Published: Thursday, 5th June, 2008 11:40am

Dunfermline Knights warm up for Scottish Saltires clash with two wins

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DUNFERMLINE Knights Cricket Club put the disappointment of last weekend"s defeats behind them with both the first and second XIs winning impressively against Falkland CC and Grange respectively.

After being put into bat, the Knights" first XI batted patiently and with control on a slow pitch up at Falkland.

A steady knock of 48 from wicket keeper batsman Matthew Jones set a platform for former skipper Roger Barnes to crash an impressive 37 not out in the latter overs enabling the Knights to post a competitive total of 202 for 7.

The Knights bowled with great control to restrict Falkland to 140 for 7 in reply from their 50 overs.

Although the winning margin was comfortable, skipper Steve Fryer believed the match was turned when 16-year-old Safyaan Sharif sent down a "magic" ball to clean bowl Falkland"s New Zealand player, Tim Lythe.

The second XI put last week"s poor performance behind them to produce a dominant performance against Grange fourth XI.

After putting the opposition in to bat at McKane Park, the Knights got off to a flyer when Chris Humphreys dismissed the two Grange openers with stunning deliveries to rip the stumps out of the ground on both occasions.

Valuable bowling contributions from Vince Shipley, Shaun Davidson and Jordan Davidson saw Grange dismissed finally for 70 despite courageous knocks from two impressive Grange youngsters, Tom Sole and Michael Prince.

In reply, the Knights" openers Graham Sharp (42no) and Adam Ferguson (20no) saw their side home within 18 overs without the loss of a wicket.

Afterwards, vice-captain Matt Jones said the team wanted to produce a commanding performance and send a message to the other teams in the league.

'A lot of the lads were embarrassed by their own performance last week and the entire team has trained well this week to put it right,' he said.

'Grange caught us in pretty determined mood and despite it appearing a comfortable win on paper, their youngsters made it difficult for us and we had to work hard.'

The seconds are at home to Murrayfield DAFS at at the weekend.

The Knights look set to face a 'particularly strong' Scottish Saltires team tomorrow night (Friday), according to treasurer Tom Gibson. Ryan Watson will captain the Scottish Saltires with Gregor Maiden, Fraser Watts, Graham Rogers, Richard Berrington, Omar Hussain, Kasim Sheikh, Dewald Nel, Gordon Goudie, Simon Smith and Sean Weeranratna also forming part of the squad. T

he Knights include Steve Fryer, Colin Ingram, Gotham Rai, Vassu Reddy, Mushy Beg, Safiann Sharif, Roger Barnes, Yasir Arsat, Sumanth Eadala, Ram Boyapati and Matthew Jones.

The friendly Twenty20 match will be played at McKane Park from 5.30pm.