GORDON Drummond, the captain of Watsonians, was left to reflect on a missed opportunity to upset title favourites Grange at Portgower Place on Saturday. The Myreside stalwart led from the front with a superb bowling display as Grange, having opted to bat, found runs at a premium.
Indeed, Drummond had sent down seven miserly overs at a cost of just three runs and had also claimed the wicket of Scotland colleague Neil McCallum as the bottom side scented a shock.
Disaster then struck when the skipper went to field a firml
y struck drive off his own bowling by Oliver Hairs and succeeded in splitting the webbing between the middle and fourth fingers of his right hand. Drummond was unable to play any further part in the match and Grange took advantage. Warren McSkimming top-scored with 87 while teenager Hairs' 53 not out came from only 55 balls as the home side clawed their way to 214-7.
Youngsters were also to the fore in the Watsonians' reply, with under-19 batsmen Ryan Flannigan and Euan Chalmers both stroking half-centuries but, without Drummond, the visitors could not find the necessary acceleration, falling 15 runs short.
Drummond said: "The really decisive factor was that we managed to drop their pro (McSkimming) twice. If I'd been able to bat I'd have backed myself to get our score ticking on and you never know what might have happened."
Meanwhile, Greenock's latest success saw them shrug-off the loss of injured skipper Craig Wright to brush aside Ferguslie in a one-sided Renfrewshire derby at Glenpark.
Stand-in skipper Richie Berrington won the toss and allowed Sean Weeraratna and Dewald Nel to take advantage of helpful bowling conditions. Weeraratna posted the excellent figures of 5-12 while Nel had 3-34 as well as producing a contender for catch of the season with a magnificent diving effort that sent Omer Hussain packing.
Remarkably, this effort was matched by the one-handed diving clutch with which Ryan Begley removed Stuart Kennedy in the slips. Clearly everything was going Greenock's way, with events conspiring to send Ferguslie tumbling to 63 all out.
Even the early departure of Weeraratna and Berrington during their reply failed to alter the impression that the home side would claim the derby spoils. Tim McIntosh confirmed the inevitable with a determined unbeaten 32 as the Glenpark side won by eight wickets and with more than 30 overs to spare.
Home coach Tony Judd said: "The wicket wasn't easy but if Ferguslie had managed to claw their way to about 110 it might have been interesting because there was still plenty of assistance for the bowlers in the second half."
Elsewhere, Cedric English returned from injury to kickstart Carlton's campaign against faltering Ayr at Grange Loan. The former Saltires batsman stroked 110 with ten boundaries and four sixes while veteran Bryn Lockie made 80 in a total of 255-6.
Matt Horne was the only Ayr batsman to get established but when he became one of English's three victims, trapped in front for 69, Ayr's reply fell away.
Clydesdale produced a gutsy team display to leapfrog Heriot's with a hard-fought win at Goldenacre.
Kasim Farid top-scored with 45 in a total of 175-8 before three wickets apiece for Ross Lyons and Harmanjit Singh restricted the hosts to 151 despite Steve Knox's fighting 70.
For the second week running Uddingston's title hopes received a battering from the weather when their clash with Poloc was abandoned at showery Shawholm.
The full article contains 598 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
