After passing mile upon mile of forest, the road finally opened out into the village of Gatehouse and the way was found to the picturesque cricket ground, which was wet and getting wetted further.
The players were made very welcome by the team me
mbers and were offered hot drinks and cakes upon their arrival as the ground was surveyed and the possibility of play discussed.
After only a short while, there was a break in the weather and play was began with Bute batting first, having lost the toss.
With only 35 minutes of play gone there were 5 Bute batsmen back in the pavilion and only 24 runs on the board.
There were 2 partnerships in the innings which were to give Bute's total some respectability, the first one came next with the combination of Richard Harding and David Reid. David playing only his third league innings so far this season, was to show what a good batsman he still is, with his judgement of what deliveries to play at and what to leave alone and was Bute's highest scorer with 36. His partnership with Richard was worth 55 in 16 overs and really settled the middle part of the innings down. Neither player looked troubled by the bowling and even refused the offer from the umpires to come off the field when there was a torrential downpour lasting 15 minutes.
Unfortunately both players got out within 5 minutes of each other, Harding for 25, with the total on 87 for 8.
This sort of total was never going to be enough to defend, and the 9th wicket partnership between Gary Dickinson and Francois Lintermans had to try and get what they could from the situation.
By pushing the ball around and putting pressure on the fielders with some quick running between the wickets, the pair put on 39 runs in 13 overs in the latter part of the innings and the team got to some sort of respectability with the final score at 132 all out. Dickinson with 19 and Lintermans with 16.
With the weather improving all the time, Bute went out onto the field with the sun on their backs, but knowing that the game could go either way and could be won by a standout performer or performance from either side.
Brothers Mark and Guy Crichton opened the bowling and kept the batsmen quiet, Gatehouse not looking like they were pushing for the win, but playing sensibly at the halfway stage were well placed to challenge the total at 56 for 2.
Gatehouses first team player was batting well and looking like he could take the game away from Bute, especially after a couple of ill-directed overs at him, but Harding, who was keeping the batsmen tied down and looking back to his best again, induced him to edge the ball to 4th slip where a tumbling, grappling Barnsley managed to keep hold of the ball and Bradley was on his way back to the pavilion for 36.
With the Crichton brothers back on again and bowling quickly, the pressure was building on the batsmen and as wickets and the scoring rate fell, Bute were really feeling that the game could be theirs.
It was getting tight though, Gatehouse inching closer to the 50 over mark that would ensure the draw. Guy though had taken out most of the middle and lower order and Mark came back to knock over the last mans leg stump and the game was Bute's with 9 deliveries to spare. Guy finished with figures of 5 for 27 which is the first 5 wicket haul for Bute this season and Mark with 3 for 19.
Bute would like to thank Gatehouse for their hospitality and the good nature the game was played in.
*This week Bute travel to Glasgow to play Windyedge for another WDCU fixture and players should meet for the 10.10am ferry.
