Carruthers rues ‘shocking performance’ as Greenock end Ferguslie’s perfect record

Jamey Carruthers, the Ferguslie skipper, pulled no punches in the wake of his side’s first defeat of the Western Premier season against Greenock on Saturday.

The Meikleriggs men went into the derby clash with home advantage and a perfect record of five straight Western Premier wins while the visitors languished in second bottom place. But the form book was turned on its head as Ferguslie fell 35 runs short in chasing a relatively modest 214.

Carruthers stated: “We’ll take nothing away from Greenock but it was a shocking performance from us.

“We basically lost the game when they only had to use four bowlers. If we want to be at the top challenging we’ll have to learn sooner rather than later that we have to put two halves of the game together. There is huge room for improvement.” Ferguslie appeared to have put themselves in control by restricting Greenock to 213 for seven after the visitors had made a solid start, skipper Neil Flack top-scoring with 73 while Saurabh Bandekar made 33.

Indian professional Bandekar was to play a major part with the ball, claiming a hat-trick en route to figures of four for 44, while Jonathan Hempsey took the key wickets of Gregor Preston-jones and Michael English in his haul of four for 43.

Flack said: “It was a magnificent victory, a real all-round team effort and a further sign of the improvement and growth of confidence among the players over recent weeks.”

Ferguslie’s defeat means they have company at the top of the table in the shape of champions Prestwick who produced an excellent run-chase to beat Clydesdale at Titwood.

The in-form Glasgow side shrugged-off the absence of Scotland star Richie Berrington to post 240 for nine thanks to valuable top order contributions from Sheryar Awan (60), Paddy Barbour and Andy Scobie (34).

However, the visitors responded in style to win with two wickets and three balls to spare, Sachin Chaudhary leading the way with 51 while Fraser Macdonald (49) and Fazal Jawad (45) also made valuable contributions.

Dumfries were denied their first win but had the consolation of a last-ball tie in a weather-affected clash at Stirling.

The elements also intervened at Bothwell Castle where West of Scotland posted 195 before restricting Uddingston to win by 50 runs on DLS, Lucas Farndale producing the standout performance with four for 18.

Elsewhere, a brilliant opening stand of 169 between Amaan Ramzan and Craig Young helped Poloc to a commanding nine-wicket win over Ayr at Shawholm.