Ayr Cricket Club ended the first half of the Western Union season with an emphatic six-wicket victory over fourth placed Stenhousemuir at the Tryst on Saturday to maintain their position at the top of the Premiership One table.

The home team won the toss and batted first and were soon in trouble as Noman Ali made a double breakthrough, dismissing Hollis and Rodgers with the total on three.

Derval Green then got in the action, removing Hamilton, and shortly after Michael English trapped Zane Smith lbw to leave Stenny struggling at 41-4.

South African professional Danie Rossouw (57) and Asad Izaz (52) rescued the hosts’ innings with an 80-run partnership, but Ali then bowled Rossouw to spark a collapse as the Ayr seamers mopped up the tail and bowled out Stenny for 153.

Green finished with 4-24, Ali 4-32 and English 2-23, making it a rare day when the Ayr spinners, who have been so successful this season, ended wicketless.

After last week’s record opening stand, things did not go according to plan in the Ayr innings, with English dismissed for a rare duck in the first over.

He was soon to be followed by Lloyd Jefferson, Jake Woodhouse and then Neil Flack (27) to leave the visitors on 58-4 and in what appeared to be a bit of trouble, but Mikey Miller steadied the ship with 46 not out, adding to his four catches in the Stenny innings, while Derval Green on 43 not out ensured there would be no further concerns as Ayr secured victory on 154-4 with nine innings to spare, maintaining their narrow advantage over Clydesdale at the top of the table.

Meanwhile, the Cambusdoon XI continued their recent run of good form in the Western Union Championship with a comfortable victory at home to third placed Langloan.

The visitors won the toss and elected to bat, but were soon in trouble as Pushkar Bhandari and Davie Baines junior claimed early wickets to leave them struggling at 54-7, before a stand of 70 between Khan and Jayasundara (66) helped the Lanarkshire side to a slightly more respectable score of 167 all out.

The Bhandari brothers were the pick of the Cambusdoon bowlers, Pushkar finishing with figures of 4-20 and younger brother Nari 3-37.

Langloan made an early breakthrough with Callum Henderson dismissed for a duck, but Neil Logan (61) and Richie Borland (32) added 60 runs in good time to get the innings back on track; after their dismissal, Ross Mitchell (21no) and Lewis Lilley (25no) put on a 50-run partnership to take Cambusdoon to 171-3 and their target for victory by seven wickets with more than 20 overs to spare.

On Sunday a number of juniors were in action for the Western Warriors. Freya Wilcox was part of the Warriors U18 team which lost to Eastern Knights, while Jake Woodhouse and Mikey Maxwell were part of the U17 team that defeated the Eastern Knights, with Woodhouse top scoring for the Warriors with 37 in their total of 185 and then claiming two wickets as the Knights were bowled out for 79.

This week sees Ayr travel to GHK in the Western Union, while the Cambusdoon XI have another double-header with home matches against Williamfield on Saturday and Dean Park on Sunday.

The Development XI are at home to Glasgow Accies in the Midweek League on Tuesday.