Chaudhary to the rescue with a century as Prestwick recover from calamitous start

Andy Tennant revealed there was no panic in the Prestwick ranks after their disastrous start to Saturday’s Ayrshire derby at Cambusdoon.

The league leaders lost inform openers Shahzad Rafiq and Fazal Jawad in the blink of an eye as Scott Mcelnea produced a brilliant spell of newball bowling for Ayr. When Mcelnea added the wicket of Luke Smith, Prestwick looked in disarray on 21-3.

However, Tennant’s men have frequently shown their resilience and, inspired by a brilliant century (108) by Sachin Chaudhary, they did so again to set a challenging total of 227 before going on to complete a win that takes them another step closer to claiming a first Western Premier title.

Coaching consultant Ten n ant said :“i’ ve said before that the guys keep finding ways to get the job done. It didn’t look good when the openers got out. But there was no panic and Sachin played a beautiful innings – it was real old-school classical batting.”

They eventually won by 43 runs and are now just three games away from glory.

Ferguslie remain the side most likely to deny Prestwick after a 35-run victory over Kelburne at Meikleriggs, halfcenturies by Michael English and Dave Stafford proved the difference.

Uddingston needed all their resolve to beat East Kilbride, while Basit Ali scored an extraordinary century as champions Clydesdale recovered from 119-7 to post 256-8 against Poloc at Shawholm.

Ali plundered 103no to demoralise the home side who then slumped to 153 all out.

Dumfries’ Alan Davidson also claimed five wickets – for just 11 runs – as Greenock were bundled out for 60 at Glenpark, the visitors going on to complete victory by six wickets.