The Dumfries Sunday XI won their match at Kinmount by five wickets on a Sunday which was to be one for the bowlers.

Kinmount batted first and against a youthful opening attack of Fraser Strachan and Matthew Currie found runs were difficult to manufacture. In two fine opening spells, Currie bowled his four overs for zero runs and one wicket and Strachan only conceded extras as he removed the other opener.

The change bowlers did not help the home side cause either as Captain Dave Strachan took two wickets in his first over and Scott Muir two in his first two. So with the number of wickets chasing the number of runs, and the number of overs, it was a case of Ben Flack to the rescue.

His was one of two innings which dominated each innings. As in the previous encounter at Nunholm he shared a partnership, this time for the seventh wicket, with Finlay Flack. Together they restored some semblance of order to the scoreboard until Finlay was caught, by Fraser Strachan, off an even younger Currie, Tom.

Then from the score of 26, Flack (B) found another partner in Arron Richardson for the best partnership of the innings. When Richardson was caught off Lyburn the score was up to nearly seventy. Ben Flack then just missed out on a fifty, 48 not out, as Kinmount finished on 87 for 8 from the thirty five overs after a Lazarus-like recovery. Jack Currie and David Lightfoot also contributed to what was an effective bowling effort from the Nunholm side.

Dumfries lost an early wicket without a run on the board but it was to be the experience of opener Gordon Lyburn that marshalled the response. He and Jack Currie took the score up to 27 when the latter became one of Whitehouse’s two wickets. Two more wickets succumbed before Ronan Dunbar then supported Lyburn for the match winning partnership. Dunbar was the top boundary hitter on a day of few boundaries and when he was out for 18, Dumfries needed eight to win as the rain fell.
That was achieved with, appropriately, Lyburn hitting the winning run for a five wicket win in another competitive encounter between the two sides who between them managed a great contest despite wet conditions.

For Kinmount, Whitehouse finished with two wickets and Bellis, Ben Flack and Chalmers each took one. The Brian Boyes Electrical Dumfries Man of the Match was Gordon Lyburn who top scored with 41 not out and surely for Kinmount it was Ben Flack for his ‘match-making’ innings of 48 not out.

Match Scoreboard: Friendly fixture
Dumfries Sunday XI v Kinmount XI. Away.
Match ball sponsored Brian Boyes Electrical
Kinmount XI 87 for 8 (35 overs)
B Flack 48no; D Strachan 2 for 4, S Muir 2 for 16
Dumfries Sunday XI 88 for 5 (27.1 overs)
G Lyburn 41no; J Whitehouse 2 for 19
Brian Boyes Electrical Dumfries Man of the Match: G Lyburn