DUNFERMLINE and Carnegie Cricket Club's first XI produced their best performance of the season to beat East of Scotland Cricket Association, Division Two, leaders Tranent and Preston Village by eight wickets at McKane Park.

In what was Raja Khurram's first game as skipper, on Saturday, with George Olney stepping down to the vice-captaincy role, he made a massive impact in the field by taking four wickets with his spin bowling as the East Lothian side crashed to 88 for eight on batting first.

However, some fine tail end batting saw thew visitors bat 38 of their 40 overs to reach 160, which was a decent target to set, and things improved further for them when Dunfermline and Carnegie moved to the crease.

Khurram, in his usual opening spot, was sent out with the first ball of the innings after mis-hitting a shot to cover where the catch was taken, but it was to be Tranent's last real good moment.

Home player / coach, Steve Rowley, and number three batter, Anthony Xavier, took command and, despite several bowling changes, they put on a partnership of 110 to take the hosts in sight of victory.

Despite Xavier being dismissed only six short of his half century, club captain, Vasu Reddy, and Rowley saw the target reached with nine overs to spare, moving the team to sixth in the table.

"We took some good catches and bowled well but, if there was to be a criticism, we maybe should have been only chasing around the 120 mark," Khurram said.

"However, Anthony, Steve and Vasu batted superbly and took us home, but now we had to produce the same form when Kelso come to McKane this weekend."

Tranent and Preston Village (6) 160, L Natarajan 39 not out, R Khurram 4 for 29, C Hill 3 for 33, V Reddy 2 for 15.

Dunfermline and Carnegie (20) 162 for 2, S Rowley 68 not out, A Xavier 44, V Reddy 29 not out.

In Division Six, Dunfermline and Carnegie's second XI paid dearly for an indifferent performance in the field as Morton third XI racked up a massive total of 206 at The Meadows.

A failure to get early wickets saw the Edinburgh club able to keep scoring at a good pace, going to on pass 200.

Dunfermline and Carnegie never really got going until Mohammad Ashraf went to the crease, but his brave knock of 70 was not enough to get them back into the game, as they lost by 41 runs.

Morton 3rd XI (20) 206 for 4, G Gangadkar 59, D Prasanna 52, P Nautiyal 39, U Saleem 1 for 19.

Dunfermline and Carnegie 2nd XI (7) 165, M Ashraf 70 not out, D Wood 23, A Bidmirath 2 for 11, A Ahmed 2 for 15.

A fine performance by Nish Nithiiyannathan opened the door for Dunfermline and Carnegie third XI's first Division Eight win of the season.

Visitors Livingston fourth XI batted first at The Cairns and scored freely, but a three wicket haul by Nithiyannathan saw them contained to well under 200.

The reply from the hosts was led by Nithiyannathan, who got the winning runs to complete a fine century and ease his team to victory by seven wickets.

Livingston 4th XI (7) 186 for 9, A Rai 87, N Nithiyannathan 3 for 26, F Lovell 2 for 12, T Burke 2 for 13.

Dunfermline and Carnegie 3rd XI (20) 190 for 3, N Nithiyannathan 100 not out, C Bond 29 not out, A Rai 2 for 45.