A MAGNIFICENT innings by all-rounder Muhammad Shafiq guided Dunfermline and Carnegie to an East of Scotland Cricket Association (ESCA) League Division Two victory over Edinburgh Accies second XI, in a thrilling finish at McKane Park on Saturday.
Chasing 175 to win, the home team made a good start to their run chase, with George Olney hitting a speedy 28, but wickets started to fall.
Anthony Xavier steadied the ship with a good knock of 24, but when he was run out, the Fifers still needed 55 runs with four wickets in hand.
Shafiq started accumulating runs and then stepped up the pace, but the loss of more wickets set up a tight end to the game, and it was a 42 run partnership with Haider Sultan which took them to within 14 of the finishing line.
Shafiq kept his nerve and got the winning run with eight balls to spare.
Earlier, Accies had managed to recover from an indifferent start, under pressure from Yaser Arfat, who kept a tight grip on the run rate, but a fine innings by Chandan Gowda, who hit a half century, took them to the challenging total of 174.
The win, their third in six starts, moved Dunfermline and Carnegie into fifth top spot in the Division Two table.
Edinburgh Accies second XI (9) 174 for 6, C Gowda 50, T Bannerjee 28, A Khude 25, Y Arfat 2 for 25.
Dunfermline and Carnegie first XI (20) 175 for 8, M Shafiq 68 not out, G Olney 28, A Xavier 24, H Tatla for 24.
On Sunday, Dunfermline and Carnegie second XI strengthened their Division Five promotion challenge by making it six successive wins in beating Drummond Trinity fourth XI at McKane Park.
On batting first, the visitors started strongly, with opening batsman Yugendhar Gubbala scoring freely, but he was the only one to really look at home and a four-wicket haul from Kalman Kallamadi, including the opener, saw them collapse to 137.
A fine unbeaten half century by Dylan Wood saw the hosts well on their way to success, and his partnership with Shakeel Shakoor saw them over the line to book second place in the table.
Drummond Trinity fourth XI (6) 137, Y Gubbala 81, K Kallamadi 4 for 18, V Reddy 3 for16.
Dunfermline and Carnegie second XI (20) 140 for 4, D Wood 51 not out, S Shakoor 46.
Dunfermline and Carnegie third XI lost by six wickets to Westquarter second XI at Falkirk on Saturday in a Division Eight match.
A good innings by Finlay Lovell helped the visitors recover from the awkward position of 44 for six, and with the assistance of Dejesh Deenadayalan, took the total to a respectable 109.
However, Westquarter got to their target thanks to the efforts of the O’Growney brothers, Bob and Paddy.
Dunfermline and Carnegie third XI (5) 109, F Lovell 25 not out, D Deenadayalan 21, N Hussain 4 for 33, S Omarzai 3 for 8.
Westquarter second XI (20) 112 for 4 (20) P O’Growney 48 not out, B O’Growney 21, J Parsonage 2 for 19.
Meanwhile, Broomhall made it back-to-back Strathmore and Perthshire Cricket Union (SPCU) Division Two wins on Saturday with a convincing home success over Dundee HSFP second XI.
On batting first, at The Cairns, Broomhall did so soundly, but a good spell from Dundee’s Ahad Irfan posed issues for the home side, and it took an aggressive innings from Calum Breen to take them to a good total.
Excellent spells from Ieuan Ward and Scott Lucas saw the Dundee innings never really get going, and they ended up well short of their target.
Broomhall (20) 153 for 6, C Breen 38 not out, N Ramsay 28, I Ward 26, E Breen 26, A Irfan 4 for21.
Dundee HSFP (5) 96, L Bolt 21, A Irfan 21 not out, S Lucas 4 for 8, I Ward 3 for 12.
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