Premiership: Loss will not make Benny McGill give up on league title

BENNY McGill believes he can still end his top flight career with a Premiership winners' medal despite Arbroath's heavy defeat to title rivals Forfarshire.
By The Newsroom
Published 14th Aug 2011, 19:04 BST
Updated 15th Aug 2011, 01:41 BST

McGill announced before Saturday's crucial Angus derby that this will be his final season playing for the Lochlands club's first string. He failed to mark the occasion of his 200th SNCL appearance as he would have wanted, taking just one wicket and suffering a first-ball duck with the bat.

However, it was merely symptomatic of a collective off-day by Arbroath who went down by 60 runs, in the process conceding second place to their local rivals ahead of the title play-offs which begin on Sunday. Only a couple of percentage points separate the top three with Carlton still leading the way and McGill said: "We've had a great season whatever happens in the last three games of the season. It is still very tight between the top three."

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Having won the toss, home skipper Fraser Burnett had no hesitation in asking Forfarshire to bat first. Conditions certainly seemed to favour the bowlers after heavy overnight rain which caused a delayed start and a reduction in overs to 40 a side. However, the Arbroath attack were strangely out of sorts, conceding a host of extras, while the visiting batsmen displayed great resolve. The attribute was epitomised by Ryan Watson