Lost at Lockerbie

Shipwrecks went down in their first Sulwath Trophy Cup fixture at Lockerbie on Thursday in spite of posting a fair 131 after winning the toss and deciding to bat first.  This was a good toss to win for Skipper McEwan as heavy coastal traffic round the Dumfries bypass meant that many hands were delayed and arrived like flotsam at various stages during the innings.

After Sid Oates and Donald McCuaig were out trying to force the pace, a substantial partnership was established by Mike Service and Geoff Dean, who took the score into the eighties with some good aggressive play.  Both reached the compulsory retirement, Dean with a thumping six to record 29.

Mike Service eyes up a ball from Rogerson

After that point though wickets fell regularly. Davey Fallas was bowled for 11 taking a huge swipe at Stephenson, while Colin Taylor was run out by a sharp throw from third man next ball.  Some forward momentum was continued by Jason Hall, however, with McEwan and Worthington chipping in to take Shipwrecks to 131 - 9.

In tremendous weather with fast outfield conditions, the total was never insurmountable and the absence of leading seaman Derek Rankine meant that the bowling attack was missing its main anchor.

It began well enough when Fallas bowled Crawford in the second over but the improving Naysmith batted impressively with Carpenter - unfortunately only after Carpenter had shaved one to wicketkeeper Mike Lumb and declined the invitation to walk the plank.

Toiling in the heat, it was the Shipwrecks' fielding that ultimately let them down as catches went down, balls were fumbled and run outs missed.  The tiring oldsters were eventually reduced to lumbering around like unmanoeuvrable Spanish galleons as the opposition stole innumerable cheeky runs and only one more wicket fell as Lockerbie romped home with overs to spare.

Shipwrecks Man of the Match was Geoff Dean for his 29 n.o. after a traumatic journey.

Scores: Shipwrecks 131 - 9 (Dean 29 ret., Service 25 ret., Hall 19 n.o., Fallas 11 ; Dawson 2-14) : Lockerbie 132 - 5 (Gracie 27 ret., Naysmith 25 ret., Carpenter 25 ret., A. Veitch 19, D. Veitch 17 n.o.)

Shipwrecks Cruise to Victory

Shipwrecks met St Michael's Cadets (inappropriately sponsored by scrap merchant J. Walker & Son) at Kingholm 1 on Thursday.  For the first time the weather was fine and fair - enough to feel comfortable in the covers without donning a sou'wester.

Home Skipper Geddes won the toss and elected to bat on the artificial, reinforced by the return of professional sailor Rohin Thapar from the East India Company. But the youngsters were soon under heavy seas when Rankine and McEwan bowled Muir and Malik for early ducks. Unlike other pros observed locally, Thapar selflessly refrained from launching every ball over the boundary and hung around encouraging the youngsters to find their sea legs before retiring on 28. Unfortunately just Geddes could respond to the call, playing some nice cuts to starboard in his 25. Only Ryan Geddes and Levi White managed to contribute further runs to the wides allocation.

Howzat?! - Umpire McNay Looks Away

Derek "Shabba" Rankine bowled with commendable accuracy as did Alasdair McEwan, who produced his best spell of the season against the better batting. A notable addition to the fighting force was newcomer Peter Connor, who bowls and also fields at a higher pace than most of the old lags.  Later on Cameron, Taylor amd Hall produced stingy spells to restrict the J Walker & Son innings to 73.

In contrast to the swamp encountered in 2012, the Kingholm outfield is starting to ressemble a golf green, so it was relatively plain sailing for Shipwrecks to overhaul this target - but only after negotiating the impressive opening partnership of Fraser Jack and White, who bowled Service for 3 and accounted for Dean as he looked for a big finish.  After Davey Fallas hat put together a cool 25 retired against his St Michael's coachees, Hall and Taylor steered the Shipwrecks home.

Good news onshore for Shipwrecks is the launch of Bar Milan just downstream of our former haunt, The Ship Inn, which appears to spend a long time in dry dock waiting for a rich buyer.

Scores: J Walker & Sons 73 - 9 (Thapar 28 ret, A. Geddes 25 ret ; Connor 2-10, Rankine 2-21) : Shipwrecks 80 - 3 (Fallas 25 ret, Dean 24, Hall 14 n.o. ; White 2-25). Shipwrecks won by 7 wickets and 7 runs.