Western Premier Division

Ayr 92 all out

Prestwick 94-5

DEFEAT away to local rivals Prestwick on Saturday has left Ayr struggling for survival in the Western Union.

The hosts completed back-to-back wins this season against their derby rivals as they secured a five-wicket win.

Now they face a grim fight to keep afloat and will have to win their final three games and hope for some slips from third bottom Greenock to stand a chance of staying up.

The visitors won the toss and bowled Ayr all out for 92, never recovering from losing two early wickets in the first three overs.

Veteran bowler Gavin Pitt was the star of the show with 4-30 in a dazzling spell, while Jacob Steber picked up 2-15.

In reply, Prestwick were also in early trouble as opening bowlers Kenroy Peters and Scott McElnea both struck early but Fasail Jawad (41) and Shazad Rafiq (29 not out) steadied the ship and saw the home team to their target as they finished on 94-5 with 20 overs remaining.

Prestwick skipper Rafiq said: "It was a testing wicket after the heavy overnight rain and I was thinking we might be set a target of about 150. But Gavin came back into the teama and took four wickets and we battled well to see the game out. It's great to beat Ayr twice in a season in the league, I don't recall it happening in at least the last five years."

Meanwhile in the reverse fixture the Cambusdoon XI moved out of the bottom two with victory over St.Ninians in the Reserve League. Put into bat they struggled early on as Euen McBeth removed the Cambusdoon top order before Richie Borland (88) with help from youngsters Harry Boyd (28) and Matthew Baines (31no) helped them reach 238-7 in their 50 overs. The St. Ninians reply got off to a solid start before the leg spin of Harry Boyd with three wickets slowed their progress and the home bowlers tightened their grip on the game, restricting them to 214-9 to win by 24 runs.

On Wednesday night rain lead to the postponement of the McCulloch Cup Final against Ferguslie, with the new date looking to be August 15.

This weekend sees Ayr at home to Poloc while the Cambusdoon XI travel to Shawholm.