Victory ends run of three losses in a row

Richard Bartsch was top bowler with 3- 45. In midweek, St Ninians lost by 95 runs at home to a strong Partick team in the quarter- finals of the Greenwood Trophy after paying for dropped catches. St Ninians now host Deanpark on Saturday in the Reserve League. The Sunday XI lost away to Irvine who posted 234- 8. Euan McBeth took 3- 40 and then hit 45 of Prestwick’s reply of 185 all out. Kevin Lawler was unbeaten on 30. T h e r e w a s m o r e disappointment for Ayr at the weekend as they fell to another narrow defeat following last week’s last over loss at home to Uddingston. Batting first at Greenock, they got off to a flying start as openers Hafeez ( 28) and Miller ( 35) punished some wayward bowling from their hosts, but they were eventually bowled out for 169. The Greenock reply after the early loss of Briggs, who had his stumps shattered by Peters, consolidated with Neil Flack scoring a fine 50 after having been dropped in the first over. When he was out trying to reverse sweep Hafeez the Ayr attack made another couple of quick strikes to cause some panic in the Greenock ranks, but a stand of 48 between Smit and McDougall swung the balance back in the home team’s favour as they reached their target with four overs to spare and the loss of seven wickets. The Cambusdoon XI fell to a seven wicket defeat at home to Whitehaugh in the Reserve League. Knocks of 75 from Alan Simpson and 60 from Harry Boyd helped them on their way to a more than respectable total of 272- 9. On Tuesday night t h e Development XI took on the BBC in the Evening League. Batting first they scored an impressive 175- 2 in their 20 overs with youngsters Richie Simpson ( 89) and Pushkar Bhandari ( 50no) doing the damage with the bat. In reply they restricted the visitors to 147- 4 to win by 28 runs. On Sunday they travelled to Paisley to take on Kelburne in the Sunday League. Batting first they were bowled out for 89. The main contribution coming from Matthew Baines ( 24) and Richie Borland ( 20). The home team then reached their target for the loss of only two wickets. This week sees Ayr at home to league leaders Ferguslie in the Western Union on Saturday with the Cambusdoon XI travelling in the opposite direction to take on Meiklriggs in the Reserve League and on Tuesday night the Development XI are at home to Clydesdale.