On what was the hottest day of the year Moorcroft travelled to Garscube's picturesque ground and ground out a 20 run victory. After being asked to bat first, Moorcroft started as though it was a 20/20 match and openers Graeme Phillips and Parvase Majeed had scored 27 after 3 overs. As the bowlers found their line and length the scoring rate slowed but after 8 overs the score had reached 40 before Majeed was bowled for 17. This sparked a typical collapse and another two wickets fell with only one more run added. Taral Khasiya came in and steadied the ship and took the score up to 54 before Philips was out for 24. With the run rate slowing dramatically Amin came in to join Taral and together they took the score to 68 before Amin was caught for 9. Shani came in and along with Taral pushed the score to 97 before Taral was stumped for 28. Without another run added Shani was bowled for 12 and despite a flurry from Shobhit and Aslam, Moorcroft were dismissed for 112 in the 46th over.

              Tight bowling and fielding was important if Moorcroft were to get anything from the game and Shani produced an incredible first over - 5 wide and 2 wickets. Garscube settled though and took the score to 34 before Graeme Phillips struck removing Copeland for 7. Shani was bowling very erratically but stuck again before being taken off as the wide count had reached embarrassing proportions. Amin came on and along with Graeme bowled well and together they kept the Garscube batsmen tied down and they eventually dismissed the home side for 92 in the 32nd over, Graeme finishing with 3 for 24 from his 15 overs and Amin taking 4 for 19. Embarrassingly the total of 92 contained 40 extras (31 of which were wides). This is something Moorcroft need to work on if they are to be challenging for promotion at the business end of the season. (Reported by: Colin McLardie) 

Renfrew lost to Edinburgh by 1 wicket (ScoreCard)

Mactaggart & Mickel Renfrew managed to finally play their first home match of the SNCL season against Imans Edinburgh who were unbeaten, with the home side still without professional Ahmed Said there was still optimism going into this match, which due to the weather had a delayed start and was reduced to 48 overs a side.

Renfrew skipper Sajid Majeed lost the toss and Mactaggart and Mickel Renfrew were put into bat by Edinburgh and much to their despair lost the wickets of both openers Paul Goodman and Kamran Saeed with the total on 29. This brought together Fida Hussain and Zia Ulhaq who forged a superb 109 partnership for the third wicket before Hussain gave a caught and bowled chance and was out on 73. Ul haq now took the lead along with new partner Abdul Shakoor and added a further 92 for the fourth wicket before Shakoor was bowled for 39 with five balls of the innings remaining, a further 5 runs were added with the Frew finishing on 236 for 4 of 48 overs. This was indeed a master class of batting by Hussain , Shakoor and Ulhaq who finished on 89 not out with an array of shots being displayed.

Skipper Majeed and Kamran Saeed opened the bowling in Edinburgh’s innings and not only kept the score down but Saeed managed to claim the first three wickets with Shakoor taking two great catches behind the stumps with the score on 32. Majeed had opener Raja Javed dropped at first slip before Javed eventually fell to the off spin off Hussain with the score on 60. This brought ex Frew player Abid Shuja to the crease, he struggled to cope with the off spin of Hussain and Ulhaq but was fortunate enough to be dropped on three separate occasions allowing him to get to 62 before he was out with the total now on 175 after 41 overs. Edinburgh needed 61 of the next 7 overs with 4 wickets remaining, the ods were against them so the Renfrew players decided to even them up dropping another two catches before Edinburgh batsman Imran Akthar who had been the one dropped twice hitting the penultimate ball of the innings fo a 6 to win the game by 1 wicket finishing on 239.

A disastrous fielding performance by Renfrew dropping 7 catches and managing to lose a game which should have been won easily. There will definitely be extra catching practice before the next game because Renfrew cannot afford to drop any more points; they did manage to pick up two bonus points which kept them off the foot of the table. (Reported by Sai)

VICTORY OVER VALE PUTS MOORCROFT TOP (Scorecard)

Renfrew's second XI moved into joint top spot of the Western Union Division 4 with a reasonably comfortable victory over Vale of Leven at KGV on Saturday. With the previous week game at Ardrossan called off, along with all the other matches in the Division, Moorcroft knew victory was essential. A spate of call offs led to some late re-jigging of the team and the late arrival of some players meant that on winning the toss Parvase Majeed decided to bat first on a tricky wicket. Majeed and Graeme Phillips started well and had put on 33 for the first wicket in 11 overs, when Majeed was too casual in going for a single and was run out for 23. Kamal Singh came to the wicket and despite a nervy start buckled down and along with Phillips took the score to 100 before he was out LBW for 39. This heralded an infamous and all too familiar batting collapse as Moorcroft lost a host of silly wickets with only Phillips (29) and Shobhit Dihora (11) reaching double figures. Moorcroft were eventually dismissed for 160 in the 46th over giving Vale of Leven 4 extra overs to bat. Pick of the Vale bowlers was A.McAdam who took 5 for 37.

Vale started their innings well and their openers put on 36 in just 8 overs before Kamal Singh took a superb catch behind the stumps off the bowling of Shani to remove Dalby for 11. Vale tried to recover and just as they looked to be getting back into the game the combination of Shani and Singh struck again to remove McAdam. With the very next ball Graeme Phillips removed Gyam for 29 leaving Vale on 58 for 3. Wickets then began to fall at regular intervals and after 26 overs Vale were 82 for 7. However a 31 run partnership (many of which were wides) between Lawrence and Hutchison let Vale back in with a shout before Shani dismissed Lawrence. Graeme Phillips finished the job with the final two wickets - Taral Khasiya taking a brilliant reflex catch to win the game - as Vale ended up 122 all out. Phillips was the pick of the bowlers with 4 for 30 with Shani taking 3 for 48, Amir Hafeez 2 for 25 and Amin taking 1 for 6.

After the match skipper Parvase Majeed was happy with the win but felt that the batting collapse and amount of extras conceded were grounds for concern. (Reported by: Colin McLardie), (click here for Photos)

Moorcroft 160 all out (25pts)

Vale of Leven 122 all out (7 pts)

Renfrew 1XI lost against Dumfries, Nunholm, 16 May.
Renfrew 124 (42 overs, S Beveridge 3-14)
APD Dumfries 120-1 (28.5 overs, D Davidson 55*, A Davidson 48)

MOORCROFT LEFT FRUSTRATED IN DUMFRIES....(Click here for Scorecard)

With Renfrew’s first eleven match against SMRH called off on Saturday due to a waterlogged pitch and outfield, the second eleven’s fixture against St. Michaels took centre stage on Saturday. Following the disappointment of the opening fixture at Kilmarnock being abandoned last Saturday, Moorcroft were looking to make a positive start to their campaign to return to the WDCU Third Division.

Unfortunately skipper Paul Goodman lost the toss and Moorcroft were invited to bat first on a difficult wicket at Kingholm, Dumfries, which offered the home bowlers some early assistance.

Despite this, and the early loss of Parvase Majeed, Graeme Phillips (16) and Taral Khasiya (24) grafted hard to build a solid platform for what would eventually be a respectable total. Paul Goodman (31 *) then shared in important partnerships of 28 and 49 with Naveed Abbas (35) and Mohsin Majeed (19) for the fourth and sixth wickets respectively to take Moorcroft to 153 for 6 wickets in their 50 overs.

In reply Kingholm were soon in trouble at 13 for 3, despite the wicket drying out considerably and making batting easier, as Moorcroft’s Aamir Hafeez picked up three early wickets and missed out on a hat trick in his fifth over.

Taylor and Wilson steadied the Kingholm innings for a short time by adding 27 for the fourth wicket before Taylor was run out by a combination of Shobhit Dihora and Paul Goodman.

At this stage the visitors sensed a chance of victory and Graeme Phillips (1 for 17) and Colin McLardie (3 for 26) turned the screw with tight bowling spells to take Moorcroft to the brink of victory. Unfortunately only one further wicket fell in the remaining overs as Kenny Wilson (48*) and Dougie Sloan held on to secure a draw for Kingholm, at nine wickets down. Afterwards Moorcroft skipper Paul Goodman was understandably disappointed not to win the match but was pleased with the team’s performance while also feeling there was still room for improvement. (Reported by: David Mudie)

Kilmarnock vs Moorcroft (Sat 25th April 2009) - Match Abondoned (Click here for Scorecard)

Renfrew 2^nd XI (Moorcroft) were left frustrated by heavy rain as the opening game of their WDCU 2009 campaign, away to Kilmarnock , was abandoned before the end of the first batting innings. 

Having lost the toss and been put in to bat by the hosts, Moorcroft’s openers Anil Roy and captain Parvez Majeed got them off to a steady start as they reached 76 for no loss, before Majeed was to fall.  Anil however was playing the bowlers with relative ease and helped himself to a good handful of boundaries, including 4 huge sixes.  However he did not receive much support from the other end as none of the next four batsmen were able to reach double figures, on an increasingly testing Kilmarnock wicket, as Moorcroft slipped from 76 without loss, to 123/4. Regardless of the mini collapse, Renfrew were still on target for a good score at the halfway stage of their innings on. 

Unfortunately Anil was to fall 14 runs short of what would have been a well played century, given the unpredictable pitch conditions, as he was out bowled on 86 at 129/5 in 31.2, Then just as new batsmen Taral Khasiya and Shobhit Dihora looked like they could steady the innings, the heavens opened and abruptly ended a match Moorcroft would have been keen to win.

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