Croma Vigilant Dumfries elected to bat first in good cricket conditions, offering batsmen value for good shots and pace and bounce for the quick bowlers.
Tommy McBride and Alan Davidson opened the batting for Croma Vigilant Dumfries facing Scott McElnea and Sooja Khan and through good seam and swing bowling, regularly bet the outside edge. Tommy McBride fell early to McElnea for a score of 4, LBW to a full in-swinger. Meanwhile Alan Davidson played some glorious straight drives setting a good early run rate. This continued a fine week of batting form for Davidson who scored two 50s for the Great British Police Team. This included some testing bowling from Big Bash Perth Scorcher Matt Dixon as he scored 50 against an Essex County second eleven and an 80 against a British Military team.
At the other end Josh Forsyth looked set to put on a show for his visiting parents, but received a good ball from Khan that took his off stump, departing for 10.Next man in Chris Bellwood was to also fall to Khan’s fine opening spell, edging an out swinger to slip.
Alan Davidson was to prove the mainstay off the innings, mixing controlled aggression and strike rotation against Ayr’s spin bowling, progressing to 82 before being caught by Leck off the bowling of Khan. He was supported by some excellent batting from Carlton and Beveridge, scoring 35 and 43. This included some fine Carlton on-drives and a pulled six that flew well over the fine leg boundary before being caught in the deep by Scott McElnea off the spin bowling of Leck.
Beveridge combined his clinical boundary hitting with finesse as he scooped swept the pace bowling of Scott McElnea before being caught at cover by brother Andy McElnea. Croma Vigilant Dumfries failed to gain momentum at the end of innings as the lower order struggled to get set, and as Ayr bowled tidily, supported by good catching in the field. Wickets fell regularly up until the last wicket fell in the second last ball of the innings, with pick of bowlers Khan finishing with 6 for 34, well supported by Scott McElnea with 3 for 51.
Croma Vigilant Dumfries finished on a respectable but under par 215.
In reply, the Alexander father-son opening combination bowled exceptional early overs with Ayr’s formidable opening pairing of Michael Papps and Niall Smith not scoring a run until the 5th over. Michael Papps, the leading run scorer in New Zealand’s first class cricket history with over 10000 runs would prove to be the key wicket. However, he was not for offering a chance as he patiently set an early platform with Smith, who played more aggressively, riding his luck with catching opportunities missed at slip and cover off the bowling of Stuart Alexander.
The pair looked in control as they played ball on merit and attacked loose bowling to the boundary. Both men passed well compiled fifties and accelerated the run rate throughout their 60s and 70s. With a century in his grasp, Niall Smith carved a mistimed drive to Tommy McBride at point off the bowling of Niall Alexander.
Khan came to the crease at number three and made 10 runs not out, whilePapps needing a boundary to reach a century as the scores were tied, ran a single to finish 97 not out, yet another match winning performance from the Kiwi. Moving into second place in the table, Ayr can be pleased with a dominating run chase, led by Papps’s,effortlessly clinical batting display of sensible shots all around the wicket, while Croma Vigilant Dumfries will be frustrated by another second innings fielding performance lacking a spark. Croma Vigilant Dumfries will be looking to rectify this as they host league leaders Prestwick at Nunholm on Saturday.
