AYR travelled to Stirling on Saturday in a Western Premier Division match which saw had the Iffla Trophy being played for.

Stirling won the toss and batted, making a solid start before Scott McElnea dismissed both openers. The Ayr bowlers continued to take wickets at regular intervals and were able to bowl out the home team for 178 with three wickets apiece for Scott McElnea and Shujja Khan.

In reply Ayr got off a confident start with an opening stand of 50, but wickets then fell at regular intervals with Kenroy Peters (57) and Anwar Hafeez (32) making any impact on the home bowling as they were bowled out for 164, their cause not helped by a hand injury to last man Callum Leck which had him struggling to hold the bat with two hands.

On Wednesday night, Ayr kept up their unbeaten run in the McCulloch Cup with a comfortable victory against GHK at Cambusdoon where an opening stand of 162 between Anwar Hafeez (82) and Richie Simpson (66), the latter scoring his first 50 for the 1st XI as they scored 207-5 in their allocation of overs.

Early wickets from Hafeez (3-16) put Ayr in control as GHK were bowled out for 142. There were also three wickets for Pushkar Bhandari.

In a busy week Thursday night saw Greenock, the visitors in the first round of the Murgitroyd Rowan Cup.

On a gloriously warm sunny evening, Greenock captain Neil Flack won the toss and elected to bat, but some tight Ayr bowling restricted the scoring and took regular wickets as Greenock finished on 113-5. The Ayr reply did not get off to the best of starts losing Hafeez and McElnea with only four on the board, but a third wicket partnership of 112 between Niall McCrossin (56no) and Richie Simpson (46no) saw them home with more than four overs to spare.

In the Reserve League the Cambusdoon XI recorded their first victory of the season with a comfortable win over Torrance House. The visitors chose to bat after winning the toss and posted a competitive total of 268-4, Richie Borland the pick of the bowlers with 3-43 from his 10 overs and was then to prove one of the main batsmen as he put on 164 with Robbie Henderson (90no) before he was out to an excellent catch on the boundary for 94 as they cruised to victory with almost 10 overs to spare.

This week sees two local derbies take place. Firstly, on Wednesday Prestwick make the short journey to Cambusdoon in the McCulloch Cup and then on Saturday during the third Alloway Beer Festival, they make the same journey in the league when the Masterton Scott Trophy is also up for grabs.

This year there will also be a man-of-the-match award in memory of Grant Stanley who was professional at both clubs and passed away last year. The award will be presented by John Taylor. The Cambusdoon XI take on St. Ninians on Sunday in the Reserve League.

Match sponsors Ayr v Prestwick: Barry McGuire, Clancy Consulting.