Ferguslie leave it late

Stafford and Farndale clinch win at Titwood

Rain ensured a delayed start was almost certain when the Ferguslie arrived at Titwood to face Clydesdale.

Just as the players concluded their warm-ups on Saturday, the heavens opened and there was no chance of play for a few hours.

Eventually, a 24- over- a-side match would take place, starting at 4.30pm.

Jamey Carruthers won the toss and stuck Clydesdale into bat.

Con de Lange and Muhammad Awais opened the batting and Clydesdale made a good start with de Lange finding the boundary on a few occasions on his way to an enterprising 33.

He was the first wicket to fall to a good catch at mid off by Riyaad Henry off the bowling of Greg Cameron. Awais (11) soon departed as well, leaving Chitnis and Guy the rebuilding job. The Ferguslie bowlers put the squeeze on and good fielding kept the run rate at about five an over until Chitnis ( 12) was dismissed by Henry.

Guy (33) was then dismissed by Haroon Tahir to leave Dale 108/4 with three overs to spare.

Some good running and bunting at the end by Farid, Ali and Ashraf meant Clydesdale posted a competitive 133/5 after their 24 overs with two wickets for Henry, and one a piece for English, Cameron and Tahir.

To the reply, 133 was a chaseable score and after seven overs Ferguslie were 15 for 4.

English ( 1), Preston- Jones (2), Holt (6) and Allan (0) meant Ferguslie were requiring a good partnership to grab a win.

Riyaad Henry and David Stafford were up for the challenge and produced an exceptional counterattacking partnership of 96 to swing the momentum in the favour of the away side.

They dispatched the bad balls, ran hard and until Riyaad pulled a long hop for midwicket for 51, they looked as if they would take their side all the way to the finish.

Lucas Farndale joined Stafford to help their side get to the target with four balls to spare, with Lucas finishing 12 not out and David finishing 58 not out.