A taste of Scotland

posted by John Winn

Ian Peebles the Scotland born England  test player of the inter war years described the West of Scotland cricket ground at Hamilton Crescent, Partick as 'very much an urban ground, but of great character and tradition'. As a boy of twelve he was taken there by his father in 1921 to see Warwick Armstrong's Australians and the ground is almost certainly unique in that it has hosted international sport in Cricket, Rugby Union, Hockey and perhaps most memorably, in 1872, the first Scotland/England football match  (a 0-0 draw).

 

Spending  the weekend in Glasgow I was very pleased to see that West of Scotland CC were at home on Saturday afternoon against the Western Premier Division leaders, Uddingston, a small town in Lanarkshire where Peebles lived for a while and where he played some of his first organised cricket.

The ground is very accessible from the city centre, just seven minutes by train from Queen Street station and just a couple of minutes walk at the Partick end. On a sunny afternoon but which was interrupted by some occasional very brief short showers 'West' won the toss and put Uddingston into bat. The games are played over fifty overs with a twelve o'clock start and the visitors who have been carrying all before them were soon in difficulties at ten for two. Unexpectedly I recognised one of West of Scotland's players, the former member of the Yorkshire coaching staff, John Blain, now coach to the Partick club.

 One of the squally showers drove the small crowd inside the clubhouse but did not interrupt play. It was sufficient however to cause the bowlers some problems with their footmarks and an appeal was made for sawdust. To the considerable annoyance of the home skipper this could not be found and I was witness to a discussion as to where some might be obtained. Jewson's or Pets 'R Us were suggested and it was decided that the latter would be the more likely and in due course the pet shop boys returned with the necessary.

Despite the fact that it was the bowlers who were having difficulties the batting team felt that play should have been halted, especially at 86 for 9. Number 11, a man of substantial build, made his way to the crease at a pace befitting his size and which gave just a hint of a delaying tactic. The umpires were not sympathetic and play continued and the growing crowd were witness to the tea ladies' nightmare, the substantial last wicket stand, which in this case added 51 to the total leaving Uddingston's final score 137 all out in the 43rd over.

I left at this point but the excellent Sunday Herald newspaper had the scores and a short report which showed that West of Scotland had won by four wickets with four overs to spare.. Despite this setback Tunningston are still well clear of the second placed club and very much favourites for the title. The divisional winners will play the winners of the Eastern division at a neutral venue.