Tenth loss of season leaves Selkirk’s cricketers facing relegation battle

The basement-side Souters’ last two games of this term, both at home at Philiphaugh, are against the two teams immediately above them in the table – Falkirk’s eighth-placed Westquarter and Redding this coming Saturday and Edinburgh’s second-from-bottom Marchmont seconds seven days later.

Saturday’s 92-run round-16 defeat in West Lothian drags Selkirk’s points-won percentage down from 55 to 53, with Marchmont’s second string down from 56 to 55 after losing by eight wickets away to Westquarter at the weekend and their hosts up from 60 to 62.

Gridlocks around Edinburgh led to the start of Selkirk’s match against Livingston’s seconds being delayed, and when play did eventually start at Bankton Mains East, it proved to be mostly one-way traffic, with the hosts, put in to bat after losing the toss, racking up 240-5 in their 40-over innings.

Both Akmal Rana, with 59, and Muhammad Khalid, on 54 not out, hit half-centuries, with opener Ahmad Bilal contributing 33.

Selkirk’s wicket-takers were Shaun Wilkinson with 2-52, David Gardiner with 1-32, captain Daniel Heard with 1-48 and Ewan Torrance on 1-58.

Having to score at a rate of six an over was always going to be a big ask for the under-strength visitors, but opener Greg Fenton hitting 71 meant that, at the halfway stage, Selkirk were still very much in the game at 110-2.

Disaster then struck, however, when play resumed following the 20-over drinks break. Fenton was caught off the very first ball of the second session, leading to a lower-order batting collapse which saw the visitors bowled out for 148.

The only other Selkirk batters to reach double figures were Wilkinson with 19, Mikael Badenhorst with 13 and Torrance with 11.

Rana, on 4-22, was Livingston’s top bowler, followed by Abhinav Singhla with 2-12.

At the other end of the third division table, second-placed Hawick and Wilton’s scheduled Sunday game away to Tranent and Preston Village’s seconds in East Lothian was cancelled due to heavy rain.

Hawick are at third-placed Boroughmuir this Saturday and they go into that Edinburgh away-day with a points-won rate of 74%, 6% better that that of their hosts.

Three divisions up, Gala lost their third-last ESCA championship fixture of 2026 by a single wicket hosting Edinburgh’s Drummond Trinity on Saturday.

The Meigle Park club won the toss, opted to bat and set a target of 204 for nine in 50 overs, with Ben Potgieter top-scoring on 65 and Eddie Eyre not far behind on 53.

Captain Uday Kuchadi was the pick of the visiting bowlers with figures of four for 30, backed up by Somu Sikarwar with 3-10.

Ashrith Darapureddy was their best batsman, hitting 74 off 80 balls, including a dozen fours, as they made 205-9 in 46 overs.

Bailey Paterson matched Kuchadi’s four-wicket haul but at a cost of 37 runs, with Cullen Haley, on 2-11, being Gala’s only other bowler to take more than a single wicket.

That ninth defeat of the season, 16 rounds in, leaves Gala second from bottom of the table with a points-won rate of 54%, 33% better off than Heriot’s seconds below them, their next league opponents this Saturday on the road.

Ahead of that, they host Selkirk this Thursday for 2026’s Border T20 Cup final.

Kelso also lost out on Saturday, by six wickets away to Royal High Corstorphine’s thirds in the capital in division two.

Put in to bat after losing the toss, they set a target of 214-10 in 35 overs, with Kenneth Keddie top-scoring on 56.

Facing them, Himmat Sultani and Ahmad Rahimi took three wickets each, for 43 runs and 39 respectively.

Muhammad Siddique and Mohammad Hamdard hit 82 and 61, both not out, in reply as the hosts overtook Kelso’s total in 37 overs, scoring 219-4.

Callum Pollhammer was the only visiting bowler to take more than one wicket, managing 2-48.

Bottom-of-the-table Kelso host Carlton’s second-bottom thirds this Saturday and they go into that penultimate fixture of the season with a points-won percentage of 45, 6% behind the visiting Edinburgh outfit.