Black and Golds edge match

Meigle were in action in the group stage of the T20 Scottish Cup on Thursday.

The Black and Golds travelled to Lochside in Forfar for the club’s second tie in the competition.

Batting first, an unbelievable spell of fast spin bowling from Liam Sweeney decimated the Meigle top order as he took 5-8 from his four overs to reduce Meigle to 27-7.

Peter Drummond came in at number nine and he and Shaz Saeed rebuilt sensibly as they tried to scramble a total that was somewhere near defendable.

They had added 40 before Saeed skied one to mid-wicket.

Some late hitting by Drummond – including one six which landed just short of the loch – got the visitors up to 93-8 from their 20 overs on a wicket which was keeping quite low.

The Strathmore reply started strongly, with Hazel and Saim putting away some early boundaries.

The introduction of the skipper brought the first wicket, and thereafter the visiting bowlers took regular wickets to put the game in the balance, with Strathmore on 70-5 with four overs remaining.

Iain Stewart got the vital wicket of the dangerous looking Sami Ejaz to swing the game in Meigle’s favour.

The experienced Chris Milne did his best to nurture the tail and the Forfar side went into the final over needing nine to win with only one wicket remaining.

Majid Rasheed proved too good for Milne in the fading light as he edged behind to leave Meigle victors by seven runs in an entertainingly tight game of cricket.