Rain triumphs again as Stirling fixture abandoned

Stirling County v Greenock 1st XI
Western Premiership Two
Saturday 7th June 2025

Stirling County 170 for 5   BA Carnegie 45, M Malik 37*
Greenock 1st XI 

Match abandoned

Scorecard

The 1st XI's journey through to Stirling on Saturday ended just like the previous two Saturdays with 'No Result' being the outcome of the match.

Stirling won the toss and elected to bat first, but were only able to do so after the start of the match was delayed for well over an hour due to heavy morning rain. And, eventually rain was the winner once again, causing the game to be abandoned with Stirling on 170 for 5 after 40 overs.

County's opening two batsmen, Elliott Bunn and Aaron Gairns, gave their side a fine start to the innings with a fifty run partnership as the 1st XI's opening bowlers struggled to find their rhythm with the wet ball and conceded half a dozen boundaries and also a number of wides.

But a double change of bowlers after eleven overs brought the breakthrough they had been seeking. With the last ball of his first over, Nikhil Kadyan trapped Bunn LBW for 24.

Thereafter, the County second wicket partnership continued to bat steadily with number three batter Bryce Carnegie very much the dominant player. His partner, Gairns, became the second wicket to fall when Nikhil Kadyan took a good catch off the bowling of Mo Ahmadzai with the score on 93. He had batted through almost 22 overs for just 13 runs.

Three overs later, Carnegie was bowled by Kadyan for 45 with the score on 109. And then new batsman Euan Smith was caught by Sam Sanghera off the bowling of Ahmadzai with just a further three runs added to the County score.

In-form team captain Manev Malik played what has become a typically fine innings for his side this season, and took Stirling to 170 at the end of the rain reduced innings of 40 overs, with the loss of just one more wicket. Malik was unbeaten on 37.

But, as the innings ended, rain clouds were once again threatening and very soon a deluge of rain fell across the area for an extended period of time leaving the ground unplayable and the match was eventually abandoned by the umpires.

So, for a third consecutive Saturday, the team were unable to complete their Western Premiership Two league match and having completed just three league games, remain in mid-table with just one win. Frustrating !