1st XI continue in good form

Cricket
Langholm 1st XI 143 for 3 beat Keswick 2nds XI
141 for 9
FOR THE second week in a row, Langholm 1st XI cricket team put in a good run to continue their good form with a seven wicket victory over Keswick 2nds.
Captain Nicky Piszczykiewicz won the toss and elected to bowl on what looked like a hard wicket.
Fielding in the heat Langholm started well with only nine men on the field for the first 10 overs. Openers Tony Steele and Stevie Johnstone kept it tight early on, with Steele striking in the seventh over to remove Keswick skipper Cameron caught behind by wicket keeper Gregor Park for six with the score on 15.
In the next over Spex bowled North with a slower ball for one. This brought Craighill in to join the opener Clark and they began some stubborn resistance.
The late-arriving Andrew Paisley replaced Steele at one end and bowled well for no reward, as Johnstone continued to keep it tight at the other end bowling four maidens in his 10-over spell.
It wasn’t until the 22nd over when Bailey Donaldson got a breakthrough, getting Clark caught by Stewart in the covers for 23 and Keswick on 52. Donaldson picked up the next wicket in the 26th over as Craighill was caught by Elliott for19.
The next partnership frustrated Langholm as Link and Webster began to accelerate the score putting on 40 runs before Link was bowled by Jack Pool, top-scoring on 34.
With Keswick now on 105, Pool struck again by removing D’Leny for one. Keswick continued to accelerate with Langholm tiring in the field and Webster took advantage with some smart running and a few big hits moving the score to 133 before being bowled by Pool for 22 in the penultimate over.
Deep
In the final over Donaldson struck twice with Steele catching Turnbull in the deep for 6 and then bowling Richardson with the final ball of the innings for 1.
Keswick finished with a testing total of 141-9. Langholm felt they were unlucky in the heat not to restrict them for more with the bowlers finishing with Donaldson 4-46 from 10 overs, Pool 3-27 from 6 and the economical opening pair of Steele and Johnstone 1-16 from 7 and 1-14 from 10 respectively.
Ballooned
Langholm started well despite an early scare with James Price being dropped on his first ball after his edge behind ballooned off the Keswick wicket keeper’s shoulder. But the opening pair of Duncan Elliott and Price scored quickly getting to 41 from the first 10 overs and surviving a few close run out attempts.
As the rain started to fall the score went to 62 in the 14th over before Price fell to one that kept low from Clark scoring 24.
Steele joined Dunc at the crease and continued to build the score at a good rate with the opener Elliott surviving more than once being dropped in the deep. Helping the score to 119 Steele fell in the 27th over stumped off the bowling of Turnbull for 14.
The next over Elliott was caught behind sharply by D’Leny off the bowling of the youngster Loan, hitting a half-century and finishing on 72. Gregor Park then joined skipper Nicky P at the crease and they looked to finish the game quickly getting the last 20 runs from 2 overs.
Langholm finished 143-3 from 29.3 overs with Park not out on 18 and Piszczykiewicz 5.
After a tiring fielding session with Donaldson getting his second four wicket haul in two games, Langholm put on a good chase with Elliott to the fore scoring a brilliant 72 to move three points from the top of the league despite having played two fewer games.