National League

Glasgow High/Kelvinside captain Eric Young steered his side to their first victory of the season before admitting that the clash with Corstorphine would have been abandoned if the decision had been his.

Like every other game in the three divisions of the National League, the second division match at Union Park was affected by the weather. Triumph over the elements was down firstly to a major morning mopping-up operation and secondly to a disagreement between the respective captains and a casting vote by the umpires in favour of carrying on.

''I've obviously got no complaints now, although I think the decision was wrong,'' said Young. ''At the time my only consideration was for the safety of the players of both sides and we'd already seen one of their bowlers land on his back as he lost his footing in his delivery stride.''

Young's side were in trouble at 23-3 in pursuit of Corstorphine's 100 when a forty-minute interruption threatened to end the game.

The GHK captain said: ''At that point I thought we should call stumps, but their captain disagreed and it was left to the umps.

Young went on to stress that there had been no ill-feeling over the disagreement with Corstorphine captain Scott Barnsley.

Earlier, Young had exercised GHK's right to travel while the game was still in doubt. A valiant effort by the Edinburgh players, who worked on the ground all morning, meant the journey was not in vain and allowed the game to go ahead with a delayed start.

It looked as if the Corstorphine effort would pay dividends as they cruised to 78-2, with captain Barnsley top-scoring with a patient 41, which included five boundaries.

Ashu Dani, the Indian professional, was also in decent nick to contribute 29. However, with Zahid Ahmed to the fore for GHK, Corstorphine then contrived the most calamitous collapse of the season to date.

Zahid, the Old Anniesland pro from Pakistan, stepped in with six wickets for 28 as the capital side managed just 22 more runs for the last eight wickets.

Zahid went on to play a key role with the bat, a quick-fire 35 from 39 balls helping the visitors out of trouble.

However, there was still work to be done when the captain was joined by his younger brother, Richard. At 77-7 the odds were slightly in favour of a home win and the tension had built to such an extent that members of Corstorphine's rugby section had gathered to witness the fun.

However, that fun was soon over as the Young brothers showed nerves of steel to steer their team home.

''We desperately needed that win after two dreadful defeats by Stenhousemuir and Falkland,'' Young said.

In the Premier division, only West of Scotland's match against Greenock at Hamilton Crescent got underway. The Partick side appeared to be in command at 157-1 before the rains came.

Scotland batsman Dougie Lockhart had made 34 before falling to Tom Black, but Aussie Corey Richards was in splendid form for his unbeaten 85.

Richards, who made his Scotland debut as a professional in the NatWest last week, had hit two straight 6s off Charlie Stewart and would surely have completed his century but for the rain.

Jon Williams also looked in good touch for his 29.

In the first division, Drumpellier and Forfarshire briefly defied the elements at Coatbridge.

The visitors were 42-0 from 18 overs before the players were forced to seek shelter in the pavilion.

q Freuchie cruised into the second round of the Village Cup with an easy win over Crathie in the grounds of Balmoral Castle yesterday.

Batting first, Freuchie reached 178-5 from their 40 overs, but Crathie slumped to 66 all out.

William Dick