22nd May 2004 - Preston Village, Away

As the good weather continued Westquarter made the trip east to the village of Prestonpans to visit bottom club Preston Village. After encountering an uneven surface last year Westquarter were pleased to see an improved wicket for this seasons game.

After winning the toss Westquarter invited Preston Village to bat and immediately started to apply pressure with some tight bowling from Willie Small and Colin Fox. The first wicket fell at 15 in the 9th over but despite a lot of playing and missing Patterson and King managed to put together a fine century partnership. When the score had reached 118 the reintroduction of Colin Fox into the attack saw the end of Patterson and soon after King had his castle knocked over by the bowling of Fox. This sparked a massive collapse with Fox being the main instigator and he was rewarded with a five wicket haul after demolishing Wall's stumps for 1 to leave the home side completing their 50 overs with a score of 139 for 8.

With a fast outfield giving full value for shots played Westquarter started their reply in confident mood and this was maintained despite the early dismissal of Churchill. The score had reached 25 before Rab Sutton was dismissed to bring Small into join Steve Sutton for the second week running. The pair showed they had carried last weeks form with them attacking the bowling at every opportunity and steadily increasing the run rate. With 50 on the board Sutton played on which brought Dave Lister to the crease on his debut for the club and he immediately made an impact stroking 3 boundaries in a short space of time. As the visitors thoughts turned to another victory Small was dismissed with 66 for 3 soon became 67 for 5 with still over 70 runs needed for victory. Dougie Hill showed a return to last years form as he and Dave Lister set about the home attack mixing attacking stroke play with watchful defence the pair added 43 runs before Lister was dismissed for a fine 25.

Thirty runs was now the target and this started to look a distinct possibility as new batsman sixteen year old Craig Sharp hit 3 boundaries in his 15, his highest score for the club, before being dismissed with only 10 runs needed. Dougie Hill made sure he was there at the end and helped see Westquarter complete a three wicket victory.

Details: Preston Village 139 for 8 (6 points) (C Fox 5 - 18) Westquarter 140 for 7 (25 points) (D Hill 28no, D Lister 25, W Small 21, S Sutton 20)