Dumfries Sports Club

The season is coming to a close too early for Dumfries ’s Sunday XI. Gatehouse were the visitors on a perfect cricket day; the sun shining on an immaculate Nunholm.

Batting first Dumfries had to be careful against tidy bowling but made steady progress with the top order all getting starts but failing to go on. Skipper Irwin then upped the tempo with some good strikes through the off side to reach 35, and when he departed Peter Johnstone, with 33 not out, kept rotating the strike to allow top scorer Chris McBride to make an unfussy fifty and newcomer Jack Austin to show off his brand of batting at the end.

A target of 184 to win in the forty overs was, one felt, dependant on Fraser Conn and Howard Bradley making significant contributions and they did not let their team down. Conn was unluckily bowled off his foot from one going down the leg side for 42 and Bradley made his first mistake when victory was in sight with a top score of 56.

The Dumfries bowling was variable. The old heads of Stuart Alexander and Dave Strachan provided the control but no wickets and the young pretenders came up with the wicket-taking deliveries but also some run-making opportunities.

In the end Dumfries were the winners by 7 runs in a game which could have gone either way.

The Roger Lever Photography Dumfries Man of the Match award went to Dave Strachan; not only for his miserly 7-over spell conceding just 12 runs but for his magnificent slip catch which had the batsman still shaking his head many an over later.

In their Murgitroyd T20 Semi-Final on Saturday at Clydesdale, Dumfries were struck with Twenty20 fever as they lost two batsman run out inside eight balls and then were four down in the fourth over. With the top four gone the innings never recovered to post any sort of target and Clydesdale cruised to a win. Then in the final Clydesdale were unable to chase a challenging target of 177 set by the eventual winners Grange.

In the last league game in the Western Premiership on Saturday, Stafforce Dumfries lost out to Ayr who claimed the west’s top title when they secured the points they required at Nunholm.

In the first innings Dumfries had Ayr on the back foot, aided by three wickets from Alan Davidson, at 91 for 4 and then 172 for 6 with five overs left.

However a crucial run blitz of over seventy runs in those last five overs ultimately set up their title win when they managed to reach 246 for 7.

Then once more Dumfries were well placed in the second innings when they were 100 for 2 at the half way stage. The Solarae Dumfries Man of the Match, Alan Davidson, again figured with the opener having scoring 34. 

However wickets fell after the drinks break and when a seventh went down that ensured Ayr the necessary points for the title.

Scott Beveridge kept Dumfries in the hunt for a while with a belligerent score of 47. However, when he was caught in the deep the remaining wickets fell with Dumfries 185 all out and meant the Nunholm side took fifth place in the league.

On Saturday Dumfries play the rearranged Murgitroyd T20 semi-final against Clydesdale in Glasgow and this week opening bowler Niall Alexander made his debut Scotland ‘A’ away against Lancashire 2^nd XI in a three day encounter.

In the Western Premier Reserve league Nunholm finished in the league’s fourth spot after a loss at Cambusdoon. Nunholm set a target of 107, with Andy Reed the top scorer with 28, but home side Cambusdoon successfully chased that for the loss of four wickets with the Bryce Walker Man of the Match Stuart Alexander taking three of the wickets to fall.

The Dumfries Sunday XI won a high scoring encounter at Dalton after the home side posted 177 for 7 with Robert McBride the top scorer with 48 and Mark Irwin taking three wickets. Lakeland Fluid Power Man of the Match Peter Lojszczyk then delivered a match winning innings of 55 not out, assisted by 37 from Chris McBride, for a five wicket win.

In the Western Premier League on Saturday Stafforce Dumfries won through in a tight finish at Renfrew for a one wicket victory. The Dupont Teijin Films Man of the Match, Scott Beveridge, took four wickets in a Renfrew total of 162 all out and then was instrumental in steering the side to the win with a score of 41 not out aided by 33 from Captain Stuart Corbett-Byers.

This Saturday, fourth placed Dumfries will play table toppers Ayr at home at Nunholm in the last league game of the season, in a match which will decide whether the Cambusdoon side can clinch the Premiership title.

Also last Saturday, Dumfries 2nds, Nunholm, recorded a Club record score with a mammoth total of 405 for 5 in fifty overs against Deanpark at home in the Western Premier Reserve league.

The match was proceeding unexceptionally with Nunholm at 73 for 3 after 13 overs. Number three, Marcus Richardson, and Cammy Telfer then put together a 117 run partnership and when Telfer was bowled for 51 the score had progressed to 190 for 4 after 32 overs.

Campbell Potts joined Richardson and the pair batted with freedom as the ball was sent all around the ground and over the boundary.

Their partnership yielded 180 runs in just 15 overs until the J&E Shepherd Man of the Match, Richardson, was out caught for a scintillating 173. Potts reached his century with a four off the second last ball and then hit the last for a big six to pass the four hundred.

Stuart Alexander and Mark Irwin each took two Deanpark wickets and Jerry Goodin then took five wickets for four runs, including the final wicket, to complete a 300 run win, and for fourth spot in the league, as the visitors were all out for 105.

The Dumfries Sunday XI travelled to Kinmount for a win in a friendly against Annan. Saint & Co. Man of the Match Chris McBride top scored with 43 in a total of 141 for 8. Mark Irwin and Dave Strachan then each took three wickets to restrict Annan to 108 for 7. Todd Rafferty produced an all-round performance for Annan with 39 and two wickets.