A resilient Hawick & Wilton team frustrated Selkirk’s bid for a hat-trick of ESCA Division 3 wins when the sides met on Saturday, recording a 74-run victory.
Winning the toss, Selkirk’s skipper Daniel Heard elected to bowl first, and had Hawick quickly in trouble as they lost early wickets to be 29-3 after 10 overs.
However, a dropped catch shortly afterwards turned out to have a significant impact on the match, as Hawick’s top scorer, Harris Brogan, had only faced two balls when the chance went down. The number six batter made full use of this let-off, putting together a swashbuckling innings of 47 runs that included one six and six fours.
In addition Sadiq Shah (31) and Gareth Welsh (25) made telling contributions, before Selkirk quickly polished off the tail-enders to dismiss the home side for 146.
Selkirk had lost the services of their all-rounder Michael Fenton in the 12th over, when he left to be with his partner Kiara, who had been taken to the BGH having gone into labour. His place in the field was filled by young Michael Gillie.
Selkirk’s wicket-takers were Ewan Torrance (4-41), Daniel Heard (2-12), and Liam Skeldon (2-34).
In reply, Selkirk struggled to come near the required run rate against a punishingly accurate Hawick & Wilton bowling attack. Only two of the team’s batters managed to reach double figures – wicket-keeper Rory Banks (16) and David Gardiner (10).
Hawick’s bowlers ended up with an equal share of the wickets – Harris Brogan (2-1), Ryan Johnston (2-5), Sadiq Shah (2-18), Stuart Hair (2-20) and Gareth Welsh (2-22).
This Saturday, August 1st, Selkirk are at home to Holy Cross in an East League Division 3 fixture, while on Sunday 2nd the club will restage its Factory Cup Sixes tournament, planned for 26th July but cancelled because of rain.
Match report by John Smail.