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Drumpellier’s promising start cooled by Irvine
Drumpellier fell to third place in the Western District Cricket Union First Division table, following a 20-run defeat to Thomas Mccallum Irvine.
The Langloan club had been joint-top of the league following a resounding win over LOC Hire Stenhousemuir, but have slipped 20 points off the pace.
Injuries and work commitments deprived Drumpellier of four first team players, which saw 2nd XI captain Stephen Allison make his first top-team appearance since the 1980s.
Drumpellier won the toss and asked Irvine to bat first.
They set off brightly and were at 26 when Craig Sharp was bowled by Drew Pryde with the first ball of the fifth over, and it was another 32 runs before Abdul-rafay Ashraf was LBW to Zeeshan Aziz.
The third wicket fell at 69, and it was soon 74-4, but a partnership of 58 between Stuart Mccallum and Ali Hassan followed.
Mccallum went for 23 and was quickly followed by Hassan as Drumpellier’s bowling got on top.
Only 14 runs were scored in the last 11 overs and the last four wickets fell for 160 all out.
That total seemed like an easy target, but Drumpellier got off to a disastrous start and were 11-3, with George Dees taking all three wickets.
Aziz and William Leslie stood firm under a fast attack and scored 62 in 11 overs, before Aziz chipped the ball to Hassan off the bowling of Fahad Shafiq.
Gordon Shaw and Leslie put on 43 in eight overs before the latter was caught and bowled by Hassan, with Shaw following.
Drumpellier were at 126-6 with four wickets and 34 runs to get off 24 overs, with Allison the last recognised batsman, but the visitors claimed two dubious decisions cost them.
Drumpellier say they were wrongly run out and an LBW was declared when the ball hit the bat first, which sent them to 140 all out, with 16 overs left.
That was in stark contrast to the previous match, when Drumpellier grabbed an eight-wicket win over Stenhousemuir at the Tryst.
Having won the toss, Drumpellier put LOC in to bat.
In the third over, a smart throw by Nic Pyne saw Nikil Kadyan ran out and Stenhousemuir at 5-1.
Seven runs later it was 12-2, when Darren Pryde had Callum Grant LBW for two runs, and from there it was downhill for the hosts.
Stenhousemuir lost the next six wickets for 13 runs, and Drumpellier’s lowest chase score was on.
The last three players stayed on for another 25 runs and Stenny’s highest scorer was Keiran Simpson, before he was bowled out by Pyne for 10 runs, as the hosts reached 50 all out.
Drumpellier got the 50 runs in 19 overs, with the loss of Gordon Shaw for 19 and Fraser Hamilton for four.
Next up, they host East Renfrewshire on Saturday.