by Jim Stark

DUNFERMLINE and Carnegie Cricket Club are on the verge of achieving a "dream" of clinching promotion and the East of Scotland Cricket Association title.

The McKane Park side are set to make the step up to Division Two next year after Saturday's win over Murrayfield DAFS Seconds saw them record their 12th victory from as many games.

And, with second-top Hawick and Wilton, and third-placed Selkirk, both losing, the result has all-but clinched top spot for Dunfermline and Carnegie, whose second team could also be promoted this weekend from Division Seven.

Nine points is all that is required to win the league, and club president Martin Honeyford said: "It's such an achievement. It was our dream at the start of the season to get up another division and the squad has responded superbly with a string of impressive performances.

"Like in most games this season, we batted, bowled and fielded well, and deserved the win.

"To be unbeaten – it's just unreal. Things are going quite well at the club you could say, to understate it completely!

"The ones are not even half the story; the twos can get promotion this weekend. When you consider where we were, what we've done, where we're hopefully going – Division Six is going to be absolutely unbelievable for them.

"Considering the calibre of players sometimes that are out there, and that there's been kids playing, it really is something to behold watching them."

On Saturday, the visitors won the toss and elected to bat, scoring 40 runs before their first wicket fell.

However, the introduction of player-coach Steve Rowley and Yaser Arfat to the attack saw the Murrayfield DAFS innings begin to lose momentum as wickets began to tumble.

A stand of 30 for the eighth wicket gave them a total of 148 in their 40 overs but a strong start from Dunfermline and Carnegie in the shape of Arfan Yousuf and Geet Grover saw the scoreboard tick along at six per over.

Even when they were dismissed, Honeyford and Vasu Reddy kept the momentum going and, although the former was caught in the deep to slow things down, a partnership of 40 between Reddy and skipper Bruce Callan saw the hosts over the line to ensure their 12th successive win.

The team completes their home programme on Saturday with a match against Holy Cross, before which the Tom Gibson memorial scoreboard will be unveiled officially in memory of the club's former president, who died in 2020.

Murrayfield/DAFS Second XI (6) 148, (R Monnapillai 45, M Akerkar 24, S Rowley 3 for 15, Y Arfat 2 for 17, J Honeyford 2 for 38).

Dunfermline and Carnegie (20) 149 for 4, (V Reddy 41 not out, A Yousuf 29, G Grover 22, M Honeyford 22, V Tyagi 2 for 9, G Mitchell 2 for 45).

Dunfermline and Carnegie second XI kept up their promotion challenge in Division Seven by winning by six wickets against Stewarts/Melville fourth XI in Edinburgh.

On being asked to bat, Dunfermline and Carnegie saw an outstanding contribution from Johnny Hutton in the shape of a well put together 74.

With David Miller and James Spreng also scoring well, a total of 167 was a good one on the artificial pitch.

Stewarts/Melville made a good start to their innings but the arrival of Gareth Coles into the visiting attack saw wickets start to tumble, and he went on to take six as the hosts fell well short of their target.

Dunfermline and Carnegie seconds (20) 167, (J Hutton 74, D Miller 34 not out, J Spreng 24).

Stewarts/Melville fourth XI (8) 117, (J Thomas 25, G Coles 6 for 25, D Wood 2 for 10).

Broomhall collected 20 Division 4 points without playing when Dunnikier second XI conceded the match scheduled for Kirkcaldy on Saturday and they stay well-placed in third spot with two games to play.