Dumfries Cricket Club extended their lead at the top of the Western Premiership 2 table with a 5 wicket win at fifth placed Greenock on Saturday.
Greenock chose to bat first, and James Hobman removed both Greenock openers with the home side just past the fifty mark and Alan Davidson followed with a third wicket. Tolhurst with his 30 runs took the score on past the hundred to a solid 116 for 3. At that point spinner Vaughn Staples took two quick wickets helped by good catches in the deep by Wahid Jabarkhil. Greenock continued on to 148 for 5, but from that position they then slumped to 159 all out. That was thanks to two wickets each to Tommy McGrath and Callum Reynolds-Lewis and the run out of the season by Vaughn Staples for the final wicket.
The Dumfries reply was led by the JC Martin Electrical Player of the Match, opener Chris Bellwood. His innings took his side to three runs short of victory at 157 for 3 when he was out caught for an excellent 60 to continue his season as one of the top run scorers in the league. He shared valuable partnerships firstly with Fergus Bainbridge and then added over eighty runs with number four batsman Johnathan Van Zyl who hit 38 before holing out on the boundary. Dumfries duly reached a winning target of 160 for the loss of 5 wickets. For a second week in a row second placed Kelburne lost for Dumfries to now stand clear on points and wins with one more league win than their rivals.
At representative level, Dumfries juniors Nairn Cubbon and Billy Morgan have been selected for the first time for Scotland Under-15s for games against Cheshire U15s this week. In women’s cricket, local player Niamh Muir has been named in the Scotland Women’s squad which tours the Netherlands in August; Macey Corbett-Byers has been representing Western Warriors Girls U15s in the Regional Series and Jasmine McCulloch was called up at the weekend for Scotland Emerging Players against Yorkshire U18s.
This Saturday, Your Move Dumfries are at home to Kilmarnock, in fifth place, and the Dumfries 2nd team, Nunholm, are at Kirkstyle and aiming to remain top of Western Championship 2. For details of weekly senior, women’s and junior sessions, and also cricket summer camps at Nunholm visit www.dumfriescricketclub.com
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Photo: Chris Bellwood batted Dumfries to their league win at Greenock
