Scottish Cricket: Selectors' hand forced for Bangladesh clash (7 Jul 1998)

7 July 1998

Scottish Cricket: Selectors' hand forced for Bangladesh clash

By Keith Graham

THE Scotland selectors have had to dig deep into their playing resources for the first of two three-day games against Bangladesh which begins at Forthill, Broughty Ferry, today.

Tomorrow Scotland play their NatWest Trophy second-round game against Derbyshire in Edinburgh so the selectors are giving full caps to several youngsters who participated in the Under-19s World Cup in South Africa.

Among them are batsmen Fraser Watts, Greg Butchart and Ayaz Gul, off-spinner Ross Mitchinson, who will form a spin partnership with Andy Tennant, and wicket-keeper Ewan Stubbs, who replaces the injured Alec Davies. There are first full caps for paceman David Cox (Aberdeenshire) and Clydesdale's opening batsman, Rennie Keith, and the team are led by the highly experienced Iain Philip.

In the Scottish League, Heriot's continued their domination of Conference A with a comprehensive win over Watsonians, despite the absence of five front-line players, on Saturday. Shahid Aslam undermined the Myreside effort with another six-wicket haul as the visitors crawled to 92 in 52 overs.

That the Pakistani bowled five of his victims was testament to his command of line, as well as clever variation of pace. He has already taken 40 wickets, at an astonishing average of almost seven per innings. Steve Thomson (56 not) and Chris Goddard (30 not) iced the cake to give the leaders a 10-wicket win.

Nearest challengers Grange were frustrated by Forfarshire at Forthill, falling agonisingly short of pulling off the shock of the season.

With Steve Crawley and George Salmond on international duty, Grange's early batsmen exhibited uncharacteristic fragility and it was only when Ian Beven came to the wicket on 64 for four, and following a two-hour rain break, that the Edinburgh side looked likely to post a significant target, the Tasmanian going on to an unbeaten 57 in a total of 168 for nine.

A century stand between Peter Drinnen (53) and Graham Garden (57) took the home team to 115 for two but 40 overs had been bowled when the Australian was run out and they were five runs short of victory at stumps.

Grange have since been named the Famous Grouse team of the month for June with West of Scotland the runners-up.

West Lothian's six-wicket win at Hillhead enabled them to close the gap in third place. GHK crushed Kelburne by 182 runs with Peter Bruhn scoring 70 and then taking three wickets.

Ayr's victory over Stirling County at Cambusdoon takes them to the top of Conference C. Kevin Roberts took five wickets as the visitors were bowled out for 151 and then rattled up an unbeaten 94 in company with Alan Simpson (51 not) to secure an eight-wicket win. Roberts has now passed 700 runs.

Erstwhile leaders Aberdeenshire were frustrated by rain, as were Arbroath, but Freuchie, thanks to 84 not out from Robbie Birrell, cruised to an eight-wicket victory over Edinburgh Accies.

The highlight of Sunday's Scottish Cup semi-final draw is the clash between Heriot's and Grange, who secured comfortable victories over Ferguslie and Aberdeenshire respectively. The other pairing is between West Lothian and Prestwick, who sprung surprises with victories over Clydesdale and West of Scotland.

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