BUTE COUNTY & Cowal Cricket Club made the long trip to Hamilton for their penultimate Western Championship Three league fixture of the season against Mearns Challengers, losing by 64 runsdespiteaspiriteddisplaywith both bat and ball.
Fielding first, the visitors restricted their hosts to a series of singles before cutting loose towards the end of their 40 overs to end on 240 for nine on what was a testing wicket.
Skipper Louis Ware led the way with an impressive five wickets for the loss of 54 with Mark Crichton finishing with four for 42.
Their two Arran-based players, wicket keeper Chris Marriott and Graham Dobson, deserve special mention for their efforts in the field.
Guy Crichton, Chris Goan and Lindsay Towers also put in a decent shift with the ball.
Mearns’ big total proved to be a challenge too far for the Bute side but they started brightly with Ware and Jack Deans forming a superb partnership of 157 before Mearns claimed the wicket of Deans after 26 overs.
The wickets tumbled thereafter with Bute only managing a further 19 runs before the close, with only Adam Guy (four), Goan (two) and Guy Crichton (one) impacting the scorecard.
Ware led by example and finished with yet another impressive century (111), comprised of 11 fours and seven sixes with Deans’ dogged 32, including three fours, bringing up the rear.
Ware commented: “We were very much in the contest for a large part of our innings but unfortunately fell short in the end in what was a great game of cricket with Mearns proving to be outstanding, friendly hosts.
“We face our final match next weekend away at Vale of Leven and hope to finish on a high after a testing season but I’m immensely proud of the effort put in by the team.
“The ferry timetables haven’t done us any favours, with a number of players having to depart early throughout the season due to the need to catch the last boat.
“We’ve been up against it from the off given the long distances involved, the weather at times and the geographical spread across Argyll of our players but have never given in, notching two good wins and coming very close in a number of other matches.”
Previously, the club welcomed three members of the Kennedy clan from Skipton in North Yorkshire for their final home league game of the 2025 Western Championship Three season with Greenock-based Glenpark.
Father, Dan Kennedy, alongside sons Noah and Joseph were visiting Dunoon and all played their part with 16-year-old Noah, a promising cricketer and Yorkshire trialist, putting in a magnificent showing with the ball, ending with four wickets for the loss of just 22 runs in 9.2 overs.
Glenpark were 2 for 1 and then 35 for 3 at one stage but reached 228 all out after a late flurry of boundaries over the course of 35 overs.
Bute were eventually ‘whittled’ out for just 80 in 15 overs.
Noah Kennedy commented: “It was a great experience and fantastic to be part of such a friendly team in an incredibly beautiful setting.
“We will be back again and look forward to pulling on a Bute jersey in the near future.”
Anyone who lives more locally than the Kennedy’s and is interested in taking up cricket should contact the club through their Facebook page.
