VALE of Leven Cricket Club made the trip to Gatehouse of Fleet to play Galloway last Saturday.

VALE of Leven Cricket Club made the trip to Gatehouse of Fleet to play Galloway last Saturday.

Captain Ivan Lawrence won the toss and put Galloway into bat. Veteran Galloway openers, H Bradley and H Taylor, made a strong start against some wayward Vale bowling for a opening stand of 75 runs.

The introduction of the Vale spin twins C Dalby and G Lawrence slowed the scoring and soon wickets began to fall with Chris taking one and Graham four. However Galloway finished on 198 for eight wickets. Other wicket takers were B Stavert (1) and D Houston (1) and a fine run out from Ivan.

In normal circumstances the Vale should be able to chase down this target but so far this season the batting has lacked confidence. The batting started slowly but steady with Chris and Ivan but a flurry of wickets reduced the Vale to 46 for 5.

Adam Thompson (15) ably assisted by Brian Corrigan (11) and Ross McCallum (8), his highest league score, got the score up to 96 before the last wicket fell. So far this season the batting has proved to be the Vale’s weakest link therefore hard work, practice and greater application is required.

On Tuesday, in the Western Cup Ferguslie were the visitors. The Vale batted first with a strong opening stand from Ivan (10) and Jaco (15). Further good contributions from Shafiq (21), Tanni (11) and Adam (13) pushed the score up to 81 for 6 wickets off the 20 overs. Ferguslie in reply scored the required runs in 16 overs for the loss of six wickets a good performance from the Vale considering Ferguslie fielded a number of first team players. The main wicket takers for the Vale were Tanni (3) and Brian Stavert (1).