GALA suffered a bizarre defeat at a rain-sodden Edinburgh to deliver a blow to their fight to avoid relegation.

Despite shaking hands with the umpire and second top Edinburgh CC, who all assumed the game had ended without a result due to the wet weather, it later transpired that Gala had in fact lost by 21 runs in a complex scenario which would have left Albert Einstein scratching his head.

It was debatable whether the game at Campbell Park should have started at all but it did, albeit reduced to 45 overs due to the morning rain and threat of further downpours.

Gala’s total of 125 would normally have been well below par, but the damp conditions and tricky wicket ensured the visitors had a sniff of victory.

Their total was mainly down to scores from stand-in skipper Jack Halls (27), Kevin Gallagher (23) and a late cameo from Robbie Pringle (18), with Zubair Ul-Haq producing impressive figures of five wickets for 11 runs.

Gala made a great start in Edinburgh’s innings as Kashif Hussain was caught by Halls from Dinesh Tharanga’s bowling with the score on one.

But then heavy rain at 22 for 1 after six overs meant both teams were forced off, and appeared the game would be called off.

So Gala were hugely surprised when the umpire called both teams back onto the pitch in wet conditions to continue the game.

When play resumed, a fired up Tharanga took Umair Farooq’s wicket, and Gala pegged back Edinburgh, as they struggled to score runs across the soaking outfield.

Ash Rhode and Pringle took further wickets, but when another heavy downpour came at 84 for 4, play was finally abandoned.

Both teams and umpire shook hands assuming that the game was a No Result as Edinburgh had not faced the minimum 30 overs.

But Edinburgh’s submission of the scorecard after the game showed they had in fact won, as they had managed to face more than 20 overs, which is the minimum when a second innings is rain affected.

It meant Edinburgh could use the East League Calculator to predict a 21 run victory.

The complicated scenario was not consolation to Gala as they sit 8th in the Championship.

Gala

J. Halls ct Q. Ashraf b U. Haider 27

R. Irvine lbw B. Ahmed 5

G. Ormiston lbw B. Ahmed 3

D. Millar lbw Z. Ul-Haq 14

A. Rhode b Z. Ul-Haq 0

A. McMenemy b Z. Ul-Haq 0

K. Gallagher ct A. Majeed b A. Khan 23

F. Rutherford b K. Parvez 3

D. Tharanga b Z. Ul-Haq 8

R. Pringle b Z. Ul-Haq 18

M. Hastings not out 0

Extras – 24

Total – 125 for ten wickets

B. Ahmed 6-0-26-2; A. Imran 4-0-16-0; Z. Ul-Haq 7.5-3-11-5; U. Haider 9-3-24-1; K. Parvez 9-4-22-1; A. Khan 5-1-18-1.

Edinburgh

K. Hussain ct J. Halls b D. Tharanga 0

Z. Ul-Haq b A. Rhode 39

U. Farooq lbw D. Tharanga 22

I. Khan b R. Pringle 5

A. Khan not out 7

U. Haider not out 1

Extras – 10

Total – 84 for four wickets

D. Tharanga 9-1-24-2; R. Irvine 4-0-25-0; R. Pringle 7.1-1-26-1; A. Rhode 3-0-6-1.