Meigle Park played host to the Championship fixture between Gala 1st XI and Linlithgow 1st XI in what was the 9th round of fixtures in the league. Linlithgow would call the toss incorrectly resulted in Irvine electing to bat first on a hard wicket.
A change at the top of the order saw Eyre and Ponneri open for the home side however, after a positive start Ponneri (9) was dismissed after he was set up brilliantly to be bowled by Thomson with the score on 10. Eyre looked to continue his good form with the bat and did just that as he increased the score and got the Border side up to 29 before his partner Rutherford was dragged out of his crease by Hamilton resulting in his wicket as he left the crease without adding to the total. Indrasiri then joined Eyre and the Sri Lankan supported Eyre as they increased the score helping Gala pass the half century mark after 9 overs. Things were looking bright for Gala until Indrasiri was trapped in front after he scored 29 meaning after the 15th over Gala would be 3 down with the score on 72. Khalia fresh off his unbeaten century from the Thursday night joined Eyre as they really took the game to Linlithgow. As the pair accelerated the score the rain came and, on the covers, went. After the delay the pair headed back out and continued where they left off taking the score to 148 before Khalia was caught just shy of his half century. Eyre shortly after brought up his maiden half-century for the club in the league. With Eyre in form, captain Irvine looked to capitalise however with the score on 178 Irvine was then dismissed after being bowled by Wallace. Another rain delay meant an early tea and after the interval Gala headed back out to finish their innings. Unfortunately, for Eyre he was dismissed shortly after heading back out as he made an excellent 71, really showing off his ability with bat in hand. Tharanga joined Rhode and the pair rotated the strike well helping Gala up to 230 after their 50 overs.
Linlithgow started their chase positively as the openers looked to attack the bowling of Khalia and Paterson. Some good spot bowling from the opening Gala bowlers saw them find the edge a numerous amount of times however, balls falling short and a dropped catch in the slips meant Linlithgow were off the hook. The first wicket was taken just after the half century as Khalia bowled a no ball and the free hit resulted in a quite ridiculous run out as an attempted switch hit connected with the ball as the non-striker Clark took off for the single with Black not running and ending up run out, well out of the crease. After this, the Linlithgow floodgates were well and truly open as wickets fell at an alarming rate. Indrasiri proved his worth in an excellent spell as he picked up yet another 5-wicket haul for the club as well as Tharanga bowling for very few runs with Rhode and Khalia picking up 1 wicket each and Crooks gaining the final 2 wickets. With this collapse it saw Linlithgow fall well short of their target being dismissed for 85 runs.
Another good win for Gala at home will boost morale with strong batting performances from Eyre and Khalia as well as the bowling performance as a whole. Plenty of runs were left out for the Gala batters however, as there are always areas to improve on. Next week sees the 1st XI return home on the Gala Day as they host Heriots 2nd XI as we move into the second half of the season.
GALA SCORECARD
S Ponneri b G Thomson 9
E Eyre c C Clark b J Hamilton 71
F Rutherford st C Clark b J Hamilton 0
U Indrasiri lbw A Wallace 29
R Khalia c R Thomson b C Black 47
J Irvine b A Wallace 19
A Rhode not out 22
D Tharanga not out 16
Extras 17
Gala 230 for 6 wickets after 50 overs
LINLITHGOW BOWLING
J Hamilton 8-0-42-2
G Thomson 10-0-59-1
A Wallace 9-1-37-2
C Dixon 4-1-11-0
R Thomson 5-2-16-0
W Nettleton 1-0-7-0
G Raven 7-0-27-0
C Black 6-0-25-1
LINLITHGOW SCORECARD
C Clark lbw R Khalia 20
C Black run out (A Rhode) 28
W Nettleton c J Crooks b A Rhode 2
G Thomson lbw U Indrasiri 4
R Thomson c&b U Indrasiri 0
A Napoli c A Rhode b U Indrasiri 2
A Wallace b U Indrasiri 8
G Raven lbw U Indrasiri 5
C Whitton lbw J Crooks 12
J Hamilton st R Khalia b J Crooks 2
C Dixon not out 4
Extras 8
Linlithgow 85 all out after 29 overs
GALA BOWLING
R Khalia 6-1-20-1
S Paterson 5-0-26-0
D Tharanga 6-3-7-0
U Indrasiri 7-2-12-5
A Rhode 2.1-0-10-1
J Crooks 2.5-0-10-2