Belhaven's Mixed Cricket U11 Success at Glenalmond

Opponents: Glenalmond 6s Tournament Date: Sunday, 10th May
Venue: Glenalmond Time: 11am

Six (plus Coco) U11s gave up their weekend out Sunday to take part in the annual Glenalmond 6-a-side Tournament. This is always an exciting day of action-packed cricket with only six players per team and each match consisting of just five overs with each player (apart from the ‘keeper) bowling one over. Belhaven Hill has a long tradition of success at the tournament and 2026 proved no different.

Our first match was against Ardvreck with Belhaven batting first. Small boundaries and some excellent, positive stroke-making saw Archie and Sigi get us off to a flying start with ten fours struck between them. For the final over of the innings, Archie (25) retired to allow Monty a go and he scored 6 runs in as many balls to take our total to an impressive 62 off 5 overs, for 0 wickets.

With the ball in hand, the bowlers were impressively accurate with only 3 wides bowled. Woody an Lochie got a wicket apiece, Cleo went for only 1 run in her over and Archie collected 2 scalps in his over. Ardvreck ended with 20 runs from their 5 overs.

Belhaven beat Ardvreck by 42 runs.

An immediate turnaround saw us start bowling against Cargilfield A. The bowling in this game was even more accurate and really piled pressure onto Cargi. Monty opened the bowling , bowled one wide but then 5 dots including a wicket with his final ball. Woody was also nice and tidy and then Cleo’s left arm swing bowling saw the pressure build an lead to a run-out when a direct hit caught the Cargi batter out of their crease. Cargi ended on 21 for 2 off their 5.

Archie and Sigi, again, got us off to an ideal start and meant that we passed Cargi’s total in the third over. In the spirit of the tournament, we played on and this gave Monty and Lochie a chance to get some time in the middle.

Belhaven beat Cargilfield A by 4 wickets.

With lunch not quite ready, we decided to go straight into our third match and this one against Cargi (not the singer!). Perhaps a little bit of complacency had set in but this game did not quite go as planned! Cargi was first to bat and Monty struck with his first ball, skittling the Cargi opener and Woody followed up with a tidy over to leave Cargi on 5 for 1 after 2 overs. A few wides and a few boundaries later and Cargi had got their score to 27 – a total that should have been fairly straightforward to surpass.

Cricket, however, has a funny way of keeping teams grounded. Archie was bowled second ball (lifted head) but that wasn’t too much of a bug deal as we still had lots of batting to come with Sigi joined by Monty and they scored 12 runs of the next 11 balls. Then Monty was bowled and, two balls later, Lochie was run out in a suicidal run and suddenly, things were looking a bit desperate. Sigi, however, was scoring at will and pushed our total up to 25 before being trapped L.B.W. first ball of the final over and suddenly, it all became rather tense...

In marched Cleo, low on confidence after a couple of cheap dismissals, low on experience on the day but full of resolve. Cargi had their tails up and were hoping to pull off an upset by taking a final wicket. Belhaven needed 3 runs. Cleo’s first ball struck her on the legs; Woodie called loudly and they scampered a run. Woody then got bat on ball and called Cleo for another run to tie the scores. Cleo then; to close out the innings and finish it, she did by getting bat on ball and scampering home for the winning run. Brilliant! Exciting, testing, nerve-wracking matches such as this one are what make the tournament so good and will serve the team well going forward.

Belhaven beat Cargilfield B by 1 wicket.

After a well-earned (and tasty) lunch, it was on to the final match of the day for Belhaven – against Craigclowan and it was good to play them as they are no longer part of our usual schedule. They batted first and one of their openers was an explosive striker of the ball, smashing anything pitched short. Unfortunately this was the match where, for the first time, our bowling let us down a bit an he benefitted from that, hitting a six off his second ball.

They raced to 28 off 3 overs and then Lochy had his best over of the day, taking a wicket with his first ball and only one run in his over – exactly what we needed. Archie’s final over went for 9 which took Craigclowan to 38, setting us 39 to win at nearly 8 runs an over.

Archie and Sigi started well before Archie was run out but Monty joined Sigi and they set about building an innings in double-quick time with some powerful hitting and excellent running. Sigi was eventually caught but not before he’d helped the score to 31 in the third over. Lochie, Monty and a few wides saw us past their total.

Belhaven beat Craigclowan by 2 wickets.

So, with four wins out of four, Belhaven Hill U11s were the winners of the 2026 competition. Overall it was a fab day out with the team showing real grit and determination alongside some impressive bowling and batting. Special mention to Coco who acted as a sub for the day and star supporter. We were delighted when Monty was chosen as Player of the Tournament.

Result: Belhaven Hill 1st Place
POTD: Despite Monty’s prize, my player of the day goes to Sigi who was by a long way the best ‘keeper there today and who also contributed the most runs of any Belhaven batter.