The Dumfries Sunday XI started their Eden Valley Sunday League match one point behind their opponents and league leaders, Wetheral. So it was winner takes the title on Sunday at Nunholm with the actions of the Solway Print Player of the Match Max Corbett-Byers key to the outcome.
Wetheral chose to bat first and Dumfries had the early advantage as they reduced the visitors to 55 for 4 wickets. Young opening bowlers Oliver Barnard and Cory Dawson took the first two wickets. Barnard’s wicket was thanks to great reaction catch by keeper Gage and Dawson ‘hit the top of off’ for his wicket bowled. James Little had opener Garnett caught for 21 and spinner Harith Hassan took a wicket bowled in his second over. However Wetheral Captain Fuller retrieved matters with a fifty and a seventh wicket partnership boosted the score to 204 for 7 after the 36 overs. Hassan finished with three wickets.
Opener Max Corbett-Byers set the tone for the reply as he and Adam Malik took the score to 72 for 2. His decisive partnership was with Tommy McGrath before Max was out stumped for 72 after hitting eleven boundaries with the score now past 150. McGrath hit a six and retired for 55 but Callum Reynolds-Lewis (27no) and James Little (11no) secured a seven wicket title winning victory.
Appropriately Corbett-Byers was the top run scorer in the game and he was also the League’s top run getter. The same was the case for Harith Harith as the top wicket taker in the game and also overall in the League.
In the West Premier League, Your Move Dumfries suffered another defeat on Saturday at West of Scotland to drop to seventh place. West of Scotland batted first and Dumfries applied pressure as they kept runs in check and took wickets. The opening bowlers of James Hobman and Alan Davidson bowled a sustained spell and Hobman had Aussie Tom Colgan caught in the fifth over and Davidson turned over opener Page for 24 with the help of a good leg side one handed grap by keeper Fergus Bainbridge. Vaughn Staples held on to a drive to give Chris Brockwell his first wicket and two balls later Davidson juggled a slip catch to have the home side 69 for 4. Skipper McCutcheon also had brother Joe Colgan caught in the deep, 98 for 5.
However Fennah played a Captain’s innings until he succumbed for 41 to the off-spin of an injured Smit and McNulty (40no) and Strachan (21no) put on a further sixty as Dumfries were unable to find wickets to suppress the final total of 195 for 6 after 50 overs.
On a wicket taking spin Fennah opened the bowling and that proved fruitful as he went on to eventually take four Dumfries wickets. A full toss removed Smit for 24 as the score slipped from 45 for 1 to 60 for 5 wickets. The visitors had late hope as an eighth wicket partnership between Beveridge and Adam Malik kept the target within range but Fennah bowled Beveridge for 27 and, after being the mainstay of the innings, Malik feathered a catch behind off Fennah, also for 27, and the innings closed on 137 all out with ten overs left.
Chris Brockwell was the bowling pick for Dumfries with ten overs, three maidens, 2 for 25 and on his first team debut spinner Vaughn Staples bowled well and economically in his eight over spell.
In West Division 2, Nunholm had a good victory at home over Victoria. Victoria opted to bat first and the Dumfries 2nd XI had a good start. The top three were all dimissed thank to catches by Max Corbett-Byers. James Cox had two dismissals and Callum Reynolds-Lewis one, his being to a terrific over the shoulder running catch by Corbett-Byers at cover. Cox bowled a fourth wicket to put Nunholm in a good position.
However Taimoor Khan with fifty and in particular number six Raza Syed with an innings of 93 raised Victoria ‘s fortunes with a fifth wicket partnership. Eventually Nunholm broke the combination with a great piece of fielding with Jabarkhil hitting the stumps direct with one stump to aim at to run out Khan.
From there the unlikely bowling pairing of Jabarkhil and late substitute Stuart Corbett-Byers sliced through the remaining Victoria wickets. Jabarkhil took a leading edge caught and bowled, and Corbett-Byers then removed three, including top scorer Raza Syed caught, as Victoria crumbled and Jabarkhil got the last and his second caught behind by keeper Reed. Victoria reached 204 all out with six overs left in an innings dominated by a fifth wicket middle order filling.
Nunholm lost a couple of early wickets and when Sean Thornely was caught behind down the leg side after a promising start the home side were 56 for 3. However the evergreen David Davidson came in at five and unfurled his trademark cover drive with several boundaries. He and opener Mat Williams negotiated the hot conditions to put on a hundred partnership. Davidson was finally bowled for 55 including ten boundaries but Williams got the side within twenty runs before also being bowled for 65 on a physically demanding day for batting. Then Jabarkhil and Reynolds-Lewis breezily took the side to a four wicket win and with six overs left.
Representative Cricket: James Hobman was helping with the Nunholm ground for the U15 Celtic Cup two weeks ago, this week he was playing for Scotland U17s in the U17s Celtic Cup in Bangor and Belfast. After Tuesday Ireland led 2-1 in games after Hobman’s two wickets helped gain a close T20 win in game three. Also local boy Chris McBride got his third cap for Scotland in a win over UAE in the World Cup League Series taking place in Aberdeen.
To contact Dumfries Cricket Club about participating see www.dumfriescricketclub.com or contact the club on [email protected] or on social media @dumfriescricket to find out about junior and senior sessions.
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