Gala Sunday XI continued their positive start to the season after a nail biting win away to Stewarts Melville Development Team at Inverleith on Sunday.

Winning the toss, Finlay Rutherford elected to bat but Gala got off to a poor start losing John Imray (7) and Jack Halls (3) early to some good bowling from the home sides youngsters. However a fantastic partnership from Jamie Crooks and Jamie Bell began to put Gala into a strong position. The lair were running well between the wickets and putting good pressure on the home sides bowling. Bell (29), was eventually dismissed after being caught but will be pleased to continue his fine form with the bat. Crooks continued playing a flurry of shots and found the boundary regularly. He ended up retiring after completing a well made half century. The Gala innings was then finished off by Seb Loumeau (16*) and Kieran Toor (6*) who took the Gala score up to 124 for 5 from their 25 overs.

In reply, Stew Mel also got off to a slow start as Liam Skeldon removed opener Thomas early. An excellent partnership then took place however between the home side’s Cain (50*) and Murray (46). The pair played very calm and controlled innings’ that looked to be taking the game away from Gala. However, it was the introduction of John Imray into the bowling attack that changed the game for Gala. The youngster ended up taking the next 3 wickets for the loss of only 7 runs in 3 overs, including that of Murray. After Cain retired following an excellent half century, Gala bowled tightly and Liam Skeldon held his nerve bowling the final over to ensure Gala got home by 10 runs.

Gala Innings

J.Halls ct S.Kerr b F.Percy-Robb 3

J.Imray b F.Percy-Robb 7

J.Bell ct C.Devine b J.Thomas 29

J.Crooks retired not out 51

S.Loumeau not out 16

R.Paterson b C.Wardlaw 2

K.Toor not out 6

Extras – 10

Gala Sunday XI 124 for 4 from 25 overs.

Stewarts Melville Dev Team Bowling

G.Wardlaw 4-0-21-0

F.Percy-Robb 4-0-18-2

J.Cain 4-0-19-0

J.Thomas 6-0-25-1

R.Kapoor 2-0-11-0

C.Wardlaw 3-0-13-1

M.Kerr 2-0-14-0

Stewarts Melville Dev Team Innings

J.Thomas b L.Skeldon 1

J.Cain retired not out 50

H.Murray c+b J.Imray 46

J.Jarvis b J.Imray 0

C.Devine b J.Imray 2

S.Kerr b L.Skeldon 1

C.Wardlaw run out 1

M.Kerr not out 0

G.Wardlaw not out 0

Extras – 9

Stewarts Melville 114 for 6 from 25 overs.

Gala Sunday XI Bowling

L.Skeldon 5-2-8-2

A.Sujan 5-0-25-0

J.Crooks 5-0-18-0

S.Loumeau 4-0-20-0

J.Halls 3-0-23-0

J.Imray 3-0-7-3