Kilmarnock bowlers wrap up second win

May 8 2009 by Clair Fullarton, Kilmarnock Standard

WEEK two of the season saw Kilmarnock looking to build on their convincing victory in week one.

There were a couple of changes from the previous week due to work commitments which allowed new skipper Alistair Smith to take to the field for his first game.

Due to the beautiful Scottish weather the wicket was very damp and the game looked in danger of being called off on the Friday but with the sun on Saturday the game was able to go ahead.

After losing the toss Kilmarnock were asked to bat first and last week’s hero Zeeshand Saeed went out to open the batting again with Alun Johnstone.

Unfortunately there were not the same fireworks as last week as Kilmarnock quickly found themselves in trouble at 48 for 4 with Saeed, Johnstone, Baig and Smith all back in the pavilion.

This brought last year’s captain Alan Hill to the crease to join vice-captain Scott Weir. Both batted well on the tricky surface and some very poor catching allowed the pair to put on 51 to get Kilmarnock back into the game.

Hill departed for 18 and although Weir (49) and Mohammed Alem (18) were out soon after a late 29 from Jim Hill allowed Kilmarnock to get up to a very defendable 149 all out.

Kilmarnock knew that as long as they held their chances that 149 was enough on this wicket. Zubeer Pasha and Jim Hill opened the bowling and had a field day using their experience to terrorise the opposition.

The pair soon had Shawholm’s batting line-up in pieces at 13 for 5 with the wickets shared. They quickly found themselves at 21 for six and then seven as Hill found himself on a hat-trick for a second time.

Hill ended up with five wickets for 11 off of his 10 overs and his opening partner ended up with two for 10 from his seven overs.

Although the damage had been done Sajjad and Young began to frustrate the Kilmarnock attack and it took the introduction of Bilal Baig to finally end the game.

Baig was brought on to try something different and it worked first ball and also second ball. Unfortunately for the third time that day a hat-trick was not forthcoming but the inning was cut and dried a couple of overs later as Baig bowled Sharzaad to end up with the fantastic figures of three wickets for the loss of only one run from 1.4 overs.

Shawholm ended up being dismissed for 38 to give Kilmarnock a convincing 111 run victory. This on the back of last weekend’s fine victory over GHK gives Kilmarnock hope that their target of promotion can be achieved.

Unfortunately the 2nd XI game was cancelled due to groundwork where they were due to play, but hopefully this game can be re-arranged, while the Under 15s first game of the season was a victim of the weather on Friday night.

Outdoor senior training starts this Wednesday at 7pm at the Kilmarnock Academy playing fields for anybody interested in coming back to the game or even if they want to try it for the first time.