Home versus Stenhousemuir Western Cup

Result Stenhousemuir 32 all out in 23 overs. EKCC 2nd X1 33-1 in 6 overs
The EK 2nd X1 took on Stenhousemuir at home on Saturday in the Western Cup. With call ups to the first X1 for Joel Richardson , Alistair Dalgleish and John Hunter, and Gary Smith away at the cup final, 4 changes were required from last week,
Harris Kahn, Saquib Ali and Arjun Lalli were all brought in from the U18s and Iftikhar Khan was in from the Sunday X1. So again the team was a good mix of youth and experience, and this was how the match developed.
On winning the toss skipper Alan Meikle asked Stenhousemuir to bat, and the bowling was opened by the experience of Steven Mann and the youth of David Healy. Mann bowled his full complement of 10 overs troubling all the batsman. He finished with 3 wickets for 17 runs. The star performer however was young Healy who bowled a devastating spell ripping out the Stenhousmuir top order with controlled seam bowling. His six overs saw him take 4 wickets for only 7 runs. The experienced Nick Ralphs replaced him up the hill , and in his 6 overs he took 3 for 7, and Stenhousemuir were all out for 32. The other over was bowled by the U18 Saquib Ali. The U18 Arjun Lalli took a great catch, and young wicket keeper Gavin Meikle contributed with a stunning one handed catch.
The youth and experience mix continued as young Gavin Meikle opened the batting with the skipper, and the youth won this contest. He finished on 20no. The skipper departed for only 1. This brought Gareth Urquhart to the crease, with six required to win. He duly blocked the first ball as a sighter , then hit the second straight back over the fielders and into the banking to seal the victory in style with a six.
EK taking the 2 points, and putting themselves in contention for the knock out stages of the competition.
The man of the match award going to David Healy for his match winning bowling spell.
There is no 2ndX1 fixture next week, however a number of the team will be vying for places in the Sunday X1 who travel to Motherwell in a Sunday League encounter.