Dumfries 244 all out after 50 overs (25 points)
Greenock 111 all out after 28 overs (0 points)
GREENOCK made the long trip to Dumfries for their Western Premiership Two league match and for the second successive Saturday were soundly beaten.
Dumfries won the toss and elected to bat. But it was Greenock who made their mark first. With just nine runs on the scoreboard, opening bat Stuart Corbett-Byers was bowled by left arm pace bowler Fahim Dinarkiel.
However, it was to prove a false dawn for Greenock as the in-form Munro Cubbin and former Greenock player Chris Bellwood quickly got the home team steadied.
It took until the fourth ball of the 23rd over before Greenock gained a second wicket, by which time Cubbin and Bellwood had crafted a century partnership. The wicket to fall was that of Bellwood with the score on 110. He was caught by Mubi Ahmadzai for 46 runs off the bowling of Nikhil Kadyan who had only just been brought on.
A further change of bowling led to the fall of the third wicket when new batter Lachlan Friend provided a return catch to Chirag Pandher with the score on 127.
But a partnership of 53 runs from Cubbin and Max Corbett-Byers put Dumfries into a very commanding position. It ended when Corbett-Byers was out for 27 caught by Fahim Dinarkiel off the bowling of Toby Matthews at 180 for three wickets.
With nine overs of the innings remaining, and Cubbin still at the crease, the Dumfries batters looked to put the match out of reach of Greenock.
As more runs were being chased, opener Munro Cubbin made an uncharacteristic mistake and was out, just one run short of a deserved century, caught by wicket-keeper Adam McGuirk off the bowling of Dinarkiel in the first over of his second spell.
Cubbin’s removal left Dumfries on 203 for 5 in the 44th over. The home side’s score moved on to 244 all out, with the last ball of the 50th over yielding the wicket of last man, Scott Beveridge, leg before wicket to Chirag Pandher.
After a long afternoon in the field Dinarkiel, Matthews and Pandher each finished with two wickets apiece.
Greenock’s reply failed to get off to the start needed to give the team the solid base from which to challenge the Dumfries total. In just the sixth over with 24 runs on the scoreboard, Adam McGuirk fell victim to opening bowler Nairn Cubbin when he was caught by Chris Brockwell for 13.
And two runs later, team captain Aryan Sanghera became Cubbin’s second wicket of the innings when he was clean-bowled for seven runs.
A second mini-partnership of 24 runs between Shailesh Prabhu and Toby Matthews briefly stabilised the innings. However, when Prabhu (12) was caught by Bellwood off the bowling of Munro Cubbin, the middle order completely collapsed as five wickets were lost with just three runs added to the score to leave Greenock on 56 for 7.
Chirag Pandher, batting at number eight, with an innings of 36 runs, helped to take the Greenock score into three figures. But when he was last batter out caught and bowled by Chris Brockwell at the end of the 28th over, the final score was 111.
Greenock’s batting was once again a disappointment, with 22 overs unused. Chris Brockwell with 5 wickets for 27 runs from nine overs was the home team’s most successful bowler.
Greenock Cricket Club is sponsored by The Ethos Group
