Scottish Students Indoor Cricket 6s Finals Day
The culmination of the 2011/12 Scottish Student Sport - Cricket Indoor 6s, is to be held at Mary Erskine School in Edinburgh on Saturday 18 February.
After a new autumn format of three regional qualifying tournaments in Glasgow, Perth and Edinburgh was received well by student players and officials, the top indoor teams from around the country will lock horns to become Scottish champions.
Edinburgh University are already familiar with the finals day venue as they have seen action, again, in the annual Cricket Media 6s against clubs sides. They are led by one of the two student representatives on the SSS Cricket committee this year, Andrew Brock. Brock has an array of talented Scottish and international students and they will be a tough test for any side. St Andrews University, led by Jake Starkey, have a good pedigree in indoor cricket and will be looking to take the trophy back to Fife. Both these sides are in different groups on the day itself.
Edinburgh will be joined in group B by Dundee University, coached by ex-Abertay University all-rounder Richard Rennie. Dundee won the qualifying tournament in November at Bells Sports Centre and were praised by observers for having effective game plans for the indoor game. Joining Edinburgh and Dundee in group B are the relative newcomers, the University of the Highlands & Islands. UHI has several campuses in Inverness, Shetland, Orkney and the Isle of Lewis, but it is the Perth College campus that has so far represented the Institution in the cricketing arena. The team relies heavily on students from the Asian sub-continent, though the SSS cricket committee are seeking to encourage the other campuses to get involved with supplying players or starting their own teams.
In group A, along with St Andrews, arguably the form indoor team of the winter, Stirling University, who are led by Scotland Lions cap Josh Edwards are looking to mount a serious challenge to be student champions of Scotland. Stirling won through the BUCS (British Universities & Colleges Sport) Northern Region qualifier in October and put in a respectable performance at the semi-final stage at Headingley in November. Although they fell short of the BUCS finals at Lords indoor school, confidence will be high they can be in the hunt come the business end of finals day. The other uni in group A, that completes the line up is Strathclyde University, who qualified after an impressive showing at the West region qualifying event. Long term captain Shahan Ali has stepped down from his 1st XI, indoor 6s and club captain roles since that victory in the autumn and Carlton CC prospect Nick Martin has taken on the role as captain of the club ahead of finals day and the outdoor season that lies ahead in the spring.
The SSS cricket committee is grateful to former co-ordinator of universities cricket, Martin Flynn for continuing to organise the umpires and scorers for the national finals day at MES. There is no doubt that it will be an exciting day of indoor action, as we seek to find the first winner of the new era of student cricket, with colleges and universities taking each other on in competitive action.
Group A
Edinburgh University
Dundee University
UHI
Group B
St Andrews University
Strathclyde University
Stirling University
