Cricket: West Lothian face tricky Renfrew test in title play-offs

IT'S CHAMPIONSHIP crunch time as the top four go head to head in a three-match play-off which will decide who will hold aloft the trophy next Sunday night, and with it coveted promotion to the 2012 Premiership.

Front-runners West Lothian face a tricky trip today to King George V Park and a mercurial fourth-placed Renfrew side, capable of beating anyone on their day, but very much aware this represents their final throw of the dice. "We're a bit disappointed to be drawn away to Renfrew again, having travelled there once already this season," said Boghall skipper Andy Raven, "but we've won there on our last two visits, although they have plenty of class acts, not least club coach Mo Ramzan.

"We're also at full strength with a batting line-up which extends right down to number 11. Kyle Smith is in great form after a fine U19 World Cup qualifying campaign, and all-rounder Craig Black is bowling superbly well in this his debut season." The Linlithgow side also boast Kruger van Wyk, already with 427 league runs for just one dismissal.

The other two top-four title contenders, Poloc in third, and second-placed Dumfries, also lock horns today at Shawholm. A full-strength Nunholm outfit, looking forward also to tomorrow's SCU Trophy Final against East League champions Fauldhouse at Stirling, travel north brimming with confidence. They were in the driving seat at 241 for seven after 45 overs in July's earlier encounter before rain intervened, and, remarkably, have never lost to Poloc in a competitive league or cup match.

Poloc skipper Matty Coyle, albeit quietly confident in the abilities of his side, modestly underplays their title chances. "We're delighted to have made the top four with a very young squad, but our central focus this season - driven by the returning Huyser brothers and the non-stop energy of Keith Young and others - remains the ongoing development of a positive club environment and a strong work ethic - regardless of silverware.'

As originally envisaged, the bottom play-off section would feature a desperate battle to avoid the last slot and the potentially dire consequences for a club of SNCL relegation, but the pre-season expulsion from the competition of Edinburgh CC meant that the haunting spectre of relegation was removed. Consequently tomorrow's wooden spoon encounter between the two bottom clubs Edinburgh Accies and Penicuik at Newfield is merely academic, with both teams, along with other basement group side Stenhousemuir, who are idle this weekend, already assured of retaining their status.Ironically Penicuik, firmly entrenched at the foot, can boast the league's top run-scorer in explosive 528-run Barbados batsman Ryan Nurse.

The Group 2 mini-league features East Kilbride hosting a Weirs side minus skipper Mark Gilchrist, and SMRH, with promising debutant 15-year old seamer Ali Khan, versus Ferguslie, while this weekend's Group 3 matches, also scheduled for tomorrow, comprise the Fife derby between Freuchie and depleted Falkland, and Kelburne welcoming RH Corstorphine.