It was a battle of the combined clubs when Dumfries CC and Galloway CC Women took on Stewart Melville and Edinburgh South in the Women’s Premier League on Sunday. At Inverleith it was the player who was on the pitch from the first to the last ball, Sue Strachan, who was the Ashleigh Building Player of the Match.
The visitors were asked to bowl first against a side that had hit 285 for 1 in their previous game. However that decison proved to suit the side from the South West as their bowlers caused problems.
Skipper Orla Montgomery struck with her second ball comprehensively bowling the century maker from that previous game. Catherine Holland and Katie McGill did take the score on past thirty but opening bowler Katy Anderson was next to hit the stumps bowling Holland. Two more followed in the next over as Rosy Ryan removed Katherine Fraser lbw and then had Paton caught by keeper Strachan.
McGill pulled two successive balls for four but tried to repeat that hitting straight and played on to Niamh Muir for 23 to leave the home side 44 for 5, and with both their Scotland all-rounders McGill and Fraser out and sitting with the sanitisers.
It was game on but the home side lower order proved equal to the task as Lowry, Ballantyne and Phipps all managed to reach double figures with the visitors swapping the bowlers in the search for more wickets. Lowry went bowled by Emma Fordyce for 10, for 65 for 6. Then chances could not quite be taken in a crucial thirty run partnership. Montgomery replaced Fiona Ramsay, but it was Jasmine McCulloch who came on to bowl Ballantyne for 20 and Jo Williams had Phipps lbw for 13 in the closing overs. However they still crept past three figures to reach 102 for 8 in the thirty overs.
Three runs an over was going to get the visitors close and that was how their innings progressed. However opener Muir was bowled by off-spinner Fraser. Fordyce was resolute in the face of good bowling until a change of bowling brought her dismissal and Montgomery middled a straight drive but fell to a great caught and bowled by McGill.
The score was 35 for 3 in the 13th over with the other opener Sue Strachan judiciously looking for the short delivery as a scoring option. A partnership with Rosy Ryan took that on to 58 for 3 with ten overs left and a required run rate of just over four. One big over for each side could alter the game either way.
That happened over the next couple of overs, Ryan was bowled by Walsingham for 12 and two more wickets fell in the next over by Phipps and hopes then rested with Strachan finding boundaries on a day when that was difficult to achieve. The bowling held firm with Fraser re-introduced to remove the resistance of Kylie Watson. With run-a-ball scenarios, and some, Dumfries-Galloway finally finished on 87 for 7, sixteen runs short of the win.
The Ashleigh Bulding Player of the Match was Sue Strachan who carried her bat for a sterling, and weary, 45 not out and Nicola Brown was not out 4.
However it was a good performance on the road against a strong side with seven bowlers sharing eight wickets, all being a mixture of bowled and lbw, and with one nick to the keeper.
The side next play Watsonians-Grange at Gatehouse in the league on Sunday.
StewMel/Edin South Women 102 for 8 (30 overs)
K McGill 23, J Ballantyne 20; R Ryan 2 for 5
DumfriesCC/Galloway CC Women 87 for 7 (30 overs)
S Strachan 45no; K Fraser 2 for 14, E Phipps 2 for 10
DumfriesCC/Galloway CC Women lost by 15 runs
Photo: Katy Anderson opened the bowling with an early wicket for the Women’s side
Dumfries Women have another Bash at East Kilbride
The Dumfries Women’s soft ball cricket team undertook their first away fixture of the season on Sunday at the Cricket Scotland Wee Bash tournament at East Kilbride Cricket Club.
This week they managed a win against Uddingston but lost out to home side East Kilbride and to Clydesdale in their three games. The Ashleigh Building Player of the Day was Bethan Cubbon for her batting exploits and her ‘Last Player Standing’ individual effort with the bat to win against Uddingston. There were good team performances all round and Julie Orr was the most improved player for the travelling side. The team have another Wee Bash tournament coming up on Sunday morning this time at Drumpellier Cricket Club.
If interested in taking part in womens cricket then contact [email protected] or message the club on social media @DumfriesCricket .
