CRICKET: DRUM FALL TO NARROW DEFEAT

Drumpellier suffered a narrow defeat in a thrilling tie with Weirs.

The Langloan men went in to the match as underdogs against a Weirs side who had recruited well over the winter.

They had notched up 463 runs the previous week in a 250 run victory over GHK.

However, after electing to bat on a warm afternoon the visitors went about steadily building a total with overseas youngster Zander Erasmus notching an impressive half century.

Erasmus was ably supported by Zeeshan Aziz (20) in a fifty in partnership before he was eventually out for 65, as Drumpellier posted a modest but defendable total of 160.

Drumpellier got off to the best possible start as the new ball partnership of Darren Pryde and Will Leslie ripped through the Weirs top order, reducing the home side to 11 for three.

Things got better for the visitors as the introduction of Jordan Pryde saw more wickets fall as Weirs were reduced to 40 for five and then 51 for six.

The elusive wicket of former Drumpellier player Zulfi Shahid proved vital as he continued to steady the ship for home side.

He shared a seventh wicket stand of 57 with Hillyard to take the score past 100, before some powerful hitting by Mo Afzal (28) took Weirs closer to victory, but when Afzal departed they needed two runs with only one wicket left and experienced campaigner Ziggy Young managed to clip the ball to the boundary off Leslie for victory with Shahid unbeaten on 65.

Skipper Gordon Shaw felt that Drumps deseved more from the game.

“It is a difficult one to take as it is a game we really should have won, but credit to Weirs and Zulfi as they battled hard and managed to get over the line.

“We had our chances and failed to take a couple of catches that would have made the difference, but this shows some of our young guys that it is difficult at this level and we need to fight for everything.”

Meanwhile Drumpellier’s second string side lost out to a West of Scotland XI at Langloan on Saturday despite an impressive century by veteran Alan Stevenson.

Drumpellier are always on the look out for new players and anyone looking to join can come along on a Tuesday or Thursday evenings at between 7pm and 9pm.

Also the Drumpellier youth training also got up and running last week.

They are still waiting on the final dates for the all star cricket programme for kids aged between five and eight year olds.