Ferguslie robbed by the weather but Heriot's beat the rain

Western Premier leaders Ferguslie suffered utter frustration on a day when rain had its first significant effect of the season, wiping out several games and interrupting those which did go ahead.

Tom Dryden of Heriot's is bowled but the Edinburgh club beat Falkland. Picture: Neil Hanna

The Paisley side were on the cusp of a victory against Drumpellier that would have enhanced their title prospects when the match was abandoned just four deliveries short of the 20 overs needed to constitute a match.

Ferguslie posted 205-5 with Dave Stafford top-scoring on 50no before Drumps were set a revised target of 243 in 39 overs.

The Coatbridge side were languishing on 45-5 after 19.2 overs before rain brought an untimely end at Meikleriggs.

That outcome allowed second-placed Clydesdale to close the gap with victory over third top Kelburne – though not before the weather also intervened at Titwood.

Batting in warm sunshine, the home side’s well-paced innings yielded 289-5, a stand of 80 for the second wicket between Mo Awais and Con de Lange setting the tone.

Awais took charge, reaching his half-century in style and going on to power a six off Sami Zia over deep mid-wicket before a sweetly timed drive raced to the long off boundary.

The Dale opener looked set for his second century of the campaign, especially when he was dropped on 74. However, he added just one more boundary before being caught at long-on as Zia got his reward.

Kelburne began to toil, twice dropping Richie Berrington off the bowling of Dougie Wylie, and while De Lange departed for 64 to be followed by Abdul Sabri, both to Zia, Berrington was to make the most of his reprieves.

He became the third man to pass 50, reaching the landmark when he flicked a Brad Williams delivery to the square leg boundary.

He went on to finish unbeaten on 71 but his hitting was eclipsed by Basit Ali who plundered a rapid 44no, including 24 from the final over as the Titwood men went into overdrive.

There were doubts as to whether the match would survive a tea-time deluge but the visitors were eventually set a revised target of 212 from 29 overs.

They never fully recovered from the loss of two quick wickets to Majid Haq, pictured above, the home captain then striking a further blow when he bowled Kelburne

counterpart Qasim Sheikh.

A further rain delay again threatened to frustrate Clydesdale before they returned to complete a 45-run win via the Duckworth-Lewis method.

Elsewhere, East Kilbride suffered a familiar top order collapse, crashing to 76-7 at Uddingston.

They were bailed out by Gavin Meikle and Umair Khan who added 89 for the eighth wicket, the latter finishing unbeaten on 59 with five boundaries and three maximums. That helped East Kilbride reach 179 which proved a winning target as Uddingston fell 13 runs short of their target during their rain-punctuated knock.

Prestwick had a thrilling 14-run Duckworth-Lewis win at Stenhousemuir but a brilliant 137 from Michael Papps in Ayr’s 212-7 proved in vain as their clash with Dumfries was abandoned at half-time.

In the only match to survive in the east, Hayes van der Berg hit a brilliant century at Goldenacre as Heriot’s posted 198 from their 33 overs against Falkland, who then fell 35 runs short of a revised target.