Kilmarnock 94/7 beat St Michaels 93 all out by 3 wickets.

Kilmarnock get over line

Kilmarnock 94/7 beat St Michaels 93 all out by 3 wickets.

Kilmarnock welcomed St Michaels to Scott Ellis on Saturday as they looked to bounce back from a disappointing defeat last weekend. St Michaels were in a buoyant mood following their two comprehensive wins in their opening two fixtures.

On an unusually sunny day in Kilmarnock, one that would see Pasha and Alan Hill only put on two jumpers, KCC lost the toss on a wicket the looked like it would suit the bowlers first up. It was therefore a bit of a surprise when the opposition decided to have a bat.

Tom McFadzean (3-11) and Niamat Ali (1-15) were on excellent form with the new ball, as they kept the run rate down and tested the St Michaels openers’ outside edges. A double breakthrough from McFadzean saw one of the openers trapped LBW, before the Amateur played across the line to a swinging ball and was smartly caught at mid on.

Pressure continued to be built and the visitors’ skipper soon followed off the bowling of Ali. A change of bowling saw Waleed Iqbal introduced to the attack. He soon found his rhythm and picked up a couple of wickets on his way to figures of 2 for 19, which included a stunning one handed diving catch from keeper Flanagan. Alex Gibson (2-9) continued his form from last week as he had the dangerous Brockwell caught at midwicket for 35 off a ball that should have gone for a boundary.

Jim Hill (2-14) bowled economically and put pressure on the lower order. A smart caught and bowled was followed up by a delivery that snuck through the gate and suddenly the end of the innings was near. McFadzean returned and quickly brought an end to proceedings with a ball that nipped back and castled middle stump.

Kilmarnock were happy at the halfway stage, but were wary of their batting after last weeks’ collapse.

Things started well for the home side, as Paul Flanagan and Shakeel raced through to 21 for no loss. However, things were to take a turn for the worse as C Brockwell (3-22) and J Martins (3-24) had the top order in all sorts of trouble. Kilmarnock slipped to 58 for 7 in their reply and the job looked beyond their batting line up once again.

However, Jim Hill (24*) and Waleed Iqbal batted sensibly, taking advantage of some wayward bowling and quickly had the scoreboard ticking over towards the target of 94.

Back to back boundaries from Hill saw Kilmarnock move to within a few runs of victory and a pull shot through midwicket brought about an outstanding win for Kilmarnock.

Composure was shown by Kilmarnock’s lower order and this is something that the top order need to learn before they welcome Galloway to Scott Ellis next weekend.

Man of the match - Jim Hill for his 2 wickets and unbeaten 24 with the bat.