Yet again, early wickets stalled the Ferguslie top order as the returning Harry Mapplebeck, in-form Josh Rutnagur and hard hitting Grant Darroch were all dismissed in the early salvos. Grant was particularly unlucky as he was caught and bowled after striking the ball with particular ferocity and the bowler catching the ball more through self preservation than anything else. The innings was steadied by David Sturgeon and Richard Rutnagur who demonstrated the requisite patience and application on a difficult wicket. Scores of 61 and 60 respectively could easily have been doubled on a better wicket and outfield. A final tally of 209 all out seemed like a winning total given the difficult bating conditions and the frequent showers.

The opening bowling partnership of Dean Kennedy and the also returning James Ellis were well backed up by Richard Rutnagur and Sean Friel as Torrance House were restricted in the first half of their innings and a score of 90-5 at drinks meant the Paisley boys were in firm control. However, an inexplicable passage of play where both bowlers and fielders let standards slip and concentration wander let EK right back into the game as they build a couple of important partnerships to put themselves in pole position with only a couple of overs to go. Thankfully, a couple of late wickets for Dean Kennedy sealed the game as the home side were eventually all out for 194 but it was much closer than it should have been.

‘Catches win matches’ says the old adage and this was, indeed, the case but a period of 15 overs where the whole team seemed to switch off and think the game was already won should jolt the team in to a much improved performance at home to The Tryst next week.