Prestwick take a big leap for safety
Henry Thow Oval men are on the march
Prestwick have taken a huge step towards securing their top flight place with victory away to Stenhousemuir.
After winning the toss, Prestwick lost openers Fraser Macdonald ( 4) and Shazhad Rafiq ( 1) before the ship was steadied by in- form Fazal Jawad ( 42) and Indian star Murtaza Trunkwala ( 18).
Wickets began to tumble and despite a partnership between Ross Patterson ( 20) and Tom Fleet ( 29), Prestwick were all out for 140 inside 43 overs.
Stenhousemuir’s reply was hit with rain delays and Duckworth Lewis adjustments.
Four of their top five batsmen were all run out as Prestwick’s hard work at training paid off.
Opening bowlers Gavin Pitt and Nitin Thakur bowled a combined 17 overs for 28 runs. Trunkwala was chief wicket- taker with three for 18 off five overs.
Mitchell Rao and Craig Morrison also bowled well as the hosts ended up 14 runs short ( after D/ L adjustments). magnificent 76 off just 38 balls.
The depleted Oval side dug deep to restrict Renfrew to 96- 6.
Prestwick’s Euan McBeth took two wickets for the Scotland U15 side which took on Cumbria U15s at Carlisle in a 50 overs game on Monday.
An Oval spokesman said: “Euan’s call- up is just reward for his hard work and talent. Everyone at the club is thrilled for Euan and we are very proud to have another Prestwick player going on to represent Scotland.”
Fixtures: Wednesday 29th: 1st XI v Ferguslie ( away); Saturday: 1st XI v Kelburne ( away), St Ninians XI v Whitehaugh ( h); Tuesday 5th: St Ninians XI v BBC Scotland ( home).
Ayr’s interest in the Rowan Cup ended last Thursday when they lost away to East Kilbride. Missing a number of first team regulars, Ayr batted first and, after a promising start from Neil Smith ( 38) and Matt Crawshaw, they struggled to 93- 9 in their 20 overs.
East Kilbride then cruised to 98- 3 in 12.3 overs.
At Dumfries, a combination of youth and experience saw Cambusdoon complete a comfortable win against Nunholm.
After a number of interruptions for rain, Nunholm closed at 159- 9 off 37 overs with young spinners Callum Henderson ( 3- 46) and Harry Boyd ( 5- 23) doing the damage with the ball.
It was then the turn of the elder statesmen Niall McCrossin ( 49 not out) and Douglas Johnstone ( 52 not out) to see them over the line.
They reached 122- 2 before rain returned to end the innings and Ayr won by eight wickets on the Duckworth Lewis method.
The Development XI continued their recent good form to beat Clydesdale Cavaliers by 43 runs at Cambusdoon in the Evening League.
They scored 143- 6, Callum Henderson top scoring with 50 and Matthew Cooper 35 not out. Cavaliers lost wickets at regular intervals and were bowled out for 100 in the 19th over.
The U11s lost by 100 runs at home to Clydesdale on Friday night while on Monday, the U13s beat Uddingston by 104 runs, scoring 168- 1 and then restricting their visitors to 64- 6.
Phuskar Bhandari was selected for the Scotland U15 team to play Cumbria at Carlisle this week.
On Saturday, Ayr take on Drumpellier in the League and on Wednesday night host Kelburne in the West League Cup quarter- final. The Cambusdoon XI entertain Langloan while the Development XI travel to Kelburne in the Evening League on Tuesday.