The WDCU title for the second year running will be a last-day head-to-head decider at Meikleriggs after a day full of action at Ferguslie Cricket club
Last Tuesday at Titwood, the home of 2021 league champions Clydesdale - Ferguslie convincingly beat Clydesdale for the second time this season in the league.
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With the home team in third place, they were looking to hand the title to Prestwick by beating Ferguslie who were unbeaten since the middle of June. The heavy rain in the previous 24 hours led to a delayed start and a reduced 42 over a side game.
Ferguslie made a solid start with the top three batters all making good contributions, but all losing their wicket before reaching 50, but at 95/3 the game remained even.
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Then not for the first time this season the partnership of Scotland “A” team player Taimoor Ahmad and captain Riyaad Henry enjoyed a century partnership. Ahmad fell in the last over for an excellent 64 and Henry finished not out on 73. In the conditions and in 42 overs
The opening bowling partnership of Ghaffar and Henry then blew the top order away. Barbour was out second ball to Ghaffar to a well-taken boundary catch by Daoud Tahir and then leading run scorer this year Craig Young was caught at slip two overs later. 30 minutes into the Clydesdale innings and Clydesdale were 39/6 with four wickets for Ghaffar and two for Henry.
However, just like the title decider last year, the Clydesdale lower order rallied by trying to hit their way out of trouble. Mughal and Bashir put on quick runs and a 71-run partnership before Henry took a good running boundary catch off Qasim Khan.
The final nail in the coffin went to opening bowler Adil Ghaffar as veteran Omer Hussain took a high running catch at mid-on to remove Bashir and Ghaffar finished with five wickets for 28 runs.
Meanwhile, rivals Kelburne's relegation was confirmed as they lost in a tight game to West of Scotland who moved into third position with their win.
The four regional Rowan cup winners played out the National finals at Stirling on Sunday. M8 Driving Ferguslie faced Southern winners Gala in their semi-final whilst Northern winners Forfarshire played East winners and recently crowned East league champions Herriots.
Ferguslie won the toss and elected to bat against Gala and got off to a flyer with openers Stafford and Taimoor Ahmad starting aggressively. David Stafford hit 23 from 14 balls. They continued the fast pace putting on 62 for the second wicket before Ahmad fell for 55. Haroon Tahir and Adil Ghaffar added some late runs as Ferguslie posted a challenging 162 in their 20 overs.
Whilst Gala started at pace they consistently lost wickets and it wasn’t long before the game looked out of reach. The star of the show with the ball was Moses who captured 4 wickets for just 9 runs in his 3 overs. Two wickets each for Haroon and Daoud Tahir halted the Gala innings as they crumbled to 81 all out.
Forfarshire won a closer game chasing 160 to beat Herriots thanks to a hard-hitting 61 by Scotland star Michael Leask
Ferguslie got off to a perfect start as Ghaffar bowled Scotland player Craig Wallace for zero. A false shot shortly after saw a top edge skied safely between the keeper and 3rd man, but after a couple of other false shots, he hit his mark and boundaries became the norm.
Meanwhile, a direct hit from Haroon Tahir got rid of Johnston and O’Neill was caught behind for off Haroon Tahir and Forfarshire were 64/3. However, Garden supported Leask well before he fell to Henry for 34 but the score was now 138. The big wicket fell shortly after as Henry ran 30 yards in from deep square to take a diving catch inches from the ground to dismiss Leask off Qasim Khan for an excellent 87. Whilst slowing the run rate the Eastern Premier league runners-up Forfarshire ended up posting 179 in their 20 overs.
David Stafford was not going to waste any time as he hit 19 off the second over. Taimoor Ahmad fell early but Stafford struck the ball magnificently to all parts of the ground.
Only a quick fire 24 from Ghaffar from 16 balls offered any resistance and Ferguslie fell well short reaching 115 in their 20 over. The innings from Leask had been too much for the Paisley team.
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