Falkland Safe From Relegation

Falkland 253 for 7 (50 overs)
(H Cooray 80, J Henderson 54, C Cassell 37, S Pillay 4 for 26)

Stewart's Melville 235 for 9 (50 overs)
(S Parker 71, K Steel 33, H Cooray 3 for 43)

Falkland 1st XI Won by 18 runs

In a hard fought and entertaining game at Falkland on Saturday, the home side rescued themselves from the threat of relegation in a tight, but nevertheless deserved victory. The weather was splendid and it was nice to see a sizeable crowd.

Falkland won the toss, decided to bat, and Steven Meikle and Jack Henderson then put on 85 for the first wicket with Henderson reaching 54. Professional Harsha Cooray then scored 80, and there were useful contributions from Adam Ferguson and Charlie Cassell, but the crucial runs, as it turned out, were the 20 not out at the end of the innings scored by Euan Sloan which took the total over the 250 mark. It was generally agreed that 253 was a competitive although not necessary winning total.

For Stewart's Melville, opener Parker hit 71 and might have won the game for them but he was well stumped by Adam Ferguson off Harsha Cooray. Wilkinson, Pillay and Steel all made useful contributions as well, but professional Pillay was out to a dreadful stroke to a full toss. Cassell's fine catch was probably the turning point of the game, although the Edinburgh side's late order batsmen made a spirited attempt to get the runs, and might have done so, but fell 18 runs short.

Falkland's performance in the field was far from flawless, including some gross errors and 16 wides, but it was good enough to win through in the end, and Falkland will play in next year's Eastern Premier League. As it happened they were safe anyway because Arbroath had gone down to Watsonians, but it was nice to win the game on a day when with the ground looked so beautiful and the weather was so good.

DP