East Kilbride 1st X1 travelled to Partick on Saturday on a warm day. The pitch was hard and the outfield fast, so it looked like a high scoring game was on the cards. The home team won the toss and it was no surprise when they elected to bat. The pre match talk focused on keeping it tidy in the field and the need to hang on to catches. Kampman and Richards opened the bowling and the pair bowled impressive lines on and around off stump allowing the captain to set a tight field in the covers. Both bowlers took a wicket before a double bowling change saw skipper Umair and 1st team debutant Waqas continue the pace attack on off stump. Waqas eased himself in and bowled an impressive spell, including a wicket, before being replaced by Kampman who continued the fast bowling onslaught with further success. With Umair picking up 5 wickets in his 2 spells, the East Kilbride pace quartet took 9 wickets. With 5 slow bowlers in the side, only 2 where required with Mahmood picking up the other wicket to leave Partick 159 all out. Tidy fielding all round, particularly from Urqhart who excelled in the covers, and a stunning one handed catch by Mahmood at gully, contributed to the best team performance of the year. Arvind behind the stumps kept the team ticking over and his tidiness was essential in East Kilbride squeezing Partick to a low score on a batting wicket.

In reply Richardson continued his recent impressive run of solid opening batting, but he played second fiddle in partnership with Alum, who quickly took to the bowling, scoring a quick 38 in an opening partnership of 65. Kellett was next in, and and fell cheaply, which brought Khalid to the wicket. In an unbeaten partnership of 80 with Richardson they passed Particks score with 20 overs to spare. Khalid finishing on 59no, and Richardson carrying his bat for 36no. An impressive team performance all round keeps the side in contention at the top of the league, and with some genuine competition for places performance of this level are required each week. Next Saturday the team travel to genuine title contenders Hillhead, in what historically has proven to be a tough, competitive game.