1st XI register exciting win at Stirling

Stirling County v Greenock 1st XI
Western Premiership Two
Saturday 30th May 2026

Stirling County 207   E Bunn 63, B Carnegie 45; F Dinarkheil 3 for 40
Greenock 1st XI 190 for 9   A McGuirk 64, TA Matthews 38; S Talukder 4 for 40

Greenock 1st XI (25 pts) defeated Stirling County (9 pts) by 1 wicket (DLS Par score was 187 in 40 overs)

Scorecard

The 1st XI gained a hugely important league victory against Stirling County at New Williamfield on Saturday, to make it two wins from five matches played, and hoisted themselves up to joint sixth position in the Premiership Two league.

A number of rain interruptions meant that the Duckworth Lewis Stern (DLS) method had to be introduced to help determine the result. And it led to a very exciting finish with the team gaining the win by just one wicket and with only eleven balls of the match remaining.

After the recent glorious spell of warm and sunny weather, Saturday dawned with a forecast of rain showers predicted to punctuate the day, and so it proved.

Captain Aryan Sanghera won the toss and inserted County with the knowledge that any rain interruptions would see DLS being involved and so giving his side the advantage of knowing their target. It was an important toss to have won.

The Glenparkers opened their bowling attack with left arm pace from Fahim Dinarkheil and right arm medium pace from Jack Matthews and gained an early breakthrough when opening bat Andy Carswell was bowled by Dinarkheil for 12 runs with the last ball of the fifth over.

A bowling change at the start of the eighth over brought a second wicket when new bowler Greg McDougall captured the wicket of Graham Taylor with just his second ball. Score 36 for 2.

Stirling then rallied and a partnership between Bryce Carnegie and Elliot Bunn added 51 runs before Stirling captain Carnegie was caught by Toby Matthews off the bowling of Nikhil Kadyan for 45.

The Carnegie Bunn partnership was County's best in the innings as following Carnegie's dismissal, although runs continued to be scored, wickets also tumbled regularly.

Bunn top scored with 63, while the only other scores of note came from Zach Coffee (26) and Vipul Ramtake 18 not out. The innings ended early in the 47th over when Ali Mubarak was last man out with the score on 206.

Opening bowler Fahim Dinarkheil was the leading wicket-taker with 3 for 40 from 8.1 overs. Greg McDougall, Nikhil Kadyan and Toby Matthews each picked up two wickets.

After the tea interval, the team set about the task of scoring over 200 runs to overtake Stirling's total. Rain delays, however, led to the introduction of DLS, and eventually the target required became 188 from just 40 overs.

Initially, the reply did not go well as Nikhil Kadyan was caught behind the wicket by Graham Taylor with only 11 runs on the scoreboard. But then a 48 run partnership between Usman Mansoor and Toby Matthews got the innings back on track.

However, the wicket of Mansoor (13) in the 13th over was quickly followed by Matthews (38) in the 14th over and Greenock were three wickets down for 63 runs. Four further wickets fell as the Glenparkers slipped to 109 for 7 after 25 overs had been bowled.

The DLS target for Greenock to reach to win was then climbing towards 188 and seemed a long way off. But a 36 run partnership between Adam McGuirk and Jack Matthews took Greenock to 145 before Matthews (22) became the 8th wicket to fall.

McGuirk was the key player now as the target was in sight. But his innings of 64 runs, which included five sixes and a boundary, ended with the team tantalisingly close to the winning line. He was caught off the bowling of Carnegie with just 12 runs needed and, with his dismissal, just one wicket left.

In an exciting finale, Greg McDougall (12 not out) and Fahim Dinarkheil (5 not out) held their nerve and batted confidently to take Greenock to a deserved and important win with Dinarkheil hitting the winning boundary with just eleven balls remaining.

Sudip Talukder with 4 wickets for 40 runs from 8 overs was Stirling County's top bowler.