by Jim Stark

BATSMAN Dan Pearson produced a memorable display at the weekend as he recorded what's believed to be one of the highest scores seen at McKane Park from an amateur batsman.

Dunfermline and Carnegie seconds were on form with their teenage middler order batsman Pearson hitting an unbeaten 173 against Edinburgh South's third XI in Division 7.

His partnership of 150-plus with Johnny Hutton turned a poor start of eight for 3 into a fantastic score of 281.

The visitors were under pressure from the start trying to maintain an average of seven an over and Brian Brown was on a hat-trick, but after getting three LBW decisions, bowled his hat-rick ball down the leg-side.

Spinner David Cooper took four for four as the visitors collapsed to a 210-run defeat.

Dunfermline and Carnegie 2nds: (20) 281 for 6, (D Pearson 173 not out, J Hutton 65).

Edinburgh South 3rd XI: (3) 71, (D Cooper 4 for 4, B Brown 4 for 11).

Dunfermline and Carnegie's senior side also continued their fine form with a third win from three on Saturday.

The result over Melrose leaves the McKane Park team tied at the top of East League Division 3 with Hawick and Wilton, as well as Selkirk.

All three teams have recorded a 100 per cent record so far this season.

On being asked to bat by Melrose, Dunfermline and Carnegie (DCCC) made a good start with skipper Martin Honeyford making a positive contribution with Geet Yousuf.

Player-coach Steve Rowley then picked up the pace and passed his half-century.

With Vasu Reddy batting aggressively, the score rattled past 150 and then some late hitting saw a total of 194 posted by the West Fifers.

Melrose found it hard to get quick runs on the board against good bowling from Yasser Arfat and James Honeyford and although wickets were hard to come by regularly, the score fell well behind the necessary five an over.

The introduction of Rowley and Reddy to the DCCC attack strangled the run rate and the remainder of the visiting bowlers ensured that Melrose finished 50 short of their target.

Honeyford was delighted with another 20-point visit to the Borders: “We batted well and a total of 194 was always going to be hard to get. We now have an important home game with Haddington this Saturday to look forward to."

Dunfermline and Carnegie: (20) 194 for 4 (V Reddy 58 not out, S Rowley 55, M Honeyford 27, A Yousuf 26).

Melrose: (6) 143 for 7 (J Loftus 43, V Reddy 4 for 16, Y Arfat 2 for 18).

Success at the weekend was also tasted by Broomhall, who collected 20 points from their trip to Edinburgh.

They met Royal High/Corstorphine's third XI in Division 4 and the hosts struggled with being asked to bat but it took a fine spell from Chris Hoefling to clean out the home batting for less than 100.

He took four wickets for only eight runs and Thomas Lucas collected three as the hosts were dismissed in only 24 overs.

Broomhall replied solidly through father-and-son opening pair Phil and Ieuan Ward, and the visitors lost only one wicket in achieving their target.

Royal High/Corstorphine 3rd XI: (2) 80 (K Azam 34 not out, C Hoefling 4 for 8, T Lucas 3 for 22).

Broomhall: (20) 81 for 1 (I Ward 45 not out, P Ward 25).