On Sunday July 16th Croma Vigilant Dumfries beat Kelso Cricket Club by 23 runs to win the South of Scotland Final and progress through to the National Finals Day.
Croma Vigilant Dumfries 151-8 v Kelso 130 all out
Croma Vigilant Dumfries travelled to Galabank to take on Kelso in the Murgatroyd Twenty 20 South of Scotland Final andchose to bat first and set the pace. Danny Armstrong and Alan Davidson strode out to the wicket and were aggressive from the start, but a sharp run out saw Alan Davidson return to the pavillion for 5. Armstrong joined by Josh Forsyth were running well between the wickets and the scoreboard looked good, but Armstrong fell to a good catch for 19. Bellwood came in and smashed some big sixes, but was bowled by by Patterson. It was Forsyth who was putting the Kelso bowlers to the sword as the ball was travelling to all parts of the ground as he passed 50 on his way to 76 before being caught in the deep. Christopher McCutcheon and Adam Elliott maintained the run rate in the late overs and were able to push the total to 151.
Croma Vigilant Dumfries got off to the best possible start as Niall Alexander picked up the wicket of Grindall with the first ball of their reply. Kelso had to dig deep and were 54 for 1 after 8 overs as they rebuilt their innings after the early dismissal.Cameron Telfer‘s spin made the break through getting Ekhard caught by Christopher McCutcheon. Kelso were still confident of victory as they were 104 for 2 with 5 overs remaining. The target of 9 an over in the short format is a comfortable amount to chase. However the bowling partnership of Christopher’s (Bellwood and McCutcheon) turned the game around. Bellwood was able to get the ball to swing, dip and jag. it was this that did for McMahon who holed out to McCutcheon for 64. Kelso began to panic as McCutcheon clean bowled Henderson and Bellwood followed it in the next over dismissing Davidson and Patterson. Kelso collapsed and were all out for 130 due to 4 wickets from Bellwood for just 7 runs.
Croma Vigilant Dumfries wiull now take on the best that Scotland has to offer at the national finals day on the 30 July in Glasgow
Other Match Reports – Dumfries Cricket Club
SATURDAY 15th July
Titwood Topple Nunholm
Nunholm 139 all out v Titwood 142 for 3
Nunholm played through the drizzle but were beaten by a strong Titwood side on Saturday.
Nunholm won the toss and chose to bat after a slight delay. The innings got off to a strong start with Mark Abnett and Adam Elliott seeing off the new ball and moving the score swiftly along to 50 without loss after 11 overs. It was a change of bowling by Titwood that saw them take advantage in this fixture. Elliott chipped a ball back to Tim Hart and he was soon followed by Abnett who was caught going for a big shot. This led to a collapse of wickets as 3 batsmen were dismissed in quick succession. The umpiring decisions left a lot to be desired as once again Nunholm batsmen were triggered with LBW decisions. David Davidson and Ronan Dunbar started the comeback with steady innings and both scoring in the late twenties. However it was Hart again who started the second collapse which proved fatal for Nunholm and they eventuall crumbled to 139 all out.
Titwood have a strong batting line up and 139 look to be a difficult total to try and protect, and ultimately the openers put Titwood in a strong position. Jeremy Goodin got the first wicket for Nunholm with a ball that ripped on the surface and the batsman played a false shot and chipped to Dunbar. Robbie Huxtable was bought into the attack and he had an immediate impact clean bowling all rounder Hart. Huxtable followed that up with another dismissal getting Awan caught by the agile Lawrie as he plucked it out of the air. That was the end of the Nunholm fight back and Titwood progressed slowly onto victory.
Nunholm have a big couple of fixtures over the next few weeks as they attempt to climb away from the relegation zone.
SUNDAY
