SPIRITED Ayr grabbed a lifeline in their bid for survival in the Western Premier Division.

They recorded an excellent victory at home to Poloc on Saturday.

Asked to bat after Poloc won the toss, they got off to a great start with Andi McElnea (113) and Anwar Hafeez (109) putting on 196 for the first wicket. After they had departed a quickfire 35 not out of 19 balls from Scott McElnea kept the momentum going as they finished on 305-4 in their 50 overs. In reply Poloc got off to a solid start but were always behind the run rate thanks to some tight Ayr bowling and wickets falling at regular intervals. Only the visitor’s South African overseas players Synman and Nel added any impetus to the innings but once they had departed their chance of victory ended as they finished on 262-9 to leave Ayr victorious by 43 runs. There were two wickets each for Johnny Baines, Anwar Hafeez and Pushkar Bhandari.

The Cambusdoon travelled to Glasgow to face Shawholm but lost by 102 runs. The home team batted first and were restricted to 195-9 with Harry Boyd (4-42) and Richie Borland (3-45) again amongst the wickets but sadly the batsmen were unable to cope with the Shawholm attack as they were bowled out for 93 with only Matthew Cooper (21) and Matthew Baines (23no) having any impact.

This week sees the penultimate round of the Western Union with Ayr away to Clydesdale and the Cambusdoon XI at home to Titwood in the Reserve League. Tomorrow (Wednesday Ayr travel to Greenock to take on newly crowned Western Union champions Ferguslie in the McCulloch Cup Final.

Meanwhile Prestwick lost out at home to Clydesdale in another Premier Division match.

The home side started well, with skipper Sachin Chaudhary scoring 42 and Faisal Jaward hitting 21, while wicket keeper Fraser Macdonald hit 34. But there was then a middle order collapse, apart from Mitchell Rao, who was 41 not out as they ended their innings on 226-8.

However the visitors finished on 227-6, giving them a four wicket win.

Top bowlers for Prestwick were Jacob Steber and Craig Morrison with two wickets apiece.