Fine bowling from Bailwal and Philip against Aberdeenshire lifts Forfarshire

Aman Bailwal and Henry Philip, who have both featured for the National Academy this summer, took three wickets apiece at Forthill as the visitors were bowled out for just 137 on Saturday.

Forfarshire pro Kelby Pickering picked up the key wickets of Michael Parlane (0) and Neil Macrae (9) to pave the way for the Scotland under-19 caps to get in amongst the Aberdeenshire middle order. Bailwal took the scalps of wicketkeeper Matt Cross, Graeme Tomlinson and Richie Lamb to finish with 3-11, while Philip's three victims were opener Iain Brand, Stuart Coertzer and Willie Gavera. Cross was top scorer for the visitors with 25, but the total was never going to be enough.

In reply, opener Graeme Garden and captain Ryan Watson hit 45 not out and 71 not out respectively as Forfarshire won by nine wickets, recording their fourth win of the campaign.

Grange are still top of the table, but found it tough against a battling McCrea FS West outfit at Raeburn Place. Without key batsmen Neil McCallum and Gregor Maiden, Grange struggled early on, slipping to 132-8 at one point with Leighton Burrt, Ian Cran, Aftab Talpur and Moneeq Iqbal amongst the wickets. Experienced campaigner Stuart Davidson then helped Grange reach 210 all out.

Gregg Watson and Iqbal gave McCrea FS West a good platform opening the batting, hitting 27 and 64 respectively, and at one stage they looked like they were going to secure an unlikely away win when Anjan Luthra was heading towards a 50. Luthra fell for 45, however, caught by teenager Oli Hairs off the bowling of Davidson, as Grange clung on to win by just nine runs.

At the other end of the table Greenock are still winless after a defeat to Watsonians in a shortened match at Glenpark. The visitors made an impressive 215-5 from their 25 overs, Ryan Flannigan building on his recent Scotland Lions form with 39 before stand-in skipper Tim Weston hit 69 and the returning Ewan Chalmers 77 to help their side post the formidable total.

Left-arm seamer Mike Legget removed openers Andy Hislop and Willie Rowan early on in Greenock's reply and they never really looked like reaching their target. Captain Kevin McLaren passed 150 runs for the season with 42, but Legget led the way with 4-22 and Stuart Chalmers took 3-20 as the hosts were all out for 137.

Uddingston were victorious for the third Saturday in a row, a superb opening stand between Paul Hoffman and Sameer Zia putting them on track for a Duckworth-Lewis method win over Clydesdale at Titwood. Hoffman hit 78 and Zia 67 as their side made 255-6. Hoffman then took 3-24 – the key scalps of Greig Williamson, Qasim Sheikh and Kamran Sajid – as the hosts fell 34-runs short of their revised D/L total.

And at Grange Loan Omar Ahmad returned the brilliant figures of 6-12 as Carlton defeated Dunfermline Knights by 160 runs. Carlton skipper Fraser Watts led his side to 278-8 batting first with his first league century of the summer, his 122 being supplemented by 46 not out from Jamie Kerr. Cedric English then grabbed the wicket of pro Alistair Gray as the Knights slipped to 43-3 and Ahmad then took over to end the visitors' innings on 118.