Renfrew Cricket Club make theirs a double with victory
Renfrew Cricket Club made it two wins on the spin after seeing off Hillhead Cricket Club.
After beating Marchmont in their opening Cricket Scotland Challenge Cup match, their first team travelled to Hughenden in the west end of Glasgow for their first WDCU Division 1 League match.
Early indications showed there would be some purchase for spinners and a deck that would be challenging to bat on. In other words, grit and determination would be the order of the day.
Renfrew were put in to bat first and lost Kakar, Khan, Haider and Abbasi before any substantial partnership was formed.
That was until Shuja joined opener
Hussain at the crease. Both knuckled down and put in the hard yards on a testing wicket.
Both did fall in similar fashion, having holed out on the boundary as the attempt to up the run rate had faltered.
Renfrew were eventually dismissed for 139, a score that Renfrew felt was likely 30 to 40 short. Nevertheless it would still test the Hillhead batting steel.
Hillhead’s response started disastrously as Arshad had Collins taken on just the third delivery of the innings.
Ahmed, making his first appearance of the season, took the second over and struck with his first delivery with one of his famous drifters. Renfrew’s Leach also worked his magic immediately.
Renfrew had pace bowlers in the line up, but opted to stick with the spinners.
Hillhead continued to lose wickets and never really formed any partnerships.
Majeed and Abbasi also got in on the act but the chief destroyer was skipper Haider, who took 5-11 from nine overs.
Eventually Hillhead capitulated to 50 all out, falling well short with Renfrew eventually winning by 89 runs.
Renfrew captain Haider said: “We are delighted with the win but all in all it was a brilliant team effort.
“Ideally we’d have like to have posted 175. In terms of the second innings, we bowled good areas and didn’t give much away which resulted in the pressure building for their batsman.”
Renfrew’s second team Deanpart suffered a narrow defeat at the hands of Weirs second’s.
Deanpart were put in to bat first and struck a solid looking 186-10, with Praveen (32), Hafeez (24) and Jigar (24) the top scorers.
Weirs battled hard and eventually won by two wickets, scoring 187-8 in 48.8 overs.
Elsewhere Renfrew’s third team travelled south to face Galloway Cricket Club second team, with the hosts winning the toss and electing to bowl.
Renfrew’s openers Patel and Jagdale stuck to their plan and kept rotating the strike. The visitors were soon at 119 for no loss in 20 overs.
Jagdale reached his half century and Patel went on to hit an impressive century.
Renfrew lost their first wicket in the 30th over with 173 on the board, eventually ending their innings with 241 for the loss of just four wickets in 40 overs.
That was a mammoth total for any opposition to chase down, and opening bowlers Agarwal and Chouhan picked up the first wicket in the fourth over.
First change Ashraf made the task next to impossible for the opposition by picking up five wickets and giving away only 16 runs in the process.
Natarajan also ended with two for five with a wicket maiden.
Galloway were all out on 95 in 30 overs, as Renfrew’s thirds kicked off their season with an impressive 146 runs win.
This weekend Renfrew take on Stenhousemuir Cricket Club at home, while the second team face Meikleriggs at Ferguslie Cricket Club.
Both matches start at noon.