier League champions and Heriot’s Eastern Premier League champions for 2022.
Now the two sides are getting ready to meet at Uddingston’s Bothwell Castle Policies ground on Saturday in the Grand Final with the victors really being able to put the cherry on top of their cake for the summer.
And, indeed, the winners will become the first club ever to lift the Willie Morton Memorial Trophy.
Many readers will know that former Warwickshire player and Scotland internationalist Willie Morton passed away suddenly aged 58 in July 2019.
One of his former clubs, Watsonians, was keen to mark Morton’s long and distinguished service to both Watsonian cricket and also Scottish cricket in general.
“Given that he played for Stirling County and Penicuik as well as ourselves, not to mention the national team, we thought a trophy for a national competition was most appropriate and would be a very fitting memorial,” Watsonians president John Reid explains.
In recent times Reid has worked closely with Cricket Scotland officials to get the trophy in place and it will be presented to the victorious skipper on Saturday evening.
Ferguslie, who are still feeling good after they won last weekend’s Western Premier League title decider versus Prestwick, have named a 12-man squad ahead of the Grand Final.
Skipper Riyaad Henry is joined in that squad by Adil Ghaffar, David Stafford, Elliot Moses, Taimoor Ahmad, Uzair Ahmad, Omer Hussain, Haroon Tahir, Hasan Khan, Daoud Tahir, Qasim Khan and Hasan Malik.
Taimoor Ahmad scored 555 league runs with captain Henry scoring 510.
In the bowling stakes, Haroon Tahir took 34 wickets and Henry 29 in the league.
Heriot’s regular skipper Lloyd Brown is unavailable, so Hayes van der Berg captains the Edinburgh outfit.
He is joined in the XI named by Durness Mackay-Champion, Joe Kinghorn Gray, Peter Ross, Ryan Brown, Gavin Main, Niall Alexander, Ali Farooq, Keith Morton, Ewan Hutchison and James Hickman. Morton is the son of Willie Morton.
The unavailable Lloyd Brown scored 545 runs for Heriot’s in the league while the also unavailable Matthew Cross scored 446 runs.
Of the available players, van der Berg top scored with 420 and Mackay-Champion hit 377 in the league.
Joe Kinghorn Gray was the club’s top wicket taker in the league with 25 while Elliot Ruthven, who is not playing, took 23. Niall Alexander took 21 scalps.
It promises to be a cracking match and a fitting end to what has been a very entertaining domestic season in Scotland.
Meanwhile, on Sunday ‘The Spirit of Cricket’ Trophy match for 2022 in memory of Sandy Strang and Con de Lange will be played between a Ferguslie XI and The Forty Club XI at Meikleriggs.
All are welcome and fund raising proceeds will go to Marie Curie and The Brain Tumour Charity.
Ferguslie are pictured
