Great Effort from the Young Second XI

The whole club was delighted to put out two full teams on Saturday, the first time this has been possible this season after some pre-season turmoil with a number of players leaving unexpectedly and putting the club in a very delicate position.

It was a young (in parts) 2nd XI which made the short trip to Freuchie in a 30 overs a-side friendly, where if a team was bowled out then batters could come back in to use up the full overs and give everyone as much game time as possible. It was also not just a young team, but a very inexperienced one at that - four players playing their first ever competitive game and two others still only in their first handful of games.

First innings

Freuchie were invited to bat first, and it was to be a great start for the Glens with with excellent opening spells by Dave Snook and young Gulawrang Matanai (the latter particularly unlucky to repeatedly miss the outside edge of the batters) led to pressure on the batters with Glasgow being called for a tight single but a direct hit by Matanai was to send him back to the pivvy.

From there, it was fellow youngster Subhan Shiraz to get the pink ball swinging round corners and taking three wickets - one bowled and two LBW's. With Ravi Coppisetty bowling the dangerous Mutch, Freuchie were to find themselves on 24 for the loss of 5 wickets. An excellent 52 run partnership between Lois Wilkinson (31 retired) and young Kieran McLaughlin was broken as Kieran was caught and bowled by the returning Matanai after an excellent innings.

Former Glens players Jay Lewis was out bowled for 8, missing the full bunger from young Wahab Tawheedi, and Micahel Sheeran bowled for 10 by the returning Subhan Shiraz (excellent figures of 4 for 30 - extra runs unlucky with edges through and over the slips). Ryan McLaughlin batted well to score 24 not out and lead Freuchie to a total of 132 for 8 from their 30 overs.

Second innings

A common feature of Glenrothes' batting this year as been top order collapses, and this game was to be not different - Ryan McLaughlin with an excellent opening spell (4 for 8 from 3) along with further wickets for Wilkinson and Sheeran saw Glens reduced to 11 for the loss of 6 wickets!!!

There was to be some mid-innings grit from Shaun Rowcliffe, Rahman Tawheedi and Ravi Coppisetty to lift the score up further but with their dismissals it was left to Nic Krzyzanowski to come in as last batter and hit a few boundaries to lift the score above 50. Unfortunately, young Ayaan Sakhir making his debut in senior cricket (and it was great to see him giving his batting and bowling a good go) was last batter out.

With batters then returning to complete the 30 overs, it was a procession of wickets again unfortunately - though highlights included Dave Snook putting the after-burners on to complete a quick single, Gulawrang Matanai chasing an extra-extra-wide ball down leg and pulling the ball straight into the midriff of wicket-keeper James Moncur for a well taken "catch", Subhan Shiraz hitting out and Joe Burton hitting a glorious cover drive for four of the bowling of former Glens player Jay Lewis.

But it was to be Freuchie's game, with Glenrothes ending on 95 all out (kind of twice). It's a huge thanks to all at Freuchie for hosting the game and supporting our young and inexperienced team so well.