Lean spell ends as EK down Greenock
Sajjad and Coetzee rack up the runs
After a four-game losing streak and numerous matches postponed by rain, East Kilbride Cricket Club recorded their second victory of the season on Saturday.
They beat fellow strugglers Greenock by 13 runs to give their hopes of staying in the Premier Division a boost.
EK won the toss and elected to bat first in warm, sunny conditions.
However EK had to improve drastically in the batting department to avoid a repeat of last weekend’s horror show against Clydesdale.
The Torrance House side did not make the start that they would have hoped for though, losing two wickets in the first seven overs for only 17 runs.
A third wicket was taken in the 19th over – and the worrying factor was EK only had 35 runs on the board.
A partnership was desperately needed to salvage a decent total and Saiff Sajjad and PJ Coetzee did exactly that. Both batsmen rotated the strike and shared the pressure between them.
Their superb 99-run partnership shifted the momentum in EK’s favour.
Sajjad lost his wicket as he tried to increase the run rate for EK and he departed for a well deserved 61 runs.
Umair Khan came in and smashed a few boundaries to propel EK’s score above what they would have expected to get.
EK posted 210-9 in their allotted 50 overs with Coetzee
Pics Bill Linley
finishing on an unbeaten 65 runs.
The job, however, was only half done.
A bowling performance equal or better than the batting performance was required if EK wanted to emerge victorious.
Khan started brightly and got EK’s first wicket in the first over of Greenock’s batting innings.
However Greenock consolidated after the early loss and looked quite comfortable in the start of their chase.
Josh Johnston and Stewart Kampman changed the momentum of the run chase and played a massive part in the victory for EK. Kampman broke the 54-run partnership for EK and Johnston took a quick wicket after that. This left Greenock 72-3.
The most encouraging thing taken from the Kampman and Johnston period was that it gave away no more than two runs to the over, Johnston finishing on 1-24 in his 10-over spell.
The fact that the pair bowled so well in partnership meant that Greenock required 150 runs in the 25 overs.
At six runs to the over, that was always going to be a tough task.
Greenock did well in the pursuit of the target and at one stage they only required nine runs an over to win.
EK, however, managed to take wickets at regular intervals to halt their momentum and leave them wickets short.
Kampman bowled the last over of the game for only three runs and finished with bowling figures of 2-18 in 9 overs as EK won by 13 runs.
Despite the victory, EK remain second-bottom of the league and more performances like this will be required to stay up.
On Saturday EK host winless Kelburne.