INVERCLYDE gained their most comfortable victory of the season on Saturday in this WDCU Championship league game played at Gourock Park.

Captain Dave Cooke won the toss and decided to bowl first in an attempt to win the match before the forecast heavy rain appeared. Initially this seemed to have backfired as Bute raced to 32 after five overs, with Harding batting well, but Scott Campbell achieved the important breakthrough when Millar mistimed his off drive and Tommy McDade held the catch at mid-off. After struggling in his opening overs, David Bruce then changed the game with a fine spell of medium-paced bowling. He trapped Bute skipper Stodart leg before with a fine ball that cut back off the seam, then Scott Campbell held a fine one-handed catch low down at short cover, and another good ball accounted for the dangerous Peacock. Inverclyde were now on top with Bute on 50 for four, but Harding was still batting well until Bruce deceived him with the low full toss to be bowled for 46. Bruce and Paul Singh then cleaned up the tail end and Bute were bowled out for 68 in the 19th over, with Bruce finishing with career-best figures of five for 30 in nine overs.

Inverclyde’s opening batsmen Dave Cooke and Douglas Pilkington then had a solid opening partnership, offering no chances, although had to remain aware of the deteriorating weather conditions, and Cooke scored the winning runs with a pull to the square leg boundary in the 19th over, just before the heavy rain started.

The victory moves Inverclyde up to third equal spot in the league with 10 games played. There is now a two-week break in the WDCU fixture list due to the Commonwealth Games, with the next league match being an away game at Alps on 9 August.

The match was sponsored by Prodream Sports USA.