Souters savour best win of the campaign to date

Greg Fenton, who finished 19 not out - his fifth 'not out' in a row - and took three wickets for Selkirk (picture by Grant Kinghorn).

The hosts, reports Neil Gentleman, won the toss and decided to take the ball.

Fenton and Reid led the attack, combining well to restrict the run rate to one an over in the first dozen overs.

While they shared six maidens, Fenton was the only one to take the reward of two wickets, adding a third in his final over to remove the top three batsmen.

An overheard comment on the boundary from one of the visiting side that their fortunes may change with a change of bowling proved accurate, as things got worse.

Fenton’s figures were bettered by Banks and the resurgent Paterson, who shared seven wickets for the loss of 17 runs, combined to skittle the middle and lower order.

Selkirk’s fielding has seen a significant change in recent weeks and Saturday saw the first fixture this year without a fluffed chance, the flawless Graham taking two sharp catches behind the stumps.

Dunbar finished on 42 and either imagined a quick miracle or an opportunity to get back up the road in time for dinner; taking straight to the field without a break for teas.

An alternative approach to the batting order never crossed captain Fenton’s mind and he strode out to the wicket looking to make short work of a total that took the visitors 25.3 overs to reach.

When Dunbar’s opening bowler pulled a hamstring in his run up for the third ball of the innings, they probably thought it couldn’t get much worse but, 35 balls later, the job was done.

Everett (24) got himself out with the score tied, looking to follow up two thrashed fours earlier in the over with a grandstand finish.

Banks quickly put his pads back on and blocked a couple of balls to see out the over.

Fenton defended the first ball and then hit a clean shot along the ground to cow corner, which took so long to reach the boundary that they had run five by the time the shuffling fielder signalled a four had been scored.

Fenton finished not out on 19 and will hope his form continues for the 20/20 fixture at Gala this evening (Thursday), to be followed by an away match at Haddington on Saturday.