East Kilbride won the Western Union Division One title in an enthralling game against fellow title challengers Hillhead.
Hillhead won the toss, and asked the home team to bat, which was East Kilbrides preferred option. The wicket offered a bit of everything, and the openers built a solid partnership, with youngster Richardson showing great maturity in making a solid 40. The momentum in the game started to swing to Hillhead as they picked up 4 wickets to reduce East Kilbride to 70 for 4. Dalgleish, then got stuck in as he held the innings together with a well grafted 38, and in partnership with skipper Saeed who made 66, they built a partnership of 110. With a few late runs from Waqas, Urqhart and Richards, the innings closed at 223-9. A decent total, that gave the team a chance. After tea, a couple of dropped catches, allowed Hillhead to gain the momentum, as Richards and Kampman, bowled some great bowls without much luck. The real drama started when a rain delay after 10 overs threatened to finish the game, and leave Hillhead champions. The weather turned, and play resumed with Hillhead set a reduced target of 189 of 42 overs. The spinners were brought on and Mahmood and Alum bowled with accuracy and guile and the game swung back East Kilbrides way, with the run rate climbing. Khalid was introduced, and a couple of good catches from Dalgleish, and Alum, who hung on to a real skyer reduced Hillhead to 113-5 of 32 overs, needing 7 and half runs an over to win. A final heavy shower, brought proceedings to a halt, and at 7.50pm the umpires called time on the game, leaving East Kilbride the victors and league champions due to a better run rate. Hillhead conducting themselves with dignity, having lost the league in such disappointing circumstances. Both teams being a credit to their clubs, in what was an absorbing game of cricket.