Rafiq sets sights on finishing third
Hero Craig hailed as Prestwick go on march
Shahzad Rafiq hailed Craig Morrison as a hero and then urged soaring Prestwick to set their sights on third top in the Western Premier Division.
The Henry Thow Oval men climbed to fourth with a 73- run win away to Kelburne.
And skipper Shaz says homegrown Craig, who has come through the youth ranks, was a standout performer.
He said: “Craig came in at the end and smashed 14 runs off not many balls.
“Then he followed that by taking the wicket of their pro Bradley Williams with a brilliant delivery. He is bowling with pace.”
It was Prestwick’s fifth win in 10 games and leaves them on 62 per cent behind Ferguslie ( 92.4), Clydesdale ( 84.8) and Kelburne ( 67.6).
Rafiq claimed: “Ferguslie will win the league but we are not a million miles away from third.
“Considering we were without our overseas amateur for four games we are out performing ourselves.
“I am convinced we would have beaten Ayr and Ferguslie if Murtuza Trunkwala had been available.”
Batting first, the Prestwick men posted 172- 9 with top knocks from Tom Fleet ( 38) and Fazal Jawad ( 36).
Then they bowled out the home side for 99 with Trunkwala taking 3- 19 and Mitchell Rao 2- 15.
PRESTWICK ( 25) S Rafiq run out Naseer........................................ 23 M Trunkwala c McLister b Morrow...................... 7 Jawad lbw b Hamilton....................................... 36 C Rodger b Hamilton............................................ 6 T Fleet b Maclean................................................. 38 R Patterson lbw b McLister.................................. 3 W Rowan lbw b McLister.................................... 10 M Miller not out.................................................. 16 M Rao b Maclean................................................... 0 C Morrison run out Williams............................. 14 N Sangaria not out................................................ 8 Extras 11. Total ( for 9)....................................... 172 Bowling: R Morrow 6- 0- 17- 1; R Maclean 9- 0- 49- 2; S Hamilton 10- 0- 18- 2; B Williams 9- 0- 33- 0; S Zia 10- 0- 24- 0; S McLister 6- 0- 29- 2.
KELBURNE ( 3) S Zia c Patterson b Sangaria......................... ....... 0 A Gilmour lbw b Trunkwala............................... 14 B Williams c Miller b Morrison........................... 17 M Sheikh c Morrison b Rowan............................. 1 R Hussain run out Sangaria................................. 4 Z Naseer lbw b Rao............................................. 11 E Rousen run out Rao......................................... 15 S McLister c Jawad b Rao...................................... 4 R Maclean b Trunkwala........................................ 0 R Morrow c& b Trunkwala.................................... 0 S Hamilton not out............................................... 3 Extras 30. Total ( all out)...................................... 99 Bowling: N Sangaria 5- 0- 12- 1; M Rao 10- 0- 15- 2; W Rowan 8- 0- 24- 1; C Morrison 4.3- 0- 12- 1; S Rafiq 2- 0- 14- 0; M Trunkwala 10- 0- 19- 3.
Prestwick tumbled from the quarter- finals of the West League Cup when they fell heavily away to Ferguslie in midweek.
Batting first, Prestwick managed only 81 and Ferguslie eased home by eight wickets within 12 overs. Craig Morrison took the only two wickets to fall, and also saw a chance spilled at slip in a high quality spell.
A young under 18 side lost by nine wickets away to Greenock.
Newly appointed captain Fraser McLaren and Sam Cole took Prestwick to 7- 0 after four overs before rain intervened.
After a short break, the openers moved Prestwick to 24 when Cole fell for five. But wickets continued to tumble and they finished on 67- 6.
Greenock were too strong as they won with 11 overs to spare.
Fixtures: Thursday: St Ninians X1 v Kelburne ( away); Saturday: 1st X1 v East Kilbride ( home); St Ninians X1 v Torrance House ( away); Tuesday: St Ninians X1 v Glasgow Accies ( home).
Ayr fell 14 runs short on D/ L away to Drumpellier in a rain affected match at Langloan.
Several heavy showers delayed the start until 2.30pm and the match was reduced to 35 oversa - side.
Ayr won the toss and asked Drumpellier to bat on a damp wicket and, with some tight bowling, restricted their hosts to 102- 6 in 34 overs after another shower reduced the overs by one.
Ayr’s reply got off to a solid start as Neil Smith and Michael Papps put on 37 for the first wicket when Smith was caught behind and was soon followed by Papps.
Neil Logan and Shujja Khan kept the innings moving but, after their dismissals, there was a flurry of wickets and they were reduced to 78- 8 with almost five overs left.
Rain then returned to end the innings and leave Ayr short.
DRUMPELLIER M Coles c Crawshaw b Smith............................. 25 H Sabri c R Henderson b Khan........................... 11 S Sajjad b Khan...................................................... 0 G McLaren c Khan b S McElnea......................... 33 A Mohammed b Papps......................................... 1 R Sajjad b Khan................................................... 15 H Box not out......................................................... 3 A Rawlinson not out............................................. 4 Extras 10. Total ( for 6)...................................... 102 Bowling: S McElnea 7- 2- 21- 1; S Khan 10- 1- 39- 3; P Bhandari 6- 3- 10- 0; M Papps 7- 1- 19- 1; N Smith 4- 1- 10- 1.
AYR N Smith c R Sajjad b Pryde.................................. 20 M Papps lbw b Pryde.......................................... 11 S Khan c R Sajaad b Rawlinson.......................... 10 N Logan c R Sajjad b Box.................................... 13 M Crawshaw not out.......................................... 10 S McElnea c& b Rawlinson................................... 0 M McClymont c R Sajjad b Box............................ 0 R Henderson lbw Rawlinson............................... 3 C Henderson lbw Rawlinson............................... 0 C Taylor not out..................................................... 0 Extras 11. Total ( for 8)......................................... 78 Bowling: H Sabri 3- 0- 11- 0; D Pryde 9- 1- 36- 2; M Aziz 6- 0- 12- 0; A Rawlinson 6- 1- 8- 4; H Box 5.1- 3- 9- 2.
Last Wednesday night, rain put an end to the West League Cup quarter- final against Kelburne as heavy showers in the afternoon left the ground unplayable.
Rain also saw Cambusdoon XI’s match at home to Langloan on Saturday fail to start.
The Development XI qualified for the knockout stages in bizarre circumstances as a mix- up by their opponents Weirs left the visitors with only two players at Cambusdoon for the match and as a result had to concede.
The U13s beat Glasgow Accies last Monday, bowling them out for 89 and then chasing down their total for the loss of only four wickets.
Then on Thursday, they beat Ferguslie in the Scottish Cup.
On Saturday, Ayr host league leaders Ferguslie while the Cambusdoon XI head to Meikleriggs.
On Tuesday night , the Development XI travel to Kelburne.