Dumfries Cricket Club invited Galloway Cricket Club (Galloway Giants) to Nunholm on Saturday for a 3 team T20 tournament, and it was the Giants who came out on top following the 3 fixtures in the one day.
The first match was contested between the Dragons and the Knights (mixed teams from Dumfries Cricket Club). The match impacted by weather meant a late start and reduced to just 10 overs per side. The smack, bang, wallop format of the game suited the Dragons as both Andrew Dawson and Adam Malik swung their bat at the ball and were getting boundaries as their reward for attacking. Both players retired on 30 runs each. The knights bowling struggled to contain the aggressive attack. It was James Cox who made the initial breakthrough capturing the valued wicket of Alan Davidson caught by Scott Beveridge. The only other wicket for the Knights was taken by Vaughn Staples as the Dragons finished on 86 for 2.
The Knights in reply got off to a bad start as the ever-dependable Mat Williams was adjudged out in the second over. David Davidson arrived at the crease and worked hard to keep the run rate going with a well struck 6, but was soon dismissed by the clever bowling of Christopher McCutcheon. Wickets were hard to come by, but so were runs as the Dragons bowling kept tight lines and restricted the Knights to 58 to gain victory in match 1.
In match 2 a strong Giants squad elected to bat and their aggression reaped benefits in the early overs as the run rate was above 10 . Tommy McGrath and Mark Pagan continued to attack the bowling, but it was the spin of Vaughn Staples which eventually won when both batsmen were dismissed caught and stumped. AStaples picked up another wicket before the end of his spell and finished with 4 overs and 3 wickets. The Giants finished on 122, which due to conditions was a very challenging score for the Knights to chase down.
The Knights went into bat with confidence following victories in the previous weeks, however in this shorter format of the game the team were struggling to adapt and were never in the game as the wickets fell at regular intervals. Knights fought hard but were some way short of the run chase following the loss of 6 wickets.
The two winners of the earlier matches then took to the field for the final, once again the Giants went into bat and this time were restricted by the tight bowling of Sean Thornely who picked up the wickets of the destructive McGrath and Pagan. The Giants continued to score runs and in the final few overs managed to push the score to a challenging 123 for the Dragons to chase.
The Dragons bating line up also struggled to score freely in the final and it was Adam Malik who top scored with 30 not out and Andrew Reed and Alan Davidson were left with the challenge of significantly increasing the run rate. There was some interesting quick running between the wickets as Dragons pushed for the unlikely victory. 40 runs were required of the last two overs, the first of the final overs went for 10 with some inventive hitting, but there remained 30 to get off the last over. The first ball was struck for a big six by Alan Davidson and the Giants were concerned and adjusted their field to protect the runs. The Dragons continued to swing hard at the ball but were unable to find the boundaries needed to claim an unlikely victory and the Galloway Giants were able to claim the win.
Man of the Match for the Dragons was Sean Thornely
