victory at last for marress men

IRVINE Cricket Club Irvine put their horror start to the season behind them on Saturday with a terrific win in a close game against old rivals Glasgow High in a Brunton Miller Western Union Division One match at Maress.
The Marress Men batted first on a good wicket but were not helped by the lush and Irvine seemed set for another poor result as the experiment of opening the batting with Euan Morrison failed to work and he was quickly followed to the pavilion by his more experienced partner Robbie Stewart.
However Kiwi rugby star Mark Hughes combined with Scottish international and player coach Drew Parsons to provide some progress before Parsons lost concentration and was comprehensively bowled.
Hughes, however, was unfazed and continued his progress in tandem with old stager Graham Owens, as he went on to make his first half century for the club.
With the score on 112 Hughes became the first victim of some highly erratic umpiring when he was given out LBW after making contact with bat rather than pad to a ball which was clearly missing the stumps in any case. It was a cruel end to what was a fine innings of 59 made in difficult circumstances and was to prove the highest score of the match by some way.
Owens left no room for ambiguity in his dismissal when he departed following a skied catch in the outfield and that was the signal for yet another familiar Irvine batting collapse.
However it has to be said on this occasion that the home side were not helped by some more questionable decisions from the match officials.
Ultimately Irvine were disappointed to finish on 134 all out but the general feeling among the players was that if they bowled and fielded well they were still in with a chance of winning the match.
And that’s the way it turned out as Parsons and Morrison bowled with great control from the start, with Morrison making the first breakthrough before wily campaigner Derek Neil pitched in with a vital second wicket.
Hughes kept the pressure up with an accurate spell of bowling while Parsons made three vital contributions with the ball. First, in a spell of slow bowling, he accounted for the opposition professional before following up with a piece of inspired fielding to pick up and throw down the wickets with only a single stump to aim at and account for another dangerous opposition batsman.
Hughes then finished his bowling spell with another vital wicket to turn the game on its head.
Morrison and Hughes then bowled to the finish and, with the help of catches from Parsons and captain Stuart McCallum, brought Irvine to the brink of victory with the opposition nine wickets down for 121 runs.
And fittingly it was Hughes who sealed victory, comprehensively bowling the final batter and just managing to sneak a deserved man of the match award from Parsons, whose influence on and off the field is growing with each match and training session.

"This was our first victory and the first time we had a full strength side out this season,” said a delighted McCallum.
“However the strength in depth of the squad will certainly be tested on Saturday next week when Irvine travel to East Kilbride, as much of our rugby-playing contingent will be attending a teammates’ wedding.”

However their absence opens up an opportunity for some of the 2nd XI who recorded an away victory at Glasgow High with Chaitanya Mudunuri starring with both bat and ball — taking seven wickets before going on to score 30 runs and assist skipper Mike Ingram to secure an impressive win.


Irvine Cricket Club are always looking for new players who are keen to try the game and those with some experience who want to return to play.
Training is at 6.30pm on Tuesday and Thursday nights at Marress and juniors in particular are encouraged to come down on the Tuesday.