FOR the fourth week in a row the leadership of the Western Premier changed on Saturday and the new incumbents are Ferguslie following a hard-earned derby win over Kelburne at Whitehaugh.

Whether the Meikleriggs men can have a longer stay at the summit than Poloc, Uddingston and Prestwick remains to be seen and, with the season just six weeks old, skipper Jamey Carruthers is understandably reluctant to talk about a title challenge.

He said: “I’m not paying any attention to the table at this stage. There are many tough games to come and for us it’s about improving with every match.”

More of the same grit and determination they showed on a testing Whitehaugh wicket will surely serve them well.

These characteristics were best demonstrated by Gregor Preston-Jones whose lengthy stay at the crease yielded 87 crucial runs.

With runs hard to come by and wickets falling at the other end, Preston-Jones showed commendable patience and judgement to protect his wicket while gradually accumulating runs.

The opening batsman also had to endure a lengthy rain delay before starting all over again while Kelburne’s bowlers continued to threaten.

Preston-Jones had fine support from the reliable Dave Stafford who hit 40 as Ferguslie ground their way to 211-7 in a match reduced to 45 overs.

There were some tidy bowling figures from the home side, none more so than Stevie McLister who conceded just sixteen runs from his ten overs while picking up the wicket of Michael English.

Bradley Joynt then found form as Kelburne, set a revised target of 221, remained in touch with the asking rate for much of their reply.

The South African anchored the innings with an excellent 90 while others, including McLister with 28, chipped-in.

However, Ferguslie managed to take wickets at key moments, John Allan claiming the vital one of Joynt en route to figures of 3-26 while Carruthers took 3-23 as the visitors claimed victory by 11 runs.

Carruthers added: “It was a really hard fought win. Gregor’s innings was outstanding. The rain delay didn’t help but he and Dave Stafford were excellent after the break.

“We didn’t bowl exactly as we would have liked but myself and John bowled well in the middle which probably got us the win.”

Kelburne may remain winless but the Ferguslie captain had words of consolation for his rivals, saying: “They played well and are a lot better than they’ve been showing.”

Previous leaders Prestwick came up short in a similar run-chase against Ayr at the Henry Thow Oval.

They looked like capitulating after slumping to 50-5 in pursuit of Ayr’s 181 but a fighting 66no from Mitchell Rao had the visitors on the back foot until Rao ran out of partners with 14 runs still required.

Ayr skipper Andi McElnea, who top-scored with 60 while brother Scott claimed 3-34, said: “I was worried Mitchell might go on and win it for them but Scott was sensational in his final over.”

Elsewhere, Clydesdale’s big guns fired impressively as the champions rekindled their title defence with victory over Poloc at Titwood.

In a match reduced to just 26 overs, Mo Awais (42), Richie Berrington (45) and Con de Lange (32) went into T20 mode to propel the hosts to 187-7 before Poloc slipped to 106 all out.

Dumfries, for whom Tom McBride hit 89, produced the run-chase of the day at Nunholm to overhaul Greenock’s 250-8 with four wickets in hand, Neil Flack’s 94 proving in vain for the visitors.

East Kilbride had reduced Uddingston to 91-7 at Torrance House before the match was abandoned.