A BATTING collapse ruined Dunfermline Knights' hopes of Scottish Cricket Cup glory on Saturday.

And it all added up to a disappointing swansong for skipper Gowtham Rai who announced after the game that he was quitting the club.

The Larbert-based opener is having to leave the area through his job and the weekend saw him take the field for the McKane Parkers for the last time.

Rai won the toss and elected to bat at Lochlands against defending cup holders Uddingston but Knights found the ball darting around on what looked a firm track.

There was also some uneven bounce, as the wet weather of the previous three days meant that the batting conditions were not as easy as many observers thought.

Though a fine recovery, led by Cammy Farrell, took Knights from 51 for six to 151, it was never going to be enough as the wicket improved under a warm sun and strong breeze.

Rai was bitterly disappointed at the problems his batsmen faced. He said, "It turned out to be very difficult out there for a couple of hours but we dug in to get a score to bowl at although it was not enough." He added that he had enjoyed his four years with the club and wished the team every success in the future.

Player/coach Kevin McLaren commented, "Fair play to Uddingston, they took full advantage of the conditions they found and deserved their win on the day." Uddie captain Ricky Bawa and former Scotland bowler Paul Hoffman opened up against Rai and McLaren and in the first few overs there was little sign of the problems which were to follow.

Rai was bowled by one that did not bounce as much as he had thought for a couple and then Wynand Schmitt and Stevie Smidt followed quickly.

McLaren got to 22 before he went and when Amir Shahzad, Safy Sharif and Vasu Reddy departed the scoreboard looked very bleak for Knights at 76 for seven.

Farrell batted with a lot of sense and in partnership with Siva Jayanathan repaired some of the damage.

Their partnership passed 50 in 13 overs and when the Sri Lankan was out for 20 teenager Ben Wilkinson continued the repair job.

Farrell finally fell for 39 and Wilkinson 16 as the innings closed on 151 in 48.2 overs.

Knights knew they needed early wickets and Scotland bowler Sharif posed the Uddingston openers Brian Clarke and Aamir Gul plenty of problems.

They survived though and it was Farrell who had Clarke caught behind before Stevie Smidt removed visiting professional Ras Priyadarshana for 11 and then trapped Gul lbw for 24.

It looked as if the game was back on for the West Fifers but enter Australian overseas amateur Alecz Day who, with Calum McLeod, steadied Uddingston nerves.

They survived some early difficult moments but then suddenly made batting, for the first time in the game, look an easy process as they took the score past 100.

The pair got the run rate up to more than four an over and some aggressive shots by Day virtually ended Knights' hopes. Uddie passed their target with seven wickets and 18 overs to spare.

Dunfermline Knights 151, (C Farrell 39, K McLaren 22, S Jayanathan 20, P Hoffman three for 19, R Priyadarshana three for 21, R Bawa 2 for 22).

Uddingston 152 for three, (A Day 59 not out, C McLeod 35 not out, A Gul 24, S Smidt two for 39).

The teams met again at Bothwell on Sunday in the first of the closing round robin fixtures in the Scottish Premiership.

There were a number of changes in the Knights' ranks but it was Farrell who produced the goods with the bat again this time making a half century out of a total of 120.

Stand-in captain McLaren tried a number of bowling changes in an effort to winkle out some Uddingston batsmen but they managed only three.

The curtain comes down on the campaign this weekend when Dunfermline meet West of Scotland in Glasgow on Saturday and Stoneywood Dyce at McKane Park on Sunday.

Knights 120, (C Farrell 53, R Priyadarshana three for 24, R Bawa three for 28).

Uddingston 121 for three, (R Priyadarshana 41, C McLeod 35 not out).

Dunfermline Carnegie ended up being well beaten in an East League Division Four match with SMRH II at Inverleith on Saturday.

Carnegie made a good start and were on 71 for two at one stage with Murray Callan making 34 but the remainder of the order could not keep up the momentum.

The home side did not find batting that easy but Carnegie failed to pouch three decent chances behind the stumps and that was to have a big say in the final result.

Carnegie (3) 118, (M Callan 34, J Lee 18. SMRH II (20) 119 for two, G Ross one for five, N Walker one for 25).

Knights' thirds lost by 108 runs to Kirkbrae II in an East League Division Eight match at McKane Park on Sunday.

Only Alan Leitch and Scott Lucas really got going in the run chase for Knights and they ended up well short.

Kirkbrae II (20) 225, (T Dodds 58, W Mehdi 41, S Lucas two for 30, D Cooper two for 37).

Knights III (8) 117, (S Lucas 22, A Leitch 20, T Tahir three for 15).