Cricket: Stunning Falkland triumph puts dampener on Greenock’s party

Kelburne and Stenhousemuir each finished top of their group and will go head to head in the last-eight showdown at Whitehaugh on Saturday.

Fellow minnows Renfrew will be at home to Watsonians, while Heriot’s make the tricky jaunt to East Kilbride. In the only all top-flight affair, Clydesdale have territorial advantage over Carlton.

In the performance of the round, Falkland’s stunning triumph over Greenock at Glenpark clinched them a tie against Arbroath in the consolation Cricket Scotland Trophy.

Falkland emerged as party poopers at the Tail o’ the Bank as the hosts embarked on their 150th anniversary celebrations, featuring special guest Gordon Greenidge. The former club pro and West Indies legend must have looked on with sadness as his former team was taken apart. Fifers skipper Ryan Hepburn said the victory one of the greatest in their history.

He said: “You only had to look at the honours board to realise the pedigree of Greenock and to win so emphatically on their patch was tremendous.”

Hepburn paid special tribute to veteran batsman Davie Gray, who laid the foundations with a knock of 84. The captain said: “It would have been a wonderful innings at any stage of his career, but the guy is in his 50th year! I don’t know what he has been taking, but he is smashing the ball higher and further than ever. There was also a great contribution from our young South African amateur, Nick Lockyer, who scored 75, then coach Brock Ditchman finished the job by taking six cheap wickets.

“After a couple of quiet years, we are really heading in the right direction.”

The efforts of Gray and Lockyer took Falkland to 254, Greg McDougall the pick of the home attack with five for 36. Greenock had no answer to Ditchman’s canny off spin and they plunged to 116 all out.

Elsewhere, Arbroath’s shaky season continued as they lost heavily to Clydesdale at Titwood. They must have fancied their chances when they curbed Clydesdale to 195 all out, skipper Zeeshan Bashir and Safyaan Sharif each hitting 44. But they were unable to manufacture any meaningful partnerships of their own, leaving the stage clear for Bashir and his boys to win with some ease as Arbroath were routed for a miserable 129.

Renfrew clinched a surprise place in the knock-out stages by hammering Fauldhouse on home turf. Before the tournament, few would have bet on them winning their group. However, a combination of poor results by Uddingston and the aspirations of Grange being wrecked by the weather have played into their hands. Veteran Imran Adrees emerged as their prime hero with six for 29 as the visitors were skittled for just 72.

Heriot’s earned a ticket to the next phase by disposing of Ferguslie at Meikleriggs and Forfarshire also sneaked into the CS Cup by outgunning Ayr at Cambusdoon. Matty Parker (56) gave the Scotland selectors a nudge, while Brendan Ford weighed in with 43 and a four-wicket haul.

Dave McNulty made full use of the seam-friendly conditions at Hamilton Crescent to propel West of Scotland to an easy seven-wicket success against Stoneywood-Dyce. The  Aberdonians never got into their stride because of McNulty’s accuracy and he finished with four for 24 as they tumbled to 84 all out after 29 overs. West reached the target in the 20th over with Ian Young contributing a watchful 29 not out.