Buddies fail to recover from dismal start to match
Kelburne Cricket Club fell to just their second defeat of the season following a disappointing loss at the hands of Irvine CC.
The Paisley side slump to third spot after failing to build upon last week’s derby day victory over Renfrew as they returned home to Whitehaugh.
Kelburne won the toss at their sun-soaked oval – and, for the second week running, they put themselves in to bat.
However, things couldn’t have gotten off to a worse start for the hosts as Alex Gilmour was caught LBW for a duck, with Kelburne having only put three runs on the board.
William Allan took his place at the crease, but it was the other opener Ryan Morrow, who was next to fall as he was caught out for just six runs with the Paisley side already in trouble with the scoreboard sitting at 17/2.
It was soon 17/3 as Jak O’Connell also failed to muster a run as he too was caught out.
Allan continued to work away and, for the second week running, he was ably assisted by Andrew Miller as the pair attempted to get the side’s attack back on track.
Miller struck 21 runs before he was eventually caught out by an LBW off the bowling of Hafeez Muthair.
Inderj Singh then took the crucial wicket of Allan, who would take his tally to 32 runs for the afternoon before he was clean bowled with Kelburne now sitting at 80/5.
Howe v e r, St e v en McLister looked to be an able replacement as he racked up the runs as he attempted to salvage Kelburne’s innings.
McLister’s eventual total of 59, helped along by Donald Campbell’s 27, would eventually see Kelburne close the innings with 187/all out from 49.5 overs.
In response, Irvine had to get off to a solid start to chase down the title challengers.
Singh and fellow opener Joot Pienaar put the hosts on the back foot as they put the runs on the scoreboard early on before Singh fell for 15 with the score sitting at 37/1.
The Kelburne bowlers continued the fight in a bid to hunt down their rivals but the efforts of Pienaar and Mo Alam kept the Paisley side on the backfoot.
Irvine would eventually reach their tally with one over remaining, winning the match by three wickets as they finished on 190/7.