Conference A

A BUSY weekend lies ahead for the two clubs in Conference A who have yet to begin their campaign.

There has been praise over the impeccable condition of Boghall for the Benson & Hedges match last Saturday which meant the postponement until tomorrow of West Lothian's match against Hillhead, a feather in the caps of ground staff George Strachan and David Fleming. But before that, both face away trips today.

West Lothian skipper Sanjay Patel took time out last Sunday to watch Grange crush Greenock in an Abbot Ale Cup tie, and his side has already lost to today's hosts in a friendly encounter.

It would be out of character, however, if Patel were not confident that his side can mount a more sustained challenge this season, especially with South African Craig Light back in the ranks.

Grange have quickly found a replacement wicketkeeper for absentee Alec Davies. He is James Moncur, who has played for Combined Services and has come to Edinburgh to undertake a journalism course at Napier University. His efficient display in Sunday's cup-tie impressed sufficiently to earn him a place.

Hillhead won Division Two of the Western Union comfortably last season, but are stepping up to much sterner tests now. They will not lack confidence when they travel along Great Western Road to tackle GHK, where a win would set them up for that daunting joust at Linlithgow tomorrow.

Among today's other fixtures, the clash between Stenhousemuir and Heriot's at The Tryst promises some fireworks, both having won last week. The Herioters again have to operate without Asim Butt and Jim Love and additionally now, Mike Allingham, all at Forfar on Scotland business.

Forfarshire are at home to Kelburne, who will be hoping for a harder wicket than the one at Whitehaugh on which they struggled to defeat GHK last week. Forfarshire will be hoping for a harder performance than the one which saw them lose to Grange.

Watsonians were off to a bad start with defeat at the hands of Heriot's and are anxious to extract the maximum from the weekend's double header - at Dunfermline today, and tomorrow when their visitors at Myreside are Grange.