A good start for Ferguslie against new arrivals Ayr
Ferguslie Cricket Club made their wait for their first game of the season count by seeing off the division’s new boys Ayr.
After week one of the new campaign was a washout for the Paisley club, the weather was much improved last weekend allowing them to play their first fixture of the season.
Ferguslie faced a tricky trip to face newly promoted Ayr, who have strengthened their team with several top Scottish players from other clubs including former Ferguslie juniors Michael English and Hamza Tahir.
Ferguslie were not helped by the visa backlogs which have delayed their overseas player-coach Elliot Moses getting into the UK, meaning they were missing a key player in this early season clash.
On an unusually green Cambusdoon wicket, Ayr put Ferguslie into bat after winning the toss.
The hosts struck twice early on before captain Riyaad Henry and Taimoor Ahmad rebuilt the innings.
Both players carried on their red hot 2021 form by seeing Scotland bowler Hamza Tahir out and the experienced campaigner Scott McElnea out of the attack.
Their relentless mix of hard hitting and quick run singles soon put the pressure back on the home side.
It eventually took a mistimed cut from Ahmad on 87 before their 193 run partnership was broken.
Henry accelerated as the mid order had the chance to attack in the last 10 overs.
Both younger brother Uzair Ahmad (21) and David Stafford (24 not out) both added quick runs before Henry eventually fell for a superb knock of 122.
Scoring 289 in their 50 overs, Ferguslie had set Ayr a significant run chase.
With Michael English opening for Ayr against his ex-teammates the intensity was always going to be charged.
After a good early LBW appeal was turned down against him off Henry, the slow start chasing a high total became too much and he chased a wide ball from Adil Ghaffar which was edged to the experienced Omer Hussain at first slip.
With that English was out for just five. Despite rebuilding, the run rate was pushing higher and despite some mid order resistance, Haroon Tahir took three middle order wickets for just 32 runs in his 10 overs to heap more pressure on the hosts.
His younger brother followed him with three more wickets for just 29 runs.
The contest was now over and despite Ayr seeing out their overs they fell 90 runs short of the Ferguslie total.
A Ferguslie spokesperson said: “This was a great victory for the away team against one of the main challengers for the 2022 league title.”
This weekend Ferguslie have another away game, this time at Dumfries who lost to Langside in their most recent fixture.
Ferguslie’s second team (Meikleriggs) also enjoyed a winning start to their campaign with a narrow five run victory at home to Ayr (Cambusdoon).
They scored 198 with good contributions from Aditya Mahapatra (36), Adam Tahir (27) and Hasan Khan (26).
Meikleriggs won with 10 balls left, with five wickets for Hasan Khan and three wickets from Adam Tahir.