Photo Credit: Cricket Scotland
It’s set to be another busy weekend of domestic cricket, with the SPCU North East Championship, the Eastern Premier League, Western Premiership One and the Scottish Cup leading the way.
In the SPCU North East Championship on Saturday, Arbroath United will be keen to keep up their winning start as they are on the road at Gordonians.
“Most teams are unknown to us in the league, so we aren’t taking any team lightly,” Arbroath skipper Bryce Carnegie said.
“We have a full side for Saturday, but we will be missing some key players for the Scottish Cup game on Sunday [away to Stoneywood Dyce of the Eastern Premier League].
“Even with missing some players, we are still confident going up to Dyce as the underdogs, so all the pressure will be on them.”
Elsewhere in the SPCU North East Championship on Saturday, Aberdeenshire and Huntly both won last time out and they will meet with Strathmore hosting Perth Doo’cot, Kinloch travelling to Freuchie and Falkland 2 playing Forfarshire 2 at Scroggie Park.
Forfarshire saw their opening Eastern Premier League match at Watsonians washed out, but the Scottish Cup holders are hoping for two days of action this time around.
On Saturday they are due to welcome Falkland to Forthill in the league while on Sunday their Cup defence begins at Renfrew in round one.
Forfarshire captain Scott Cameron said: “We are looking forward to getting our season kicked off with two tough games.
“We are all looking forward to getting out there and seeing how we fare after a long winter. On Sunday we will see what happens and, hopefully, we are looking to get a good cup run going again.”
After missing out last Saturday, Watsonians Eastern Premier League campaign begins at Meigle.
Heriot’s and Carlton meet in a tasty-looking Edinburgh derby while, elsewhere in the capital, Gen!us Grange take on Stoneywood Dyce and Stewart’s Melville and RH Corstorphine are set to be in action at Inverleith.
Stenhousemuir got their Western Premiership One campaign off to a strong start last time out and they want to build on that on the road to Your Move Dumfries on Saturday.
They are then at Tunnocks Uddingston in the Cup on Sunday and Stenhousemuir skipper Nicky Rodgers said: “We are looking forward to the weekend’s games.
“They will be two tough away trips against sides who have been good at home in the last couple of seasons. Dumfries is a nice place to play and they also will be confident after an opening day win.
On Sunday in the Cup at Uddingston it will be a different match from last Saturday when we beat them in the league and I’m sure they will be fired up to get back at us.
“For that one, we will have one or two changes to the side from last Saturday due to injuries and unavailability, but we’ll also welcome one or two back. If we continue to follow our processes, we are confident enough we can continue to get positive results.”
Elsewhere in Western Premiership One on Saturday, Clydesdale and McCrea FS West of Scotland meet at Titwood, Prestwick are on the road to take on M8 Driving Ferguslie, SM Cricket Stirling County are at home to Uddingston and Greenock and Ayr will clash at Glenpark.
Some of Sunday’s Scottish Cup ties have already been mentioned and, in total, there are 15 games to be played this weekend with Clydesdale receiving a bye to round two.
Name of Author: Cricket Scotland
Cricket Scotland, formerly the Scottish Cricket Union, is the governing body for cricket in Scotland, based at the National Cricket Academy in Edinburgh. Established in 1908 and restructured in 2001, it became an ICC Associate Member in 1994. The organization includes three sub-associations: the East of Scotland Cricket Association, Western District Cricket Union, and Aberdeenshire Cricket Association.
