Marten

One of them has already gone away, the other 2 will likely go away at the end of this season, which would be great for the league. Also, these teams should never been regarded as legitimate teams in the league so it's only right to not count them.

Well done to Scotland, that was a good win. Excellent catch from Stokes to finish Australia's innings, thrown the ball in the air as he was landing behind the boundary, jumped backed in & caught it again. Meanwhile, my team Derbyshire have produced an outstanding second innings away at Glamorgan. We've been woeful in the County Championship for years, usually out for fairly low scores. First innings we were all out for 318 and Glamorgan enforced the follow-on. A brilliant club record first wicket partnership of 360 saved the game for us so we got a draw.

In fairness, when the Midlands League started we immediately spent a lot on licensing so obviously that money couldn't be spent on the squad so we always knew those first 2 seasons we might struggle a bit and internal issues didn't help last season either obviously. Not saying we will now just win the league as there is strong opposition that can't be underestimated, but we should at least be able to mount a decent challenge now we can just focus on things on the pitch and not issues off the pitch.

Failures to get over the line? The last 2 seasons we weren't really close while the last normal season before that (ignoring the 2 covid-disrupted seasons) we won the title and never looked like struggling to get it over the line. We are a lot stronger than last season (and for plenty more reasons than just Bobby Linn) so it's logical to expect an improvement our end. Not saying we'll just win the title as there is strong opposition but it makes sense to label us (one of) the big favourites.

True, that definitely made things more difficult for us at the time too.

Obviously ourselves & Tayport are already licensed. Other than that I know North End, Broughty & Carnoustie are all going for licensing. Although I don't know how long they all need, I assume North End are the closest in terms of ground requirements.

Yeah, Ireland are through already indeed. I just had a look at the run rate calculation and Scotland are all but mathematically through already. Even if Italy win both their matches convincingly (like they reach 180 runs and bowl the opposition out for 90), Scotland can only finish below them on NRR if both the remaining games for Scotland are complete hammerings in the category of Spain v Isle of Man a few months ago (Spain bowled IOM out for 10 & then hit 2 sixes to chase their target in only 2 balls).

I'm actually planning to go so I hope there is some certainty soon. And I'd rather be in some nice tropical location in the Caribbean than at Edgbaston or Old Trafford tbh.

A washout today would mathematically confirm qualification for both Ireland & Scotland.

Cheers mate!

I'm pretty sure we'll be able to put a supporters bus on, there should be a good following coming to Broxburn. Are there any decent places at/near the ground for a pre-match pint?

This. I know from the people at Lochee United, and people at other clubs in the area going for a license, how much work is involved. It's quite an achievement that a club as small as them manage to do it. They have every right to be in this competition. And the beauty of the cup is that small sides get to play big sides. In this case, Talbot are the big side while W&B are the small side.

This is only the second time we entered as a licensed club, so far all 3 ties have been away (Dalkeith, Wick & now Broxburn). But last time we entered before that, in 2019/20 as East Superleague champions, we had 3 home ties (Burntisland Shipyard, LTHV & BSC Glasgow) and only 1 away (Edinburgh Uni).

Carnoustie lost their second game as well, so the defending champions are already 6 points behind. East Craigie's big win at Kirrie is remarkable, otherwise no real surprises I'd say.

Forfar West End 0-3 Lochee United Another strong, commanding, performance. Team looked good, again I could say we should have scored more. But 2 games in, 6 points, 6 goals and 0 conceded, I absolutely can't complain. St. James next on Saturday.

Preliminary round: Broxburn Athletic v Lochee United Camelon v Newtongrange Star Carluke Rovers v Dalbeattie Star Carnoustie/Beith v Bonnyton Thistle Creetown v Whitehill Welfare Culter v Blackburn United Cumnock v Girvan Dunbar United v Vale of Leithen Easthouses Lily v Threave Rovers Fort William v Clydebank Glenafton Athletic v Darvel Hawick Royal Albert v Golspie Sutherland Hill of Beath Hawthorn v Tayport Irvine Meadow v Dunipace Jeanfield Swifts v Abbey Vale/Cupar Kilwinning Rangers v Glasgow University Musselburgh Athletic v Coldstream Newton Stewart v Luncarty/Loch Ness Penicuik Athletic v Rutherglen Glencairn Pollok v Benburb Preston Athletic v Dundonald Bluebell St Andrews United v Haddington Athletic St Cuthbert Wanderers v Dalkeith Thistle Sauchie v Burntisland Shipyard Tynecastle v Hutchison Vale Wigtown & Bladnoch v Auchinleck Talbot Lochee United & Culter don't have the easiest draws, but it could have been worse for both, should be good games. I'm looking forward to the trip to Broxburn. Carnoustie & Loch Ness both have much weaker opposition in this round should they reach it. Fort William & Tayport will both be up against it with very tough draws. Golspie should have a decent chance but they face a very long journey all the way down to Hawick.

Looking forward to our trip to Broxburn. Definitely not the easiest opponent we could have had, but it could also clearly have been worse. Should be a good game. With us being in such a local league I look forward to the cups even more as we get to go to other places, I reckon we can take a fair few down to Broxburn.

Extra preliminary round: Abbey Vale v Cupar Hearts Carnoustie Panmure v Beith Luncarty v Loch Ness bye: Culter Very tough draw for Carnoustie and Loch Ness, Culter got the bye.

Shamelessly copied from @HibeeJibee The draw for the Scottish Cup is at 6pm, Culter, Carnoustie & Loch Ness will join in the extra preliminary round, in which one out of 7 clubs will receive a bye. Golspie Sutherland, Fort William, Tayport & Lochee United start in the Preliminary round as licensed sides.Extra Preliminary including 1 random byeEast of Scotland Premier Division (1) LuncartyWest of Scotland Premier Division (1) BeithSouth of Scotland (1) Abbey ValeNorth Caledonian (1) Loch NessMidland Juniors (1) CarnoustieNorth Juniors Premier (1) CulterAmateurs (1) Cupar HeartsPreliminary RoundEast of Scotland (24) Premier Division (11) Broxburn, Dunbar, Dundonald, Haddington, Hill of Beath, Hutchison Vale, Jeanfield, Musselburgh, Penicuik, Sauchie, Tynecastle First Division (8) Blackburn, Camelon, Dunipace, Newtongrange, Preston, St Andrews, Vale of Leithen, Whitehill Second Division (4) Burntisland, Coldstream, Dalkeith, Easthouses Third Division (1) HawickWest of Scotland (15) Premier Division (8) Auchinleck, Benburb, Clydebank, Cumnock, Darvel, Glenafton, Irvine Meadow, Pollok First Division (2) Kilwinning, Rutherglen Second Division (2) Bonnyton, Glasgow Uni Third Division (2) Girvan, Threave Fourth Division (1) CarlukeSouth of Scotland (5) Creetown, Dalbeattie, Newton Stewart, St Cuthbert, Wigtown & BladnochNorth Caledonian (2) Fort William, GolspieMidland Juniors (2) Lochee Utd, Tayport+4 from Extra Preliminary

Meanwhile Jersey beat Germany in this afternoon's game. As a result Scotland (and Ireland) are as good as qualified. Only if Scotland lose both remaining matches, Germany or Italy win both theirs (and they still play each other, with Germany also still to play Ireland) AND there is an exceptional turnaround in net run-rate. That's highly unlikely to happen.

I fully agree that Scotland and The Netherlands should become full members. But separate from that, we do need a good European competition too. Obviously, I loved it when we gained automatic qualification for next year's T20 World Cup. Scotland and Ireland will have been happy with that too as otherwise it would be these 3 fighting it out for 2 spots and now it seems rather straightforward for both Scotland & Ireland. However, the big downside of that is that we don't have a single competitive T20 international between the 2022 & 2024 World Cups. In ODI cricket there are also sometimes long periods without competitive matches. There are plenty of other continental competitions, so why not in Europe? Also, the next European countries down from us like Germany & Jersey have similar issues to us with not enough regular cricket or chances to test themselves against stronger opposition. IMO, let's introduce a 6 team tournament with Ireland, Scotland, Netherlands & 3 qualifiers*. It could be a home- and away-format with both T20 and ODI matches across 2 years for example. There could be a second tier with the likes of Austria for example, who fight it out for promotion to the top tier at the same time. Even if the 3 "big" nations in this don't get County players based in England released, it could still be a really useful tournament to let others prove themselves. *Assuming England won't be interested but I'd be happy to have them on board, in which case the format obviously needs to be revised slightly to include them

Yeah it's not just between Scotland/Ireland/Netherlands and the rest of Europe that the gap is too big. Austria was in a qualifying tournament with 10 countries and they smashed all their opposition out of the park. It was even less competitive than this group is. Ireland and Scotland got here by being in the last World Cup. Germany and Jersey for being at the last global qualifiers. Italy, Austria and Denmark qualified through regional preliminaries that had a total of 28 countries taking part. Italy also qualified convincingly and only Denmark had some decent competition.

I support Derbyshire, don't worry, it can always get worse...

Win both and Scotland are basically qualified, barring a bizarre set of results including Germany beating Ireland, Scotland then losing to Ireland and Germany & Ireland both overtaking Scotland on NRR. With the margin of today's victory the latter is highly unlikely to happen anyway. Realistically, one more win and a Scotland game being rained off would already be enough.

Scotland (245/2) v Italy (90 ao), Scotland win by 155 runs First time I post something other than football on here, but I've been following cricket for a long time. When I lived in England I was a member of Derbyshire CCC. As both sides had Derbyshire players and I wanted to attend a game in this tournament (ICC T20 World Cup Qualifier Europe) anyway, I picked this game as the Dutch aren't taking part (already qualified). Thankfully it stayed dry, lovely old main building at The Grange. Although I expected Scotland to win, I didn't expect it to be with this margin. Italy ran Ireland close & won more convincingly against Jersey than Scotland did. The Scottish batters were on fire though, especially Oli Hairs who was 126 not out as opening batsman. Brandon McMullen was close to a century himself, but he got out in the 19th over for 96. The high target resulted in Italy having to take risks, which they did. Those risks didn't pay off as wickets started falling pretty quickly, also due to the excellent bowling from Scotland. Convincing win by Scotland.