On Saturday August 27th , Dumfries finished their West Premier League fixtures with a convincing win at Nunholm against Kelburne and five wickets from the Your Move Player of the Match Vaughn Staples teed them up for their eight wicket victory.
Kelburne were put into bat and had a steady start before Alan Davidson removed the first wicket bowled. Fellow opening bowler James Hobman took the next, also bowled and Robert McBride picked up the first of his three catches, at slip, off Chris Brockwell. Davidson also claimed two more, one a sharp chance behind to McBride, and Kelburne were 68 for 5 wickets down.
However the opener, the South African professional Tarr, remained when young spinner Vaughn Staples came on with five wickets to fall. He took them all. Initially he was assisted by his fielders as McBride took a high catch at long on and Hobman dived to catch Tarr for the top score of 38 at deep square leg. Then he and Brockwell combined to apply further pressure and Staples found his target to hit the stumps three times to dismiss Kelburne for 97, the last two dismissals finishing the innings in two balls. Staples finished with Dumfries’s best bowling figures of the season, and in only his second match, of 5 wickets for 17. He also snuck in with the Premier League’s fifth best bowling figures of the season.
Dumfries took a positive batting option with Tommy McGrath moved up to open and he responded with boundaries and a magnificent straight six before he top edged an attempted pull for a rapid 22. From 34 for 2, Drew Dawson and Robert McBride then combined effectively to take Your Move Dumfries to an comfortable eight wicket win after just seventeen overs. Dawson top scored with 36 not out and McBride hit 25 not out for an early finish.
The win moved Dumfries up to a final position of sixth in the league by leapfrogging Ayr who lost the league’s last completed game of the season to Stirling who in turn just avoided their relegation with a win in the last over. In the top of the table clash, Prestwick in first place lost to Ferguslie in second for Ferguslie to become the Premiership Champions. Dumfries 2nd XI, Nunholm, completed their league season in fifth place in the West Second Division.
West Premier League
Your Move Dumfries beat Kelburne by 8 wickets
Kelburne 97 all out (31.3 overs)
V Staples 5-17, A Davidson 1-39, J Hobman 1-23, C Brockwell 1-17
Your Move Dumfries 100 for 2 (17 overs)
A Dawson 36no, R McBride 25no, T McGrath 22
Your Move Player of the Match: V Staples
Women’s Cricket: Four of the Dumfries, Galloway Women’s league side, Orla Montgomery, Niamh Muir, Katy Anderson and Emma Fordyce represented the West as the Western Warriors Under-18s narrowly missed out on the Regional Trophy on Sunday. At the Finals day in Perth the West defeated the North but then lost agonisingly by one run against the East who won the 2022 series title.
Dumfries Cricket Club can be contacted through www.dumfriescricketclub.com, via [email protected] or on social media @dumfriescricket .
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