Teams aim to start season on a high Lammies Bar savour Doubles victory

The 2018 East of Scotland Cricket Association season gets underway on Saturday, with several West Lothian teams aiming for glory.

However, there will be no local derbies this season, with all five sides playing in different leagues this year.

Linlithgow will be playing in Division One and start their bid for promotion to the top flight away from home against Holy Cross.

Their first home game doesn’t come until the third week of the season when they host Morton at Boghall.

The club will also be fielding a Second XI who will play in Division Four.

They begin their campaign with two consecutive home fixtures, taking on Dunfermline and Carnegie on Sat u rday b e f o re welcoming Heriots Third XI the following week.

Livingston also continue to have two teams in the leagues with their First XI playing in Division Two, with their first fixture being at home to Westquarter and Redding before visiting Boroughmuir next week.

Their reserve side will be playing in Division Five and get their campaign up and running away from home against Morton Second XI on Saturday before a home clash against Drummond Trinity Second XI next weekend.

The club will also be part of the new Sunday League, with their first fixture being on May 13 away from home a ga i n s t R oyal High Corstorphine as well as f e atu r ing in the Tuesday night Braw Skelp competition, which gets underway in June.

Fauldhouse Victoria suffered relegation last term and will be hoping to bounce back and get their Third Division campaign off to a good start with a win away from home against Selkirk on the opening day.

Their first home clash comes on May 5 when they host Murrayfield DAFS Second XI at Eastfield Park. The Bathgate Friday Night League held their annual Doubles competition last week at Coppies Bar in Armadale.

The league’s top players all entered on the night but when the final arrows were thrown it was the team of Dougie Hogg and Alan McDonald from Lammies Bar in Fauldhouse who were the ones celebrating the title.

The pair edged out the Whitburn-based Cross Tavern team of Callum Wilkinson and William Harraughty in a brilliant final.

Congratulations goes to both teams for some tremendous play on the night but there can only be one winner. Beaten semi-finalists were Rab Dick and Graeme Bird from Kirknewton as well as the Coppies Bar duo of Colin Maxwell and Peter Laverty.

The Bathgate League Consolation Team Cup was also held, which was a tournament for the teams who failed to finish in the top two of the league this season.

The final saw Coppies Bar A getting the better of The Old Wine Store team from Shotts in a superb final.

The highlight of the showdown was a brilliant brace of maximum 180s from William Cunningham.

Also on the maximum trail during a night of some fantastic darts was Andy Thomson from the Glenmavis Bowling Club team in Bathgate.