DESPITE a spirited run chase, Gala/Hawick lost out to Division 8 leaders Morton 3s at Meigle Park.

The Edinburgh side scored a formidable 215 for 6 wickets in their innings, which Gala/Hawick chased hard but ended up on 176 for 9.

Deepak D’Souza, who also scored runs against Gala’s 1sts XI last season for Morton 1sts.

D’Souza scored 70 before Hawick youngster Harris Brogan trapped him lbw but Manesh Bhume (50) and Aravind Kumar (46) took Morton beyond 200.

Alex Hastings took 3 for 52, while Ross Patterson and Charis Scott both bowled tightly without reward to only concede four runs per over. Marcus Brogan also deserves credit for his fielding display.

In reply, Gala/Hawick suffered an early blow as Chris Bell was bowled for a duck.

But Max Hastings and Jamie Crooks put on a superb partnership of 71 before the latter was out for 34.

Gala/Hawick’s scoring rate slowed but they remained in the game til the closing stages when they needed 65 off the last seven overs.

But a mix up in the middle saw in-form Max Hastings run out for 65, which spelt the end of any hopes for the hosts as they finished 39 runs short.

Morton

L. Othy ct M. Hastings b J. Gammie 28

P. Nautiyal ct K. Paterson b A. Hastings 10

D. Hogg ct H. Brogan b A. Hastings 1

D. D’Souza lbw H. Brogan 70

M. Bhume ct & b A. Hastings 50

A. Kumar run out 46

M. Karuppiah not out 0

Extras – 10

Total – 215 for six wickets

A. Hastings 7-0-52-3; C. Scott 8-1-32-0; R. Patterson 8-1-32-0; J. Crooks 8-0-44-0; J. Gammie 6-0-36-1; H. Brogan 3-0-17-1.

Gala/Hawick

M. Hastings run out 65

C. Bell b M. Karuppiah 0

J. Crooks ct M. Karuppiah b S. Natarajan 34

R. Patterson b M. Bhume 12

M. Brogan run out 0

K. Paterson run out 21

A. Hastings ct & b S. Natarajan 3

C. Scott not out 5

H. Brogan b S. Natarajan 0

J. Gammie b A. Kumar 0

D. Welsh not out 1

Extras – 37

Total – 176 for 9 wickets

P. Nautiyal 7-0-33-0; M. Karuppiah 5-0-25-1; K. Nagapal 8-0-31-0; S. Natarajan 8-0-21-3; M. Bhume 5-0-28-1; D. D’Souza 4-0-17-0; M. Kala 2-0-9-0; A. Kumar 1-0-3-1.