Kenny Paterson (5-37) was top performer in a good victory for the souters at home to Boroughmuir, the veteran bowler claiming the first 5 for of the season for Selkirk.
The game was late in starting so the Selkirk captain Michael Fenton was happy to win the toss and get the game going. Fenton chose to bat but when the openers, Greg Fenton and Blaine Gillie fell in consecutive overs (both for 13 runs) there was some pressure on the top order to protect their wickets. The Selkirk captain made a sharp 18 runs before being bowled by his opposite number Syed Ahmed who was managing to swing the ball in the helpful conditions. Rory Banks (39) and Bob Wilkinson (15) provided some solidity with a partnership of 43 getting the score to 100 with 15 overs remaining but both edged behind.
Another valuable partnership of 34 between Kenny Paterson (13) and Daniel Heard (22) saw the Selkirk side edge towards 150. They achieved this courtesy of a wide delivery with two balls to come but a miscommunication between the tailenders saw a run out on the penultimate ball.
After tea Selkirk made immediate inroads when Sazid Mohammed was out LBW on the second ball of Michael Fenton’s first over. Opening the bowling at the other end Daniel Heard removed the other opener similarly. The pace of scoring meant that there was going to be a quick finish to the game with either Boroughmuir getting the runs they needed or Selkirk getting the wickets they needed. With no further success Fenton replaced himself with Kenny Paterson and this ultimately proved a sound decision. Paterson picked up his first wicket in his second over when he bowled the dangerous Mirza Baig (35) who had opened his account with a big six over the cow corner boundary.
The batters continued to score well from Paterson but he had an answer for all of them. His second wicket induced some cringeworthy petulance from the batsman who was adjudged LBW and had to be guided off by both captains. The batter received boos from those watching as he shuffled back to the pavilion.
Selkirk had a few good chances missed as the ball found the gaps behind the wicket but catching in the outfield delivered Paterson’s last two wickets as Greg Fenton and then Rory Banks both took high catches running in to mid-wicket and point respectively.
The visitors looked tidy with the bat all the way down the order and had pushed past 100 just after drinks. Ultimately they ran out of the wickets they needed to get there as Banks (2-24) and David Gardiner took wickets in consecutive overs from the bottom end to bowl out their opponents for 115 runs.
Selkirk have a Sunday fixture next week with a trip to Royal High Corstorphine, 12pm start.