Junior Match Reports

Click here for the junior averages for this season.

Season 2009

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Under 18s - 11th September - Clydesdale vs Kilmarnock

Clydesdale won by 6 wickets; Kilmarnock 55 ao, Clydesdale 59 for 45

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Under 18s - 25th August - Kilmarnock vs Clydesdale

Clydesdale won by 5 wickets; Kilmarnock 73 for 6, Clydesdale 74 for 5

For reasons of diplomacy there will be no report on this match by the normal contributor, however on this occasion one of our first team players present at this match would like to put forward his account of proceedings . . . . .

Tuesday night saw the under 18s welcome Clydesdale to Kirkstyle as they try to squeeze in some games which were postponed earlier in the season. After the disappointment of Monday evening the home-side were looking for a more positive result against one of the strongest teams in the league. The absence of the Marshman brothers was a blow however spirits in the team were still high.

As Duncan was preparing the wicket still, vice-captain Stuart Andrews tossed up and after winning he decided to bat. With Richard missing, Oliver opened with Duncan as the pair looked to take advantage of the newly cut outfield! Duncan looked in good form, creaming the opening delivery through the covers for four but in typical Kilmarnock batsmen fashion one loose stroke cost him his wicket. Ingram came and went to a dubious LBW decision, to which the Clydesdale opening batsmen and first slip thought was hilarious as he gave him an abusive verbal send off (probably too explicit to post on this website). Disappointed in the decision the phrase ‘you’re having a laugh’ was mentioned followed by some headshaking from the batsmen when walking off. As a club we would like to apologise for this as it seems to have been construed as ‘too verbal’ by the opposition umpire. From here on in the Killie batsmen went into test mode playing some fantastic leaves and forward defence strokes, disappointing in the fact that there were plenty of scoring opportunities. After some late hitting and wayward bowling (gifting extras) Kilmarnock made it to 73 for 5 off their 20 overs.

After the previous nights work with the ball there was always a slim chance of causing some panic and Duncan provided this by removing two batsmen in quick succession with another fiery spell of quick bowling. The next wicket fell 58 runs later which had pretty much sealed the win for the visitors but as three wickets fell in the space of about seven balls it was clear there wasn’t much to come if the breakthrough had been earlier. In fact it should have came earlier as the opener (funnily enough the same player who had verbally abused our batsmen as he was walking off) chipped the ball to mid-off, where the catch was taken, refused to walk to the bemusement of the Kilmarnock team. The visiting umpire instead of asking the fielder if the ball had carried made a not out decision followed up by an arrogant/patronising comment to the Kilmarnock captain who was inquiring why the fielder had not been asked!

Clydesdale made it to their target for a five wicket victory quite comfortably, which makes you wonder why the need for such actions arose?! Maybe if the league title wasn’t up for grabs the game would have been played differently. Not such a great lesson to be setting to the junior section of a club! Kilmarnock were always going to fall short after the way they had batted but they can walk away knowing they battled well with their weakened side. This match left a rather sour taste.

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Under 18s - 24th August - Kilmarnock vs Ferguslie

Ferguslie won; Kilmarnock 77 for 5, Ferguslie 81 for 8

This was a case of 'if only' as the Under 18s lost a great game by only 2 wickets with the winning runs coming with only 4 balls to spare. Kilmarnock slipped to 32 for 5 with only Duncan Hamilton making it to double figures. However the brothers Azeem put on an excellent unbeaten stand of 45 to take the team to a creditable 77 off their 18 overs. Mohammed made 20 while Mujahid made 13. With fading light and a damp wicket this was a decent score.

Ferguslie's innings got off to a steady start, with Duncan bowling a superb spell, however Oliver's first over was fairly horrible with a number of wides coming until he settled down. Both Duncan (1 for 12 off 5) and Stuart Hamilton (2 for 10 off 5 overs) bowled superbly with Oliver coming well back after his bad start to take 2 wickets. At one point, 25 were required off 5 overs which would be challenging in the gloom, however the 15th over went for 13 and 2 dropped catches, both straightforward, took the pressure off and Ferguslie limped home in the 18th and last over.

This was a really good game to watch as the team played really well to almost get in a winning position. Although fielding was mixed, there were 3 run outs and Richard got a great stumping to remove the dangerous Preston-Jones. All in all, a mixed performance however played with great determination as the game drew to a close. Ferguslie as ever proved to be pleasant opposition with the game played an a good spirit between the teams.

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Under 18s - 17th August - Greenock vs Kilmarnock

Greenock won; Kilmarnock 52 ao, Greenock 56 for 0

The Under 18s put in a fairly abject performance against Greenock to lose by the large margin of 10 wickets. The match was reduced to 18 overs per side due to traffic problems as play started slightly late. Batting first, Kilmarnock could only muster 52 runs and rather disappointingly still had 3 overs available. Although the pitch wasn't ideal, a succession of poor shots meant an amazing 6 batsmen were bowled and 3 were caught and bowled. Only Alex (11) and Oliver (10) made it to double figures.

Bowling didn't go much better as Greenock scored their runs in only 8.5 overs as the impressive Cousins scored 30 not out while some less than impressive bowling and fielding helped him along. The only bowler who looked threatening was Stuart who only conceded 3 runs off 2 overs, although by the time he came on only 17 runs were required.

This was a rather depressing performance after such a good display gainst Prestwick last week.

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Under 18s - 7th August - Prestwick vs Kilmarnock

Prestwick won; Prestwick 102 for 9, Kilmarnock 83 ao

This was a really good game to watch and it shows what the team can do when 11 players take the field. Ultimately we lost by 19 runs however until the last couple of overs we were well in the game. Prestwick scored 102 when at one point a score well in excess of 130 looked possible. The standout bowlers were Oliver who took 4 for 15 off 4 overs, and Stuart who took 2 for 19 off 5 overs. Between them they managed to stem the flow of runs after Prestwick's flying start. Duncan came back to only concede 7 from his last 3 overs and took 2 wickets in a really fiery, impressive spell.

Our innings didn't get off to the best of starts and at one time the score was 12 for 3, however the next 4 wickets yielded 69 runs. Oliver top scored with 22 and he and Jordan (13) put on 28 runs to steady things after the fall of the 3rd wicket.

This was a really creditable performance by a relatively young team, and perhaps the most fitting tribute came from the opposition coach who commended our bowling attack and remarked that on this performance our position in the league is quite a false one. If we can get 11 players on the field for the remaining few games we can maybe end the season on a high note.

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Under 15s - 5th August - Prestwick vc Kilmarnock

Prestwick won by 75 runs, Preswtick 122 for 6,Kilmarnock 47 for 6

The Under 15s fell to a very heavy defeat to a young looking Prestwick side. This was probably as good an opportunity as we will get to beat Prestwick but a mixture of lack of numbers and poor batting and bowling meant we fell well short of the target.

We took the field with 7 players plus two loaned from Prestwick which was not ideal on a very quick outfield. Two batsmen did most of the damage however they did benefit from a few loose deliveries and at one point a score well over 150 looked likely. To restrict them to 122 was a pretty good effort. Standout bowler was Oliver who took 2 for 18, while Mohammed picked up 2 late wickets, one with the help of another excellent catch by Alex. Chris performed heroics in the field while Jordan had his best match as 'keeper for a while.

After 4 overs we were more or less up with the run rate, however we never really recovered from the early loss of Chris then Oliver and once Mohammed was out in the 7th over only another 18 runs were scored in the next 10 overs. Only Mohammed with 23 made any real contribution and he continues his excellent run of consistantly high scores.

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Under 18s - 3rd August - Glasgow Accies vs Kilmarnock

Accies won; Kilmarnock 57 ao, Accies 61 for 3

Alas only 7 players made themselves available for this game which meant that we were up against it from the start. Kilmarnock scored 57 having lost the last 4 wickets for only 15 runs. Duncan hit a well made 21 while Richard and Oliver contributed useful amounts. However, this proved to be far too low a total.

Accies started badly as Alex bowled one of the worst wicket maidens most people had seen, however we couldn't capitalise and Accies scored the winning runs after 7 overs. Unfortunately 15 wides didn't really help our casuse, however in truth it was always an uphill task, no matter how many runs were scored, to defend a total with only 5 out fielders.

This was a brave effort by the players who played against a very competent looking team and hopefully a whole team can take the field for the next game.

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Under 18s - 27th July - Ayr vs Kilmarnock

Ayr won; abandoned after 18 overs of Kilmarnock innings; Ayr 148 for 1, Kilmarnock 73 for 6

Sometimes you have to admit when beaten by a far superior team and this was one such occasion. Ayr scored a mammoth 158 for the loss of only one wicket. The hugely impressive C McLaughlin scoring 73 and Neil McLeod scoring 65. Hopefully the numerous under 15 players who were playing will learn from their excellent shot selection and even better running between the wickets. The bowlers all found it hard going with Oliver picking up the only wicket after a good last over and Chris who only conceded 16 from 3 overs which in the context of the innings was a good effort.

Batting was always going to be a struggle, and we made it to 73 for 6 when our innings was abandoned after 18 overs. Only Richard batted really impressively as he made an excellent 42 not out. Chris (9 no) briefly showed how to dispatch a bad ball

Hopefully our young team will learn from this game and take it on board for the remaining games of the season.

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Under 15s - 24th July - Kilmarnock vs Glasgow Accies

Accies won by 45 runs, Accies 112 for 4, Kilmarnock 67 for 4

The Under 15s put in a desperately disappointing performance to lose by 45 runs to a well organised Accies team. At one point, Accies were 33 for 1 after 10 overs however they managed to add another 79 in the next 10 overs. An astonishing 48 runs were conceded in extras which probably changed the target from a manageable one to one that was out of our reach. Again, fielding wasn't as it should have been with far too many quick singles being conceded. Although a couple of bowlers were unlucky with edges, the only bowler to emerge with real credit was Chris who despite bowling too short only conceded 14 runs off his 5 overs, with 9 coming off his last.

In the end we crawled to 67 for 4, with batsmen not making any real effort to help the team reach the target. It is surely better to be all out having a real go than having wickets spare and falling well short.

The team has done really well this season and it would be a tragedy if all of the good work was undone with many more performances like this before the season closes.

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Under 18s - 29th June - Kilmarnock vs Greenock

Greenock won by 6 wickets, Kilmarnock 88 for 4, Greenock 92 for 4

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Under 15s - 26th June - Drumpellier vs Kilmarnock

Kilmarnock won by 7 wickets, Drumpellier 90 for 7, Kilmarnock 94 for 3

The Under 15s made it 4 wins out of 6, and the most wins in a season for a number of years with a very good victory over a useful looking Drumpellier side. Drumpellier scored 90 when at one point they looked like they would score over 100, however at one point later in their innings only 10 runs came of 5 overs off Oliver and Vish's bowling. The standout bowlers were Chris who bowled with real pace, Vish who took 2 wickets and Oliver who only conceded 15 from 5 overs and is the only bowler not to bowl a wide or no ball so far this season.

Mohammed continued his excellent form with the bat with a sparkling 48 not out, while Chris hit a quick fire 18. The runs were scored in only 15 overs.

This was another excellent performance with no real negatives and was more noteworthy as the team were without Alex. However, this should give the team real confidence for the rest of the season.

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Clydesdale Kwik-Cricket tournament 21st June

The U10s took a squad of 10 to the Clydesdale Kwik Cricket tournament on Sunday 21st June and had a very successful day, winning 3 out of 3 matches. More importantly, the squad looked like a cricket team and everyone contributed to the success.

In the first game against a bigger Clydesdale team on the Astroturf, Killie scored 260 for the loss of just 2 wickets, giving a net score of 250. Stuart top scored with 7 n.o. but nearly everyone contributed with the bat. The bowling was good from the very first ball which brought a wicket, while young Tamara bowled a really good left arm round the wicket over, and Jack took a good catch. At the end, Clydesdale were around 20 runs short, and never really looked like winning.

Second time around and again on the artificial surface, against a younger and enthusiastic Helensburgh team, most of the players again contributed to a very healthy total of 306 for 2 giving a net 296. Cammy top scored with 20 n.o. while Robbie, Craig and Kieran all contributed useful scores. Helensburgh fought hard but lost too many wickets to be in the hunt, ending up on 248 for 6, giving 218, and a win by 78 runs. Stuart took 2 for 1 in his over - showing us all he can bowl when he puts his mind to it! Tamara and Arran again bowled well in their first outing of the year.

The final game against Poloc was on grass, and was a much closer affair, with Killie sneaking home by 6 runs in the end. One reason it was so close was the self inflicted run outs (has Jim Hill been coaching them in secret?!). Todd and Cammy started the rot, but in between hit some good shots too,scoring a healthy 13 off the first over, before a chaos of calling and running saw one tight decision given and another close one. Remember guys - the umpire is always right!

However, if the running was comical here, the Keystone Cops took over when Kieran and Jack came to the wicket. Yes, No - seems easy to understand, but when the guys both shout a different call and then do the opposite of what they say, then it's easy to guess the outcome. Well outcomes actually, as they managed run outs from the first two balls they faced. Fortunately things picked up after that, and Kieran hit a nice square cut for 4. Craig was the star with the bat hitting two 4s and a 6 in a whirlwind knock.

The bowlers held their nerve despite some good hitting by Poloc and taking a 'wicket' after the (Killie) umpire called dead ball for a surreptitious field change (you can't sneak the fielders around when the bowler is running up guys!).

The guys (and girl) all encouraged each other in the field well, and young Ross showed that his age is no barrier by bowling well when it mattered. Catching and ground fielding were excellent - hopefully this will translate to 'hard ball' cricket in U11s for those who play it.

That's 5 out of 6 games won this year, and the team will be looking forward to the next outing.

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Under 15s - 19th June - Kilmarnock vs Uddingston

Kilmarnock won by 48 runs, Kilmarnock 128 for 5, Uddingston 80 ao

The Under 15s continued their good start to the season with a resounding win over Uddingston. Having lost the toss and been asked to bat, Kilmarnock scored 128 which is this group of players' highest ever score in 5 years and probably the highest score by any of our junior teams for a number of years. Jordan (22) and Mohammed (an excellent 36) put on 49 for the first wicket while a further 79 came off the last 10 overs with Matt and Chris clubbing a couple of big sixes. Although this total is excellent against any side it must be borne in mind, and with no disrespect intended, that this was undoubtably one of the weakest attacks we will face this season, other than the admirable Eyles who stood head and shoulders above his colleagues to only go for 12 in his 5 overs. Our next challenge is to bat like this against one of the top sides.

Unfortunately early on in the Uddingston innings the weather changed from cold and windy to cold, windy and sidewards rain which left the bowlers finding it hard to control the ball. This together with the very capable looking Uddingston openers lead to 37 coming off the first 6 overs until Oliver and Chris removed them within a couple of overs of each other. At one point Uddingston were 67 for 2 off 11 overs however their brave run chase stopped there and Mohammed removed their last dangerous looking batsmen and picked up 4 more wickets by showing the merits of bowling straight to lower order batsmen for an overall performance to be proud of.

The main positives were a very positive batting performance with, for the first time this season, good running between the wickets (apart from on one occasion!) and very good fielding. However worryingly we gave away a number of wides and no balls and for the second game in a row far too many byes. All in all very pleasing, but we now need to demonstrate that we can beat one of the really big teams so all of the hard work and talent of this year is not wasted.

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Under 15s - 12th June - Kilmarnock vs Clydesdale

Clydesdale won by 31 runs; Clydesdale 105 for 8, Kilmarnock 74 for 6

The Under 15s put in a very creditable performance against a very good Clydesdale side. In the end Clydesdale won fairly comfortably however Kilmarnock never gave up and can be pleased with their perforamce.

Clydesdale scored 105 off their 20 overs and were kept in check until the last 7 overs where we conceded 53 runs. The pick of the bowlers was Chris who bowled really well to take 2 for 13 off 5 overs. Both Oliver and Alex returned exactly the same figures - 2 for 23 off 5 overs. The only downside was there was a few shoddy pieces of fielding where 3 easy run outs were missed, a couple of catches went down and backing up wasn't as it should have been. Nevertheless the bowlers stuck to ther task.

In all honesty we never looked like scoring the runs although after 10 overs Clydesdale had scored only 6 more, however their superior batting strength made a significant difference. The undoubted star of the batting show was Mohammed who scored a superb 30 however no other batsmen got into double figures. However most batted bravely against a very good bowling attack although a few 'iffy' shots contributed to some batsmen's demise.

All in all this was a good performance against a side containing a number of Academy players and for the second year in a row we have given them a tough game. However a number of areas were highlighted that we need to work on such as in general fielding and backing up plus running between the wickets is still not as sharp as it should be. Without the errors in the field Clydesdale would possibly have scored around 25 runs less. For a report of the game from a Clydesdale viewpoint please go to: http://www.clydesdalecricket.org.uk/juniornews/090612_U15.html

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Under 15s - 5th June - Kilmarnock vs Greenock

Kilmarnock won by 7 wkts; Greenock 87 for 6, Kilmarnock 88 for 3

The Under 15s secured a very good win against an admittedly depleted Greenock side, winning by 7 wickets. Oliver finally won the toss and elected to field. At one point, Greenock looked like they would score around a hundred as they were 40 for 2 off 8 overs. However they ultimately scored 87 mainly thanks to an excellent 36 by D McQuat who played some really good shots. The stand out bowler was Oliver who took 3 for 12 off 5 overs and was the only bowler not to bowl a wide. The only slight negative was the 12 wides bowled meaning we need to tighten up our accuracy in future matches.

Jordan and Mohammed put on 18 for the first wicket before Mohammed and Oliver put on 22 for the second to take the score to 40 for 2 after 9 overs. The batting star was Chris however who took the game away from Greenock with a brilliant 32 n.o. including 2 big sixes. It was the 'attacking Chris' (not the Boycott / Tavare one!) who came to the crease today with some destructive hitting and he helped the team score 40 runs off the last 3 overs to avoid any team jitters. Although the 3 batsmen out fell to poor shots, it was pleasing that everyone contributed to the score. This was also our highest team score for a number of years.

This week saw us lose another player from this team while another will probably be away for most of the season so this was at least a high note to end on. It is this kind of performance that makes our current player situation doubly disappointing as if we had a full team we could maybe spring a few surprises this season.

While this ended up on paper as being a comfotable win, we have to bear in mind Greenock were missing a number of players although they still fielded a team who could bat and bowl well. We must extend our thanks to the Greenock guys who were more than happy to give us fielders and generously were going to allow our lower order to bat twice. Our Under 15 manager also wanted it noted that he felt Greenock's team were one of the most pleasant group of players he has come accross.

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Under 18s - 1st June - West of Scotland vs Kilmarnock

West of Scotland won by 7 wkts; Kilmarnock 87 for 5, West of Scotland 88 for 3

The Under 18s put in a good performance against West but ultimately lost to a very good side who won with nealy 4 overs to spare.

Kilmarnock posted a total of 87 for 5 thanks mainly to a fine 21 from Richard Marshman and 17 from Duncan Hamilton. However this proved to be around 20 short of a defendable total.

West were made to work for their runs and at one point were 29 for 3 thanks to some good bowling by Duncan (2 for 14) and 3 good catches by Richard behind the stumps. However a couple of catches went down and in all honesty West batted very sensibly with some good shots and excellent running to win quite comfortably in the end.

This was a creditable performance by the Under 18s especially once again having to take the field with only 10 players thanks to another late call off.

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Under 15s - 26th May - Kilmarnock vs Ayr

Ayr won by 10 wkts; Kilmarnock 43 for 9, Ayr 44 for 0

The Under 15s put in a very disappointing performance against their Ayr counterparts to lose by an even greater margin than their Under 18 colleagues the previous evening. Although at least this game was played in dry conditions however it was particularly cold.

The Kilmarnock total amounted to a very poor 43, largely due to a fighting partnership between Jordan (15) and Niall (7) which added 28 runs. Only Alexander can count himself unlucky to fall to a dubious caught behind (more on that later) as the batsmen perished to a succession of awful shots and poor running between the wickets. Ayr's bowling was also very accurate with very few wayward deliveries.

Ayr reached their total in just over 5 overs through a mixture of excellent batting by C McLaughlin and some poor bowling. As with the previous night, Ayr's batsmen give ours a lesson in positive batting and their running between the wickets was most impressive.

Unfortunately there weren't really any positives to be taken from tonight other than Niall and Jordan's partnership. Perhaps the most disappointing aspect of the evening however was the Ayr team's rather smug reaction to a blatantly incorrect umpiring decision - at least keep your hilarity out of earshot of the home sides umpire. Having said that, this was maybe surpassed by the moronic antics of one of their players of yesterday driving his car over the outfield....like, really clever mate.........

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Under 18s - 25th May - Kilmarnock vs Ayr

Ayr won by 8 wkts; Kilmarnock 59 for 7, Ayr 63 for 2

The unseasonal cold of the weekend changed into another wet, miserable evening as the Under 18s played their first game of the season.

Ayr's accurate bowling attack reduced the Kilmarnock score to 59 with only Joseph Macari and Richard Marshman reaching double figures.

Ayr reached their total in 10 overs for a relatively confortable win with Smith and McIlnea batting well. However the game was spoilt by the weather with the ball being wet and hard to grip. Hopefully the rest of the season will be played in slightly drier conditions

As seems to have been the pattern over the last few days, we unfortunately had 2 no shows so took the field with 9 players plus Muj who was roped in despite wearing his beach wear. Is it too much to ask players to give notice if they are not playing?

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Under 11s - 22nd May - Kilmarnock vs Hillhead

The u11s lost narrowly by 6 runs to Weirs on Friday, the first evening that felt truly like summer. The difference between the teams was down to the more aggressive batting from the first Weirs pair, who scored 25 without losing a wicket. The Killie team did bowl less wides than Weirs, though both teams were still pretty wayward at times. A plus point for Killie was in losing only two wickets in their innings, though part of the reason was the erratic bowling it must be said!

Fraser was star of the show, scoring 7 not out (hitting the only 4 in our innings) and bowling 4 overs without a single wide for only 2 runs. Overall, without a couple of their older players, this was a good performance from the youngsters. If the other bowlers can get some more consistency, we will start winning some matches.

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Under 15s - 22nd May - East Kilbride v Kilmarnock

Kilmarnock won by either 42 or 60 runs, depending on amount given for extras; Kilmarnock 77 (101) for 5, East Kilbride 35 (41) ao.

The Under 15s finally played their first match of the season and got off to a great start by beating East Kilbride on a glorious evening. Kilmarnock scored 77 for 5 when at on stage looked we looked like we would get 15 or so more. The first 8 overs saw 35 runs while the next 8 only saw 18 runs. With a little more aggresive shot selection and running between the wickets we will hopefully post some reasonable totals this season.

It was the bowlers who really won us this game and all 5 bowlers used played their part, Chris conceded 1 run and took 2 wickets off his 5 overs, Alex and Mohammed took two wickets each while Oliver took 3 for 5 off 3 overs. Vish played the pantomime villain by bowling EK's diminutive number 10. One of the real positives was that in nearly 15 overs only 6 wides were bowled - hopefully we can maintain this throughout the season.

This was a good effort bearing in mind we took the field with 8 cricketers plus the Under 15 manager's sister who was requisitioned due to a rather disappointing no show, and a makeshift wicket keeper who did really well under the circumstances.

A quick thankyou goes to EK who were more than happy to supply us with fielders (including one unfortunate guy who took a smart catch - hopefully he won't face too much abuse!) and proved to be a very sporting and pleasant team

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Under 11s - 13th May - Ayr vs Kilmarnock

In the game at Ayr, we scored +32, which was our first positive score for a couple of years, primarily because extras was highly prolific. We lost a total of seven wickets but each pair contributed similarly to the total.

When Ayr went in, it was soon apparent that our total was inadequate despite wickets falling at regular intervals. Fraser chipped in with a double wicket maiden and was the pick of the bowlers in that respect. Finn and Joe (who played as a fielder only to make up the numbers) each hit the stumps and the outcome would perhaps have been a little closer had we not dropped three catches. Also, Todd deserves a mention for a thoroughly competent display behind the stumps. As t it turned out, Ayr finished on +78 so we went down by 56 runs. There were certainly encouraging signs, but the wides let us down, as did our ability to keep our wickets intact and stop firmly hit shots (ie ones becoming fours....).

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Season 2008

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Under 11s - 29th August - Glasgow Accies v Kilmarnock

Kilmarnock U11s finally broke their duck last Friday night against Glasgow Accies on a match switched to the artificial wicket at New Anniesland due to the continuing poor weather.

Kilmarnock posted their highest total of the season – 268 – which equates to 113 for 9 in conventional cricket scoring. The total was built around a great knock from Haider who scored 26 for once out, including two sixes. He was well supported by Ben, playing his first game this year and scoring 6 not out (the only batsman not to be dismissed, so some work still required there…). Mohammed chipped in with 15 for once out, and almost everyone else contributed, although we do need to learn to avoid silly run outs and dismissals

In the field there was a good team effort, and although Haider was once again the star with the amazing figures of 3 for 0 off 4 overs, all the bowlers did their best and were well supported in the field with 3 catches being taken. In the end in the gathering darkness, Glasgow Accies finished on 254 (79 for 5). The last over saw about 16 runs – mainly wides – as the bowler’s radar was off line in the darkness. He did claim that the captain had told him to bowl wides – unfortunately Mohammed forgot that the last over is bowled to a finish!

Encouragingly, the opposition conceded more extras than us. However 62 v 60 suggests that both teams can work on bowling straighter over the winter! However, it was really encouraging for the boys to end the season on a high note and hopefully they will learn a lot from their first season of hard ball cricket.

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Under 15s - 28th August - Glasgow Accies v Kilmarnock

Accies won by 4 wkts; Kilmarnock 48 for 7, Accies 49 for 6. The under 15s finished the season with a 4 wicket defeat against an Accies side who are in the top 6 in the league. However, this was a very creditable performance and the team showed immence spirit in defending a low total. Our total of 48 was dominated by 22 from Ali who played really positively, however again our achiles heal has proved to be an inability to score runs at a reasonable rate with only 10 runs coming off the last 6 overs. Accies were going along very comfortably at 28 for 0 after 5 overs, however Oliver took 3 wickets in one over (including an excellent catch by Alex) and the team suddenly started believing in themsleves. Matt took two wkts in his over and Mohammed's first over proved to be virtually unplayable however Accies limped past the finishing line. If we had scored even 15 runs more things may have been more interesting but credit to Accies for sticking at it. Our cause wasn't helped by the 25 runs we conceded in extras. This season has been a big step up however I think we have acquited ourselves well, however over the winter we will need to work on our batting and also wicket keeping. A big thanks today must go to Colin and the Accies guys who were commendably keen to play the game despite the damp conditions and also the two teams who provided a very good spectacle in difficult conditions.

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Under 15s - 15th August - Kelburne v Kilmarnock

Kelburne won by 32 runs; Kelburne 97 for 6, Kilmarnock 65 for 4. In the past few seasons we have reserved our worst performances for Kelburne and this was no exception as we enabled them to get their first win of the season. Our fielding performace was a little below par with a relatively simple dropped catch and a number of misfields togther with nearly 30 runs given away in extras. Most of the bowlers returned tidy enough figures with Ali getting 3 for 23. However other than Ali none looked particularly dangerous. It was the batting performance that was particularly disappointing on this occasion where we both never looked like scoring the runs nor did we appear to make a concerted effort to try and get the runs. At one point our total was 36 for 1 after 8 overs, however we only scored a further 29 runs in 12 overs for the loss of only 3 wickets. The team has to realise that when chasing a total there is no point in having 5 wickets in hand and getting nowhere near the total. Chris stood out with a patient (his dad had other descriptions for it!) 30. No-one else made any significant contribution. The main cause of concern is that our batting relies on 2 or 3 players and we simply do not have enough who are capable of scoring at any sort of rate. Hopefully a concerted effort over the winter will enable us to work on this aspect of our game. Our cause wasn't helped by only having 10 players, one of whom arrived late and one of whom was unable to run so had to field at slip. This, together with our recurring problem this season of having to field a 'backstop' meant that at any one time we only had 6 fielders saving runs. To be fair, Kelburne to me did not look like a team who have not won a game this season and had a tidy bowling attack although this did not excuse our meek submission. I think it will be fair to say that when Kelburne look at their fixture list ours will be the first fixture they look out for.

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Under 15s - 8th August - Ferguslie v Kilmarnock

Ferguslie won by 70 runs; Ferguslie 137 for 8, Kilmarnock 67 for 7. Despite a brave performance we were ultimately outclassed by an excellent Ferguslie side who, as far as I am concerned, are the best all round team we have faced this season. However there were a number of positives, although mainly in the field. Ferguslie raced to 66 for 2 after 6 overs at which time a score of over 200 looked likely. However heads never dropped and we did well to restrict them to an admittedly daunting score. The pick of the bowlers were Ali who took 3 for 25 in 5 overs including the prize wicket of the big hitting S Darroch who had earlier scored 20 in one over and Oliver who took 2 for only 18 in his 5 overs. To be fair, we never looked like getting anywhere near Ferguslie's total and only Ali with 20 made any runs of note. As with Prestwick, we were not all out and this was more creditable given that Josh was unable to open the batting with Oliver. The positives were that heads never dropped despite the early run onslaught, plus other than a couple of dodgy bits, the fielding was really good with Matt taking 2 smart catches to follow his excellent effort earlier in the week for the 18s. Young Haider also deserves a lot of credit for a good display behind the stumps. As ever, Fergulsie proved to be a very pleasant place to go and the Ferguslie team were a nice set of guys too. Our next game is probably our last of the season so it would be nice to finish on a positive note. The last word is a note of thanks to Ferguslie's groundsman who did a splendid job in getting the pitch playable.

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Under 18s - 4th August - Kilmarnock vs Ayr

Kilmarnock won by 6 wkts; Ayr 93 for 6, Kilmarnock 95 for 4.

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Under 15s - 29th July - Kilmarnock vs Prestwick

Prestwick won by 35 runs; Prestwick 113 for 7, Kilmarnock 78 for 6. The Under 15s put up a spirited resistance against the current league leaders. This was especially pleasing as we had two late call offs, and due to a late arrival took the field with only 8 players and a guest fielder (Thanks Muj). Prestwick scored 113 of which Ross Patterson batted really well to make 53 and he proved to be the difference between the teams. Wickets fell fairly regularly at the other end with only one other player reaching double figures - a case of what might have been if we had managed to get Ross out earlier. To be fair it was a chanceless innings and it is the best batting display by anyone against us this year. The bowlers really stuck at it, and only 13 runs were scored off the last 5 overs. Although Josh and Oliver put on 17 in the first 2 overs, we were never really in the hunt although the batsmen hung in well against a very good bowling attack. The highlight being 2 big sixes over mid wicket by Mohammed Ali (12) and Chris (19). At least we managed to avoid being bowled out, and the attitude shown by the guys who turned up was really good, especially as we were playing the league leaders with only 9 players. On another note, the Prestwick Under 15s showed their Under 18 colleagues that pleasantness and being a good team do not have to be mutually exclusive.

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Under 18s - 28th July - Kilmarnock vs Prestwick

The under 18s were also in action this week but were completely outclassed by a very impressive Prestwick side which includes several Scotland youth internationals.

The only bright spot in the bowling effort was the contribution of 13 year old Oliver Raine. Oliver has been doing very well this year but his performance on Monday was fantastic. Against a very strong side Oliver took a hat-trick which in the end didn’t make a difference but was still a fantastic achievement. In the end Prestwick scored a mammoth 155.

In reply Kilmarnock really struggled to 36 for 6 from their 20 over’s. The batsmen to contribute was David Ingram who battled away against a formidable attack for 19 over’s for 19 runs.

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Under 15s - 25th July - Kilmarnock vs Hillhead

Kilmarnock won by 7 wkts; Hillhead 70 for 8, Kilmarnock 73 for 3. The Under 15s followed up the Under 18's good win with a comfortable win over Hillhead. Oliver and Chris bowled an excellent opening spell which reduced Hillhead to 15 for 5 at one stage, with Chris taking 2 wickets in his first over. All of the bowlers produced good figures, with Oliver taking 3 wkts (3 for 14), Chris and Matt 2 each (2 for 8 and 2 for 10) and Mohammed 1 (1 for 13). However, rather disappointingly we gave away 40 runs in extras, with 26 in wides and 11 byes which meant we had a much larger target to aim for than we should have done. Luckily this had no impact on the outcome as we gave our best batting performance of the season to score the runs in just over 10 overs. Oliver and Josh scored 42 in an excellent opening partnership. This was probably the best opening stand of the season and they scored these runs in just over 5 overs. When Josh was out only the most horrendous of collapses would have lost us the game. Oliver went on to make 29 and the match was won by Donald clubbing a 4 that was only a couple of feet short of being a 6. The batting performance is even better in that 10 overs were bowled by Hillhead's useful looking opening bowlers. Again, this match shows that we can compete well, although, with no disrespect to Hillhead, against better teams by giving away 40 runs in extras we are going to get punished. The only other slight worry was three of our batsmen were dropped maybe illustrating that we need to play the ball along the ground a bit more. Can't be churlish tho', Kevin made it to his dinner date and I met my friend on time!

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Under 18s - 21st July - Kilmarnock vs Kelburne

Kilmarnock won by 76 runs; Kilmarnock 124 for 2, Kelburne 48 ao. The Under 18s produced an excellent all round display to comfortably beat Kelburne. Kilmarnock's 20 overs yielded 124 runs for the loss of only 2 wickets. This was a very good display against a competent bowling attack. Craid and David put on 33 runs for the first wicket in just over 6 overs with both making good contributions. The pick of the batsmen was Duncan who scored an excellent 55 not out while Richard came in and added valuable runs also. Thanks to some almost unplayable bowling by Mujahid, Kelburne were 6 for 3 and never recovered. All bowlers bowled well, howevcer a special mention must go to Chris who picked up four wickets in four balls to finish off the Kelburne innings. The team will hopefully gain a lot of confidence after this display.

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Under 18s - 14th July - Kilmarnock vs Motherwell

Kilmarnock won by 26 runs; Kilmarnock 87 for 8, Motherwell57 for 6.

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Under 18s - 7th July - West of Scotland vs Kilmarnock

West won by 44 runs; West 147, Kilmarnock 103. Kilmarnock Under 18’s managed to dodge the showers for long enough to get a match in on Monday night at West of Scotland. West of Scotland made good use of the excellent batting conditions to plunder the bowling to all parts of the ground scoring a mammoth 147 off of their 20 overs. It was always going to be a hard task to chase down and some tight bowling from West made the chase even harder. Richard Marshman (25) found a wee bit of form but there was no support and only some late hitting from Chris Marshman (15) and Muhammed Ali (21) boosted the total up over a hundred and the final total of 103 saw them fall 44 runs short.

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Under 18s - 23rd June - Poloc vs Kilmarnock

Poloc won by 8 wkts; Kilmarnock 88 for 4, Poloc 89 for 2. After losing the toss Kilmarnock were put into bat and captain Duncan Hamilton opened the batting with Craig Sharp. Both batsmen really struggled to get the batting away due to some very tight bowling and there was only 9 runs score in the first 9 overs but they then increased the tempo and started to score more heavily. After a few extravagant shots Sharp departed for 13 and he was followed by David Ingram for an exciting 16. When Hamilton departed for 31 in the penultimate over Kilmarnock had a chance and some lofty hitting from Joe Macari (14) Kilmarnock had got up to 88. Kilmarnock had a chance but would have to bowl very tight to win the game. Although Kilmarnock kept it tight for the majority of their bowling innings a few dropped catches and the fact they had probably scored 20 runs too few meant Poloc eased to victory with 3 overs and 8 wickets to spare. This was a far better performance from the youngsters against a very talented Poloc side and definitely gives them confidence for the rest of the season.

Batting	Batsman	Name	How Out	Score	Bowling	Overs	Maidens	Runs	Wickets
	1.	C Sharpe	Bowled	13		5	0	19	1
	2.	Duncan	LBW	31		5	0	19	1
	3.	David	Caught	16		-	-	-	-
	4.	Richard	Run Out	2		-	-	-	-
	5.	Joseph	Not Out	14		2	0	12	0
	6.	Mujahid	Not Out	5		3.1	0	26	0
	7.	Mohammed	DNB	-		1	0	8	0
	8.	Chris	DNB	-		-	-	-	-
	9.	Oliver	DNB	-		-	-	-	-
	10.	Alex	DNB	-		-	-	-	-
	11.	-	-	-		-	-	-	-

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Under 18s - 23rd June - East Kilbride vs Kilmarnock

East Kilbride Under 18s won by 36 runs (I think!!) East Kilbride 122, Kilmarnock 86. This match was reduced to a friendly status as East Kilbride played their overseas amateur. In the end EK ran out comfortable winners in an entertaining match and you can see why they wanted to play their amateur who looked very impressive. We had four of our under 15s playing, most of whom batted and bowled so it was a worthwhile exercise. Not normally into praising the oppostion too much, however a special mention must go to Jill who batted really well despite a constant torrent of light hearted abuse from her team mates! Full scorecard and report to follow

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Under 18s - 9th June - Ferguslie vs Kilmarnock

Ferguslie Under 18s won by 9 wkts; Kilmarnock 61 for 3, Ferguslie 62 for 1. Last Monday saw the Under 18s playing their first league game away to Ferguslie. This proved to be a massive learning curve as Feruslie, boasting three Premier Division players, cruised to an impressive victory with over ten overs to spare. Batting first Kilmarnock were restricted to 61 runs as the Ferguslie opening bowlers Greg Cameron and James Ellis only conceded 14 runs in their 10 overs. Both bowlers showed the Kilmarnock youngsters what to do but it was not surprising as both play for the Ferguslie 1st X1. The young batsmen tried their best and captain Duncan Hamilton produced a composed innings to bat all the way through the innings and end up 40 not out. It was the bowling and fielding display which disappointed coach Smith so much as the team seemed resigned to defeat before they even took the field and capitulated to a disappointing 9 wicket defeat.

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Under 15s - 6th June - Clydesdale vs Kilmarnock

Kilmarnock Under 15s lost by 29 runs; Clydesdale 111 ao, Kilmarnock 82 for 3. Not sure where to start with this one; at one point, the taste of one of Mark's vintage bottles was with touching distance but it wasn't to be. Clydesdale batted first and at one stage were 23 for 5. This could have been 26 for 6 when, how can I put it, an outrageous umpiring decision went against us. This decison had a huge impact as the next wicket fell 63 runs later and the impetous had been lost. However, this decison did not make us concede 29 runs from one disastrous over, drop numerous catches, concede far too many extras or do shoddy bits of fielding. We ultimately fell 29 runs short after a really good batting effort. With the ball Oliver took 4 for 20 and Chris took 3 for 23. Chris again did well with the bat and scored 27 while Josh made a really good fist of opening and scored 15. With cricket you can never tell what will happen and who knows how much of a difference having Clydesdale 26 for 6 would have ultimately made, at least we lost in the correct way.

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Under 15s - 16th May - Kilmarnock vs East Kilbride

Kilmarnock Under 15s won by 5 wkts; East Kilbride 57 ao, Kilmarnock 59 for 5. This was an excellent win for the team, and was built on a very good bowling performance. East Kilbride, like most teams of this age group have some big strong players and at one stage were 30 for 1 after 6 overs. To get them all out for 57 was a great effort. All of the 4 bowlers contributed, especially Chris who proved to be virtually unplayable and took 4 wkts for 2 runs. Alexander, despite bowling 9 wides (Alexander...!!!) took 3 good wkts while Mohammed bowled 5 economical overs. Oliver came back well and took a wicket in his last over after being hit for a couple of 6s earlier on. We got the winning runs with around 5 overs to spare. Chris, following his bowling heroics, scored 35 not out with 8 fours for an excellent all round perforamce. The only negative was again with the batting, where one batsman scored 35 of the 39 runs scored off the bat, and this is an area we really need to work on. However, on the bright side we have got an excellent win in only our third Under 15 match and we should move onto next week's match against Renfrew full of confidence after showing we can compete at this level. Another positive was that we have lost our regular opener for a few weeks (get well soon Jordan) so Mohammed had to move up to open with Oliver and Jamie took over as 'keeper where he took a great catch, and the overall fielding was again very good where we got another run-out.

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Under 15s - 9th May - Kilmarnock vs Poloc

Poloc Under 15s won by 10 wkts; Kilmarnock 19 ao, Poloc 20 for 0. The report for this match was going to be sumned up by one word, however a result of having psychologists as best friends means having to look at things in a positive light. Poloc are the reigning Under 15 champons, and had a big team with some very good fast bowlers and it is unlikely that many of our team will have faced bowling as good as this or as fast. However, only one batsman managed to dig in until needlessly run out and the manner of most of the wickets was particularly disappointing. We must remember however that it is a big step up from Under 13s to Under 15s, and this is the type of game we must learn from to improve. At least in the short time we were in the field the fielding looked really good. As a team we must move on, try to learn from this game and be ready for East Kilbride next week. Please go to www.poloc.com to see the match report from a Poloc perspective.

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Under 15s - 2nd May - Ayr vs Kilmarnock

Ayr Under 15s won the match played on the 2nd of May - scores: Kilmarnock 69 for 2, Ayr 70 for 3. Bearing in mind that this was our first match of the season and there have been no outdoor training sessions this was a positive performance, although a number of areas need to be worked on, especially upping the scoring rate during the middle of the innings and general fielding. If we had scored maybe 20 runs more the result may have been different although Ayr have a very good batting line up and they moved the ball around well. Only 3 players got a bat - Oliver 17, Jordan 14 no and Josh 10, with Oliver and Jordan putting on 47 for the first wicket. In the main, we bowled well with Chris and Mohammed looking like they will strengthen our bowling attack. Next up are Poloc which will be a hard game but one which all players should be looking forward to.