For the first time in living memory Galloway Seconds recorded their second win in a month thanks to three superb individual performances and good support from the rest of the team against Clydesdale Fourths at Hamilton Palace on Saturday.
The home side were happy to field first, with bowling being their stronger suit. Andy Naylor and Rasel Mia eased the score to 18 in the fourth over before they had different ideas about the feasibility of a single when the diving slip made a good stop, and Rasel was sent back too late.
It wasn’t the greatest bowling from Muhammed Ali but he grabbed two wickets in an over with short balls when Andy top edged to be caught just inside the fine leg boundary and Shohel Miah went similarly to the wicketkeeper. Sifat Rabby then top edged Shahid to cover, though both later compensated for their lack of runs by taking four wickets apiece.
Sparky hit Ali over his head for four, but Galloway were 42-5 when he hit a full toss to mid off. John Goodenough played a fantastic captain’s innings, twice finding the third man boundary early on, driving delightful straight fours and crowning his best Galloway score with a six over square leg before running out of partners.
Andy Whittaker gave valuable support in a stand of 30, including two leg side fours in his 14. It was 72-6 when yet another top edge was pouched at mid on and without addition Swifty demolished the stumps after hooking towards long leg. He was reprieved from the initial hit wicket verdict when it was agreed he made contact when setting off for the run.
He scored a useful eight before being run out, John Dougan was caught for two, Lawrence was well caught at cover and Stephen was bowled. All these dismissals occurred in the eight deliveries bowled by Rodrigues.
Clydesdale lost Rashid early on, yorked by Shohel, who also bowled the other opener Raza. Sifat was slightly more accurate and bowled Barnes for ten, before putting the home side in deep trouble with his first ever hat trick.
Firstly he had Adnan well caught low down by Lawrence at mid off, then Shahid was bowled and Ali surprisingly backed away and his stumps also went flying. Clydesdale were now 18-6 with three wickets in hand, as they only had ten players.
Their skipper Asim Khan sensibly supported Clayton Rodrigues, and the score began to mount. Rasel had both dropped with consecutive deliveries before making the key breakthrough at 72, inducing a thin edge from the top scorer to wicketkeeper Naylor.
Sifat completed his fine spell and Shohel returned to clinch victory, bowling Khan with a beauty and hitting the stumps again when last man Shafiq swung wildly at a straight ball.
Galloway II 101 (32.2 overs) J Goodenough 37*, A Whittaker 14, A Naylor 13, C Rodrigues 3-6
Clydesdale IV 80 (22.5 overs) Shohel 4-24, Sifat 4-38, Rasel 1-18, C Rodrigues 34
