Three wins in a row for Croma Vigilant Dumfries

Croma Vigilant Dumfries made it three wins in a row, defeating Greenock by four wickets and five balls to spare in a close encounter at Nunholm.

Croma Vigilant Dumfries 251/6 beat Greenock 250/8

Greenock won the toss and elected to bat first in batting friendly conditions. Niall Alexander and Danny Armstrong bowled threatening opening spells, regularly beating the bat. Armstrong got the first breakthrough of the day with a trademark sharp inswinger, bowling and literally destroying the off stump of Briggs for 0.

Meanwhile fellow opener, Flack, a regular performer at Scotland Youth Level, played some aggressive shots all around the ground to give Greenock a good early platform. Supported by sensible shot making and smart running, Australian overseas, Scrimegour, helped Greenock progress to 100 without further loss. However Scott Beveridge stepped up and as he so often does, claimed a crucial wicket at a crucial time, bowling Scrimegour for 39.

This brought youngster Ware to the crease who like Flack, played with positive intent and capitalised on any bad balls. With Flack and Ware looking set and scoring at 6 an over, Greenock looked to be targeting an above par score of 300.

Alan Davidson however, bowling a typically tidy spell, got his rewards with two full inswinging lbw wickets in 2 balls. Alexander and Armstrong returned with fiery spells and Greenock struggled to gain any further momentum going in to the last 10 overs. Josh Forsyth took a fine full length diving effort in the covers to dismiss McIntosh off the bowling of Danny Armstrong and Tommy McBride ran out Flack following an ill judged run by his partner, falling 6 runs short of a deserved century. Hempsey and Sanghera both reached doubles figures to help Greenock reach 250, a more than competitive total.

In reply, Tommy and Robert McBride opened the batting with the latter falling early to the left arm spin of Flack. David Carlton came to the crease and set about building a solid early platform with McBride. Through busy running between the wickets and making full use of over pitches deliveries McBride reached 50.

David Carlton played classy shots through the offside, before getting bowled by the left arm pace of Scrimegour for 19. This brought Chris Bellwood in at number 4 who continued his fine run of form with an innings of 42 compiled of classy shots around the wicket. During these middle overs Greenock bowled tight lines to well placed fields and remained well in the game with a 7 runs required rate to win the game from 15 overs remaining.

Tommy McBride was to make way to Josh Forsyth following a sharply taken caught and bowled by Scrimegour, departing with a well composed 89. Josh Forsyth brought immediate impetus to the innings showing both his flair through the offside and hart hitting straight down the ground. This included the biggest hit seen at nunholm for a while with a bludgeoning six that cleared clubhouse and car park.

Stuart Corbett Byers was next man in when Chris Bellwood was caught in the covers by Hulbert of the bowling of Scrimegour. In what proved to be the match winning partnership, skipper Byers and Forsyth combined hard running between the wickets with clinical hitting to all parts of the ground against Greenock’s Spin bowling.

Forsyth looked set to join Byers to the end, but mistimed one back to bowler Flack for a quick fire 42. Scott Beveridge came to the crease with positive intent but was unable to clear the infield and got caught by Flack off the bowling of McIntosh. It was left to Byers to show his mental toughness and Niall Alexander his big hitting in chasing the last three overs at a run a ball rate. The pair made it look comfortable with Niall Alexander hitting the winning boundary of the first ball of the last over.

Byers was met with much deserved adjulation from team mates as he left the field for what was a fine captains knock in guiding his team to victory. This result places dumfries in 5th position in a tightly contested Western premier division. Crome Vigilant travel to league leaders Ferguslie next week and a win, and favourable results elsewhere, could see Croma Vigilant Dumfries overtake Ferguslie as league leaders.

Photo: Thomas McBride on his way to top score with 89