In their final Western Premiership One fixture at home at Nunholm, Your Move Dumfries were defeated by second placed West of Scotland after setting a target of 220 in a reduced 40-overs-a-side match with Chris McBride the Queensberry Events Dumfries Player of the Match.
Put into bat the Dumfries top three all contributed runs with openers Alan Davidson and Adam Malik scoring 58 and 36 respectively. They had an opening partnership of 87 before Malik was out lbw. Chris McBride then batted aggressively, and the home side were in a promising position in passing 150 for that one wicket by the 27th over.
However, Davidson tried to clear long-on off spinner Umeed and was caught, followed by two more quick wickets and when McBride was caught also trying to clear long-off Dumfries were 183 for 5 and Umeed had claimed the four wickets to fall.
The hopes of a dominating total largely went with the dismissal of McBride, but Fergus Bainbridge batted well for his top score for the side with a run-a-ball 31 not out as Dumfries finished on a useful 220 for 6 after the forty overs.
After a promising position for Dumfries of 35 for 2, with both wickets to Alan Davidson, the West of Scotland middle order then managed the run chase well. That started with a 115 run third wicket partnership. With Dumfries searching for a wicket, it only came to an end when Sharma, on 51, was brilliantly run out by a direct hit by Tommy McGrath for 150 for 3.
Despite two further wickets to Chris Brockwell the experienced Moneeb Iqbal then controlled the chase with 44 not out to get the visitors home with one over to spare to win by 5 wickets. That defeat consigned Dumfries to finish in one of the two Western Premiership One relegation places with only one away fixture at Prestwick remaining.
On Sunday, Dumfries won a close T20 game at Langholm by eight runs after being put into bat. The Dumfries openers started strongly with Wahid Jabarkhil hitting 52 off just 27 deliveries before retiring. He was backed up by a run-a-ball 43 from Max Corbett-Byers. Scott Muir and Simon McIntyre, on debut, then were not out with 18 and 16 runs respectively for Dumfries to reach 135 for the loss of one wicket off the twenty overs.
Jabarkhil then continued his form with an opening bowling spell of two wickets for five runs and tight bowling from various Dumfries bowlers kept the run rate in check. However, Langholm’s Donaldson and Wilson launched a comeback with Donaldson finally falling on 43, caught by Corbett-Byers off the bowling of Adam Malik. With Wilson still there, but with a required run rate of ten an over, the Dumfries fielders managed three run outs. Ultimately Langholm fell short by eight runs after needing eighteen off the final over. Wilson finished not out on 41 after nearly getting his side home. For his hard-hitting batting Jabarkhil was the Andrew Dawson Horticultural Dumfries Player of the Match.
