Dominant display all round propels Selkirk to victory

However, the Souters reversed the result thanks to a dominant performance with bat and ball.

The Edinburgh team were sent in to bat first and made very slow progress against the miserly bowling of Greg and Michael Fenton – but wickets were hard to come by.

Opener Baikie (23) rode his luck at times to top score for the visitors but his opening partner only managed to contribute two before being clean-bowled by Michael Fenton.

Rory Banks (1-13) and Kenny Paterson (1-19) were brought in to the attack and continued to frustrate any progress, both also picking up a single wicket for their efforts.

Paterson finally had Baikie caught behind and there was some hope that Selkirk would get through the lower order quickly.

David Gardiner and Daniel Alexander Heard came on to bowl and both took early wickets with John Henderson taking a great diving catch, running forward at point to remove Pasala and give Gardiner his first wicket.

The Murrayfield middle order rallied somewhat to keep Selkirk in the field for almost all of their 40 overs, Donald adding 18 without losing his wicket.

He was, however, culpable for the final wicket run out with three balls remaining of their innings. He’d underestimated the quality of fielding from Brodie Allan, who found Ullah short with a direct hit.

Gardiner (2-16) and Heard (2-17) both finished with two wickets but were outshone by Michael Fenton (3-17), whose pace and accuracy was rewarded with three clean-bowled dismissals.

Having bowled out Selkirk for 84 earlier in the season, the visitors may have given themselves a chance of defending the 88 they totalled this time.

However, this was a different Selkirk team, as it was a different DAFS XI – and the hosts never looked likely to fall short.

A gentle rain had started toward the end of the visitors’ innings and home players were keen to get their innings going.

Harry Murphy (10) was moved up the order to open with the skipper and deselected himself from the duck squad as he edged nervously for his first run in three games.

Feeling more confidence, Murphy pleased the locals with a four smacked to deep mid wicket and was holding up his end well enough, which made his freakish dismissal all the more frustrating.

Attempting to leave a delivery from Mitchell, he managed to divert the ball from his thigh pad on to the underside of his bat and back on to the stumps.

Greg Fenton was setting a relentless pace against a depleted bowling attack and Banks was also looking to waste little time.

However, Mitchell (3-36) was testing technique and patience of the batsmen in equal measure and trapped Fenton (33) in front and tempted Banks (7) with a slow full toss, the Selkirk number three holing out to deep square leg where Krishna Dulipalli juggled but held on.

Due in next, Paterson (8) maybe thought the game would be done without him and had to pad up quickly to join in-form Michael Fenton (28) at the crease.

With the ground becoming slower from the rain, the pair had to work harder for their runs but the quality of shots from both was good and they quickly finished off the job, a victory sealed in 18 overs with a well-placed push through the covers for two.

This weekend, Selkirk travel south to take on the undefeated Hawick & Wilton side.