Rain hits Scots' new dawn (28 April 1998)

28 April 1998

Rain hits Scots' new dawn

By Keith Graham

RAIN virtually wiped out the start of the New Conference in Scotland, just two games managing to start in section C, only one of which was completed when Arbroath stuttered to victory over Edinburgh Accies at Lochlands.

Batting first, the visitors were soon undermined by Zahid Mohammed (four wickets for nine) and Ben McGill (three for 29) as they tumbled to 68 all out. The home team had lost seven wickets by the time they reached their meagre target with only Chris Plomer showing any real appetite for runs on 19 not out.

Glenpark provided a comparative run-feast as Greenock ran up 193 for eight in just over 45 overs against Stirling before rain intervened. The most telling contributions came from Guyanan professional Andre Percival (66) and Australian amateur Chris Swan (45) who added 80 brisk runs for the sixth wicket after Willie Morton had earlier taken two wickets in his first over.

Percival's 50 contained 10 boundaries and when he was finally run out, having dropped his bat in attempting a short single, Greenock had assumed an unassailable position.

The wash-out further hampered Scottish coach Jim Love's preparations for this weekend's Benson and Hedges Cup clash with Yorkshire at Linlithgow with none of his squad able to get any match practice. Yorkshire, on the other hand, have recently toured South Africa and will have also enjoyed the relative luxury of two full championship games and at least two one-day matches.

The Scots have retained the squad originally picked for the two abortive warm-up matches against Durham, which also fell victim to the weather. This means that there will be two new caps, former Worcestershire seamer James Brinkley and Heriot's left-arm pace man Asim Butt, who will form a new opening attack.

West of Scotland's Craig Wright looks certain to make his Benson and Hedges debut together with exciting left-handed batsman Drew Parsons, recently returned from a season in Australian cricket. Nick Dyer is the only spinner in the squad and he too is likely to make a first appearance in the competition. Bryn Lockie is recalled to open the batting with the experienced Bruce Patterson.

Work Commitments mean Aberdeenshire's Mike Smith is available only for the Yorkshire maych so Mike Allingham has been added to the squad for the games against Worcester at New Road next Monday, Durham at Riverside the following Wednesday and Derbyshire at Forfar a week on Friday.

SCOTLAND SQUAD (Benson & Hedges Cup, v Worcester, Durham & Derbyshire): G Salmond (capt), M Allingham, J Brinkley, A Butt, A Davies, N Dyer, B Lockie, D Parsons, B Patterson, M Smith, K Thomson, G Williamson, C Wright.

Source :: Electronic Telegraph (https://www.telegraph.co.uk)