Dumfries inflict second successive heavy defeat on 1st XI

Dumfries v Greenock 1st XI
Western Premiership Two
Saturday 9th May 2026

Dumfries 244   M Cubbon 99, C Bellwood 46
Greenock 1st XI 111   CS Pandher 36; C Brockwell 5 for 27

Greenock 1st XI (0 pts) lost to Dumfries (25 pts) by 133 runs

Scorecard

The 1st XI made the long trip to Dumfries for their Western Premiership Two league match and for the second successive Saturday were soundly beaten.

Dumfries won the toss and elected to bat. But it was the visitors who made their mark on the match first. With just nine runs on the scoreboard, opening bat Stuart Corbett-Byers was bowled by left arm pace bowler Fahim Dinarkheil.

However, it was to prove a false dawn for Greenock as the in-form Munro Cubbon and former Greenock player, Chris Bellwood, quickly got the home team steadied. And it took until the fourth ball of the 23rd over before the second wicket was gained, by which time Cubbin and Bellwood had crafted a century partnership.

The wicket to fall was that of Bellwood with the score on 110. He was caught by Mubi Ahmadzai for 46 runs off the bowling of Nikhil Kadyan who had only just been brought on to bowl.

And a further change of bowling led to the fall of the third wicket when new batter Lachlan Friend provided a return catch to Chirag Pandher with the score on 127.

But a partnership of 53 runs from Cubbon and Max Corbett-Byers put Dumfries into a very commanding position. It ended when the younger Corbett-Byers was out for 27 caught by Fahim Dinarkheil off the bowling of Toby Matthews. 180 for 3 wickets.

With nine overs of the innings remaining, and Cubbon still at the crease, the Dumfries batters looked to put the match out of reach of Greenock.

As more runs were being chased, opener Munro Cubbon (99) made an uncharacteristic mistake and was out, caught by wicket-keeper Adam McGuirk off the bowling of Dinarkheil in the first over of his second spell. Cubbon was just one run short of a deserved century.

Cubbon's removal left Dumfries on 203 for 5 in the 44th over. The score moved on to 244 all out, with the last ball of the 50th over yielding the wicket of last man, Scott Beveridge, LBW to Chirag Pandher.

After a long afternoon in the field, Dinarkheil, Matthews and Pandher each finished with two wickets apiece.

The 1st XI's reply failed to get off to the start needed to give the team the solid base from which to challenge the Dumfries total. In just the sixth over with 24 runs on the scoreboard, Adam McGuirk fell victim to opening bowler Nairn Cubbon when he was caught by Chris Brockwell for 13.

And two runs later, team captain Aryan Sanghera became Cubbon's second wicket of the innings when he was clean bowled for 7 runs.

A second mini-partnership of 24 runs between Shailesh Prabhu and Toby Matthews briefly stabilised the innings. However, when Prabhu (12) was caught by Bellwood off the bowling of Munro Cubbon, the middle order completely collapsed as five wickets were lost with just three runs added to the score to leave the team on 56 for 7.

Chirag Pandher, batting at number 8, with an innings of 36 runs helped to take the score into three figures. But when he was last batter out, caught and bowled by Chris Brockwell at the end of the 28th over, the final score was 111.

The 1st XI's batting was once again a disappointment and being all out after 28 overs meant that 22 overs remained unused.

Chris Brockwell with 5 wickets for 27 runs from 9 overs was the home team's most successful bowler.

With only two matches played out of the 18 league fixtures due to be contested, there is a long way to go in the season. And while the local side will know that it is early days in the season, they will be hoping that one good win will make a big difference to the team's form.