Gearing up for a big Rowan final Good start gave East Kilbride the edge
East Kilbride Cricket Club warmed up for t his weekend’s Rowan Cup Final with a 17-run victory over Prestwick in the league.
EK, who take on Ferguslie this Saturday, had the likes of Moneeb Iqbal and Josh Johnston to thank after both made big contributions by the coast.
After losing the toss and being put in to bat on Saturday, a solid 44 run partnership between openers Harmanjit Singh and Craig Smith gave EK a very positive start.
Unfortunately, Singh l ost his wicket and soon after that Gavin Meikle was stumped.
Iqbal came to the crease at 48-2, having to rebuild EK’s innings along with Smith and they produced a good 50-run partnership.
Smith played a brilliant openers role as he saw off the new ball and capitalised on anything short with his f avourite pull shot. He eventually lost his wicket for a well deserved 51 runs.
This put EK in a good position at 98-3 with 20 overs remaining and with wickets in hand.
H o w e v e r, a n o t h e r s t r o n g partnership was needed for EK to achieve their goal of a winning total, as batting on the wicket was not easy with occasional balls not behaving like they should.
Luckily, EK got that partnership in Iqbal and Petrus Coetzee. They started off slow with low risk shots and, taking the odd single here and there, they gradually gathered pace as both batsmen planned on being well set by the last 10 overs.
And when that time came the pair batted beautifully, with Iqbal being the aggressor.
Iqbal eventually lost his wicket for a magnificent 76 runs and end a very good 88-run partnership with Coetzee.
Ross Lyons and Josh Johnston hit a few lusty blows to propel East Kilbride to an above average 219-5, with Coetzee ending on 47 not out.
After tea it was time for EK to go out and defend their total.
They got off to a horrible start when an incredibly strong wind blowing directly into the bowlers saw them struggle to find any sort of rhythm or length.
In the 12th over captain Singh brought on Coetzee and with his very first ball he struck – but in a rather comical way.
He bowled a ball so short, that it nearly hit his toes, and a ball so wide, that second slip would have had t o st op i t, but t he batsmen played a very poor shot and lobbed it up to cover for the easiest catch of his life.
Coetzee(2-29) struck again in the same over but also with a bit of luck as the batsmen played the ball onto his own stumps.
Johnston also str uck t wice i n t wo ov e r s t o c a u s e a c o l l a p s e for Prestwick and swing the momentum i n E K ’s f a v o u r. Prestwick being 70-1 were struggling at 88-5.
Aft er dr i nks, Jo hnston made another telling contribution in the 45th over to grab his third scalp of the day and end on good figures of 3-34.
In the end, the 24 runs needed by Prestwick in the last over was a bit more than they could chew as EK prevailed and won by 17 runs.