A ruthless display with the ball led by Upul Indrasiri helped Gala to victory over youthful border rivals Kelso on Saturday. The result was Gala’s first league win away at Shedden Park since the Border League era.
Kelso batted first on a cracking looking wicket and got off to a solid start taking 18 from the first 4 overs for the loss of no wicket with openers Davidson and Stubbs looking comfortable. However the first wicket fell for the home side when Dinesh Tharanga bowled Stubbs for 5. This sparked an incredible flurry of wickets as in the next 9 overs Kelso were bowled out, putting on only 17 more runs.
Tharanga went onto claim two more wickets as former Gala player Charis Scott was bowled for a three ball duck before Craig Adams – who has scored many runs against Gala in the past – was trapped LBW following one that stayed low.
It was Upul Indrasiri however that was the stand out performer for Gala. The Sri Lankan pro produced an epic spell bowling 5 overs and taking 6 wickets for the loss of only 1 run (which was a wide). He removed Gibson, Robson, Jackson and Kennedy all for ducks after removing Kelso’s in form Callum Davidson for 16 as Kelso were bowled out for 35 after 13 overs.
Gala wasted no time in their response. Siddhanth Ponneri and Finlay Rutherford opened up with the former in particular looking to take the game to the home sides bowlers. Some good running between the wickets plus some aggressive striking from Ponneri ended the game in the 6th over and secured a second 10 wicket win in two weeks for Gala and the clubs first league win away at Kelso for over 10 years.
We travel to Campbell Park on Saturday to take on Edinburgh CC.
Kelso Innings
C.Davidson LBW U.Indrasiri 16
J.Stubbs bowled D.Tharanga 5
C.Scott b D.Tharanga 0
C.Adams LBW D.Tharanga 0
J.Gibson LBW U.Indrasiri 0
M.Mason b U.Indrasiri 3
G.Ford not out 2
B.Rock LBW U.Indrasiri 0
K.Jackson st J.Crooks b U.Indrasiri 0
K.Kennedy b U.Indrasiri 0
Extras – 10
Total: Kelso 35 all out from 13 overs.
Gala Bowling:
S.Paterson 2-0-12-0
D.Tharanga 6-0-22-3
U.Indrasiri 5-4-1-6
Gala Innings
S.Ponneri not out 25
F.Rutherford not out 13
Extras – 1
Total: Gala 39 for 0 from 5.5 overs.
Kelso Bowling:
C.Adams 3-0-21-0
C.Davidson 2.5-0-17-0