Two of Scottish club cricket’s batting talents are to winter in South Africa at the ICC centre of excellence. Richard Berrington(Greenock) and Qasim Sheikh (Cldesdale), have been picked to join a number of young hopefuls in South Africa will they will receive expert coaching from the likes of Jonty Rhodes.

Sheikh last featured at the ICC camp in 2005, where the improvements in his batting were noteable, so he will be determined to get into the scots team, and even secure one of the professional contracts.

For Berrington, it is a return to the land of his birth, though I don’t expect he will receive the same level of stick as messrs Pietersen and Trott with the English cricket test team.

Scottish Cricket Society

Newly with an honorary degree from the University of Cardiff, Matthew Maynard will be coming to Glasgow and Edinburgh to talk to the Scottish Cricket Society. His views are both controversial and highly regarded in recent times, but with a rich cricketing pedigree, and with a son playing club cricket with Glamorgan CC, he should provide a really entertaining evening.

Interestingly he was coaching England during one of their most successful periods during the Duncan Fletcher era, and went about his business with quiet endeavour. One of the gutter press stories from the Freddy “pedalo” incident described some of the England management as having been in the pub alongside Freddie prior to his late night sail. I wonder whether Matthew Maynard would shed some light on the incident!

The winter schedule has brought in some interest for English cricket fans, as Matthew Maynard and Mark Wagh are set to make appearances. Maynard should be an interesting speaker with his vast experience of county cricket, and recent international coaching in the successful English test team. He handed over to current coach after the 2007 Caribbean World Cup debacle for England.

Mark Wagh is something of an enigma with his flashing blade in the  Warwickshire top order, and his cerebral side, having recently published his first book.

Scots cricket should be prepared for a higher level of competition next season as they are drawn in a tough division of the debut season of English EPL 40 over.

There is a possibility they will compete against 2 saltires, in Calum McLeod of Warwickshire, Kyle Coetzer of Durham

GROUP C: Durham, Hampshire, Kent, Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire, Scotland, Warwickshire

Dunfermline CC had a season to remember in 2009. Reaching scottish cup finals in both formats, and Champions of division 1. This is a tribute to the McKane cricketers of 2009!

The 2011 tournament to be stage in the sub-continent has reverted to its original format, two groups of 7. Whilst the purists would prefer to have less teams, this promises to throw up some surprises. Imagine if Kenya pulled off a shock win against world champions, Australia, or if Netherlands could repeat their twenty 20 world cup heroics against England!

Group A: Australia, Pakistan, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe, Canada, Kenya. Group B: India, South Africa, England, West Indies, Bangladesh, Ireland, Netherlands.

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The roll of honour in Scottish cricket spreads far and wide, and recently the geography of the championship winners moved north as Aberdeen claimed the league and cup double.

Chris West , Tyler Buchan ,Neil MacRae all Aberdeenshire players have been nominated for amateur of the year awards in the Scottish Club Cricket awards.

The gentleman who created twenty 20 cricket had a clear goal in mind, when he devised the shortened version of the game, but first he neededto upsell his product. The cricket clubs were reticent at first, but soon it took off. Moving a concept forward requires a some trial and error, why then do the cricket clubs of Scotland not unite to try the newly proposed leagues? The answer is simple, they must be aware that if cricket scotland promises them £2,000 per professional actively coaching at their club, then that means shelling out £60,000. Money which could be well spent in other areas!

I am fascinated by the proposals currently being put forward by Cricket Scotland for a revised league structure. In an attempt to appease the clubs who find the season becomes one long relegation battle, or conversely a battle for promotion, they have proposed to have a premiership and championship. Whilst this would seem to be a carbon copy of the English footballing league setup, in practise it remains to be seen if teams can benefit from such a structure.

If the Championship league leaders are on top of the division with four games to go. These would be  crucial matches given they are against teams from the top 6 of the league. Imagine their anti-climax if the matches were rained off allowing the chasing pack to close the gap and denying them a shot at promotion. At present, we might know who is likely to go up or down, well in advance of the season end, however, it was clear that if the rain had abaited, then Prestwick still stood a mathematical chance of surviving in division 2 cricket.

Cricket Scotland needs to stay on top of their points system rather than tinkering with the leagues

This occasion marked the end of a successful Scottish cricket season. On the international stage Scotland have been busy, playing the World Twenty 20 cup, followed up with a series of ODI’s.

The effort put in by all clubs on finals day brought 200 plus spectators to Shawholm. From ball one, when the Dunfermline opener struck the ball down to the long on boundary, we sensed it was going to be a day full of big blows to the boundary, and not one of the four teams on show dissapointed.

The cricketing purists would have loved this day. Middle of September, and the sun shone all day long. Three entertaining 18 over a side matches, and the West coast team coming out on top.

Credit where it is due, Dunfermline made us all sit up and take note, as they set the day alight with a blaze of Vassu specials over the shortened boundary edge.

There was no onfield controversies, just good cricket. This should have been attended by more than  the 200 odd spectators, as it merited more attention, but as it was, we should be pleased the season ended on such a high.

As I’ve babbled about before, the UK is divided into 4 ‘countries’ which are all actually part of the same sovereign nation.  However, they have individual sports teams, blah blah blah.  Well, here’s how those countries, plus the independent republic of Ireland, divide up for national teams.

Soccer
Teams (5): England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Northern Ireland
This is the one and only sport where all five regions/nations are represented independently.  It’s the only sport in which Northern Ireland is represented by its own national team.  This basically stems from a 100 year old dispute fueled by, you guessed it, religious differences.  England is traditionally the strongest team, followed by Scotland.  The other three are usually relatively weak by comparison.

Rugby Union
Teams: England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland
The Ireland team actually consists of players from both Ireland and Northern Ireland.  All four teams are in “Tier One” but Scotland is usually weaker than the others.  Every four years the four teams combine to form the British & Irish Lions, competing against either South Africa, Australia, or New Zealand, but this is ONLY for these special occasions.

Rugby League
Teams: England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland
Until recently, a single team called Great Britain represented the UK and Ireland but in truth most of the players were English as the sport is relatively unpopular in the other regions.  Now the teams compete separately, with England considered one of the premier teams and the others as developing nations.

Cricket
Teams (3): England, Scotland, Ireland
The England team actually represents England AND Wales but poor Wales is usually ignored.  The England/Wales team has Test status, meaning it’s among the world’s top tier.  Ireland and Scotland have ODI status, meaning they are considered top level teams in the short version of the game but not full cricket (which involves games that last 4 or 5 days).

International Rules Football
Team (1): Ireland
This is a fascinating situation in which the best Gaelic football players from Ireland and Northern Ireland form a national team and play against the best Australian rules football players from Australia in a sport that is a COMBINATION of the two.  The Ireland team only plays two games a year but usually in front of huge crowds.

So there you have it.  Of the major national teams of the British Isles, England and Wales are sometimes combined and sometimes separate, Ireland and Northern Ireland are sometimes combined and sometimes separate, and Scotland, now that the Great Britain rugby league team has been divided, is always separate.

A Community Cricket Coach is being sought for the Dumfries and Galloway region.

The post, which is with Cricket Scotland and in partnership with Dumfries and Galloway Council, has the objective of building on the cricket already played in the region. The focus is on developing junior cricket and involving more youngsters in the sport by linking more schools with clubs.

Last year in Scotland, 18000 children were introduced to the sport by primary school teachers, a 10% rise on the previous year. A number of these were in Dumfries and Galloway but the aim is to increase that involvement in sport. With new Regional Cricket Academies in place across Scotland the route is also there to achieve regional and national selection. Partly as a result of these initiatives Cricket Scotland recently was awarded the International Cricket Council (Europe) award for best overall cricket development programme.

This part-time position with Cricket Scotland is located at the Sports Development Team at DG One. It has been made possible through the efforts of the DG Cricket Development Group, local clubs, and with the support of local community funding. More details on the role can be found at www.dgcricket.org.uk.

At the weekend APD Dumfries won their final National League Division 2 fixture at Renfrew in comfortable fashion to consolidate fourth spot in the league, one place above Renfrew. JMS Nunholm guaranteed themselves Western Union Second Division cricket next season with a home victory over Bothwell and Midweek side Annandale Insurance Select won the Sulwath Cup.

Renfrew were put in to bat in damp conditions and wickets were shared with Maskrey having an early impact to make it 3 down for 33. Professional Said then rescued his side with a sixty run partnership.

However a stumping off Beveridge caused wickets to fall regularly. Davie Davison got Said just twelve runs later and Jim Paterson claimed two wickets. Renfrew finished on 145 with Said’s 62 the sole score to get past twenty.

Dumfries were coasting when openers Alan Davidson and Jim Patterson had gone past seventy. However both went rapidly for 41 and 30 respectively and a batting slump saw five wickets fall for just 30 runs.

It required Corbett-Byers (20) and Beveridge (34 not out) to see the side home and Beveridge hit a six to end the league season and ensure fourth spot for the second season in a row.

This Sunday APD Dumfries will hopefully play their Scottish 20/20 semi-final at the third attempt. They play Carlton in Glasgow. Carlton finished third in the top league and Scotland players are expected in the opposition so Dumfries are cup underdogs.

On Saturday JMS Nunholm guaranteed themselves Western Union Second Division cricket next season with home victory over Bothwell. Win number five ensured that the season’s goal was achieved with the side currently in sixth place.

Batting first Russell Johnston powered to 122 with good support in establishing the innings and with aggressive batting late on to post a substantial 248 for 5.

With rain looming Nunholm needed 30 overs completed for a result and at that point they were seemingly in charge with Bothwell on 104 for 7. However batsmen five and nine hit out for fifties. It took steady bowling to keep them at bay and ultimately secure a 26 run victory with one ball left.

Annandale Insurance Select and Shipwrecks met in a closely contested Sulwath Cup Final at Nunholm last Sunday. The final of the Midweek 20/20 Cup saw Annandale score 130 and Shipwrecks come up short by 40 runs in their run chase.

APD Dumfries sank bottom placed Edinburgh on Saturday in their National League Division 2 encounter at Nunholm by seven wickets. The wet August meant a wicket that was dry in places but also wet where the inescapable rain had flowed under the covers. It also meant advantage Dumfries when they won the toss and bowled first.

However it was a run-out from the boundary by McBride that claimed the initial wicket at 16 and then the floodgates opened. Three wickets fell for three runs to the Dumfries double act of “caught Corbett-Byers bowled Alexander”. Beveridge and Maskrey took over and Alan Maskrey duly swept away the middle order with four wickets. Beveridge took the final wicket at 82 in the 28th over with just 19 as the highest score.

The Dumfries innings was boosted by Edinburgh leaking wides in the initial overs. Extras were to become a theme and Tommy McBride with 19 not out and then especially Chris Bellwood kept the runs flowing to claim the win. Unfortunately Bellwood was out stumped when the scores were level for a second top score of 28, just one short of the extras total.

The seconds, JMS Nunholm, came unstuck on the same sticky wicket on Sunday with a 21 run loss to Victoria in Western Union Division 2. Robert McBride and Richard Rennie bowled well for 5 and 3 wickets respectively but a Victoria fifty with a punishing 26 runs from one over proved key in a total of 147 all out.

The Nunholm top order could not respond to the circumstances and only an excellent 7th wicket partnership between McCutcheon, 31, and Rennie, 28, had the side on course for a fighting win. However crucially Rennie was bowled and a painful last wicket run-out left the Dumfries side 21 runs adrift of a valuable win.

Ooh, the sound of the thwack of leather on willow.

Life just now is like some sort of sporting nirvana. Yet, instead of being able to sprawl about, beached whale-like on the sofa at home watching the Olympics I have the tantalising proposition of a lifetime sporting ambition ahead of me.

Tomorrow I go to the first ever Scotland v England cricket match.

Now. That should be fun.

The weather forecast?

rain, rain stay away.

Not good

Both Dumfries CC sides claimed valuable league wins on Saturday. The firsts, APD Dumfries gained a comfortable 8 wicket win at home against Fife side Falkland in National League Division 2. The seconds, JMS Nunholm, registered three wins in a row with a very narrow one run victory at Shawholm in Western Union Division 2.

At Nunholm, Falkland chose to bat and had reached 37 when Geary had Watson caught for 28. Alan Maskrey then entered the attack and took three wickets including the New Zealand professional Lythe to pull the score back to 61 for 4.

The introduction of Beveridge and Patterson immediately claimed wickets in their first overs and Dumfries were well on top. They pair kept claiming wickets and the Falkland innings slumped to 78 for 9. However the tail-enders managed to gain some respectability with the largest stand of the innings adding another 55 runs.

The final score of 133 all out was well below par and after the loss of both openers for 31, Beveridge and Geary steered the side home with 22 overs to spare. Beveridge played the captain’s innings to secure the win and hit 66 not out. Geary backed him up with 37 not out to complete a convincing win.

Away in Glasgow the seconds had a nail biting finish against Poloc 2nds, Shawholm. Batting first Nunholm slipped from 60 for no loss to 106 for 7 after 41 overs. It needed a cameo from James Cox and a classy batting display from Robert McBride to boost the total to somewhere near a defendable total – 153 for 9 from the allotted 50 overs.
Then the home side’s reply veered from definite defeat to easy win. Six wickets down for 64 suggested the former, 152 for 8 with 3 overs left it was surely the latter.

However a wicket-maiden from Chris McCutcheon was followed by the crunch over of the match. Vice-skipper Cox, was the man for the job – 2 dot balls followed by a juicy full-toss was all it took. When the ball hurtled into his left hand for a return catch the players then knew cricket was a funny game but not for the disconsolate young number ten who had done so well to get his team to that position.

In the first round of the Scottish Cup on Sunday it was a mixture of too little and too much experience in the APD Dumfries side that travelled to Heriots and the game was dominated by the class players in their line-up.

Their two Australian recruits, Ritchie and Farrell, scored centuries against a bowling attack that stuck to their task well but left the field facing a total of 287 for 3. In reply a stand between Alan Davidson (36) and Geary (53*) had Dumfries at 111 for 2 after 25 overs but an unlucky deflected run-out at the bowler’s end accounted for Davidson and the innings subsided tamely to 152 all out and cup defeat.

On Saturday, APD Dumfries played a 40 over friendly against Premier League side Ferguslie at JMS Nunholm. The opposition was a mix of first and second XI players and wasn’t strong enough for an efficient Dumfries team.

Ferguslie batted first and yet it was still Dumfries that hit the first boundary of the season since Thomas McBride had a match transfer to Ferguslie. He went on to score a sound 22 and in combination with ex-DCC player David Sturgeon took the score to 48 for 1. Then came the first of the run-outs with Sturgeon run-out from the boundary by Alan Davidson. Stuart Murray, who scored a century in last year’s fixture, rapidly went LBW to Davie Davidson and then some excellent fielding from Alan Davidson, Chris McCutcheon and Stuart Alexander with three direct hits meant three more run-outs and Ferguslie were languishing at 88 for 7. Harper was removed by Jim Patterson for 26 (97 for 8 ) and then the tail wagged. Cameron hit four boundaries to boost the total and finished 39 not out when the overs ran out to leave the score at 139 for 8.

In reply, in his first ‘dig’, Geary hit a four and survived an edge in his first over in Scotland and took the opening partnership to 36, and his score to 21, when he mistimed a leg side shot and scooped up a leading edge catch. The score progressed to 86 for 3 off 20 overs when the fireworks started. Stuart Corbett-Byers defied any early season rustiness by hurtling to 50 in just 23 balls. Included in this were 7 fours and 3 sixes one of which nearly cleared the clubhouse roof. One over which he hit for 23 meant it was all over as a contest. After reaching his 50 via a 4 followed by a 6 he decided to ‘retire’ and tried to hit one into the River Nith. He didn’t. However he is awaiting a lucrative call from the new Indian 20/20 league. It was left to Beveridge and Paterson to ease to a 6 wicket win with over 13 overs left.

Ferguslie 139 for 8 (40 overs)
T McBride 22, D Harper 26, G Cameron 39 not out
S Alexander 5 overs 1 for 10, D Davidson 4 overs 1 for 14,
J Geary 7 overs 1 for 32, Patterson 5 overs 1 for 9. 4 run outs (3 direct hits)

APD Dumfries 140 for 4 in 26.4 overs
J Geary 21, D Davidson 19, S Corbett-Byers 50 in 23 balls

Dumfries Player of the Match: Stuart Corbett-Byers

After last week’s cancellation at Carlisle, the first cricket of the season for APD Dumfries, and the first home game at JMS Nunholm, is a tough friendly against Premier League side Ferguslie.

Ferguslie narrowly missed out on winning the Scottish Premier League last season and finished as runners-up. The corresponding fixture last year produced some big hitting from two of their Scotland players, World Cup all-rounder Majid Haq and middle-order batsman Omer Hussain and runs from their South African professional Con De Lange.

Haq and Hussain are due to play at Nunholm again this year and Haq may be looking to add some illustrious Dumfries names to his list of victims which includes Australia’s Matthew Hayden and South African captain Graeme Smith. Scotland A opening bat, Stuart Murray, takes on the Ferguslie captaincy for the first time. The match starts at 1pm.

APD Dumfries have a near full-strength team available including their young Australian amateur player this season, Geary. He is a nineteen year old left-hand opening batsman from New South Wales. He was introduced to the club through his team-mate, former Dumfries pro, Brad Bannister. He arrived jet-lagged the day before the Queens’ semi-final, braved the cold and rain at Hampden, experienced the post-match celebrations and has even sampled some haggis. Despite all this he has not taken the first flight home which bodes well for his season in Dumfries. He received his club cap at Sunday training from Skipper Scott Beveridge on behalf of his player sponsor JP’s Hair and Beauty Salon.

On Sunday the 1st XI play at home against Division One Western Union side Hillhead. They are due to bring down a Tasmanian duo, their professional Nick Guinane, an all-rounder, and Under-19 State off-spinner Tom Bevan. The match starts at 1:30pm.

Meanwhile the 2nd XI, JMS Nunholm, also start their season this weekend with two local derbies, away against Langholm on Saturday and at St Michaels on Sunday.

Anyone wanting to play or watch some cricket is welcome at the ground. Further details are available from Trefor Williams on 01387 256455 and at www.dumfriescricketclub.co.uk.

Dumfries Cricket Club start their outdoor practices at JMS Nunholm with a training session for the first team squad this Saturday, the 1st of March, at 1pm.

Last season the side, APD Dumfries, had a late season run to take them to the edge of the promotion places in Division 2 of the Lloyds TSB Scotland National League and finish in a good fourth place position.

This season, new skipper, Aussie Scott Beveridge is out to bring his country’s winning ways to the campaign and for the club to remain as contenders for promotion as they have managed over their first two years at national level.

Beveridge said “Our first two years in the National League have been very successful. The experience gained, especially for our younger players has been invaluable. This year I feel that we have a good blend of youth and experience to push for a promotion place. With continued focus on training and commitment I’m confident that the season will yield the desired rewards.”

The practice sessions will continue each Saturday until the first pre-season friendly which is away at Carlisle on the 12th of April. There might be a little bit of pride to play for in that game since a very young Dumfries side snuck over the border to win the Carlisle Cricket Sixes at the end of last season.

The club will be starting midweek training as soon as the light and weather permits. The senior practice sessions take place on Tuesday and Friday evenings.

The club are always keen to see new players, junior or senior, and they are welcome to come down and make themselves known at these sessions at the Nunholm ground. Further club details can be found at www.dumfriescricketclub.co.uk or by contacting Trefor Williams on 01387 256455.

Dumfries Sports Club, of which the cricket club is one part along with squash, tennis, hockey running and gym sections, are also starting their membership week this weekend. Information is available at www.dumfriessportsclub.co.uk or at the Sports Club on 01387 252527.

Dumfries and Galloway Standard article

The cricket 1st XI, APD Dumfries, are away to Heriots in the first round of the Lloyds TSB Scotland Scottish Cup which was drawn today. The Scottish Cup is restricted to the top 30 sides in Scotland. The Dumfries side play the Premier League team at the Goldenacre ground in Edinburgh on Sunday June 1st.

Iain Stewart has been appointed as the new Club Development officer in the West of Scotland. He takes over from Tony Judd who took the Cricket Scotland 3-day junior workshop at Nunholm last season. His job is to help clubs (i.e us) in the development of their junior cricket.

Iain is due to attend the next D&G junior cricket development meeting in February. So he may well be visiting the clubhouse in the near future where we will be asking him to support another 3-day workshop in the summer.

APD (Amber Programmable Design) are to continue to sponsor Dumfries Cricket Club in 2008. So the firsts will remain under the guise of APD Dumfries in their Scottish National League games.

The club also has a new ground sponsor, JMS Cricket. They are the suppliers of the artificial wicket, sightscreens, covers and the new 3-lane nets at the ground. So the club are playing at JMS Nunholm this summer!

Further news on the cricket club website here .