IRVINE suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of Kelburn in their opening Western Union First Division match at Marress on Saturday.

The home side won the toss and elected to field first.

They opened with a good bowling attack and at one point, the Paisley club were limited to 60 for 2.

However they quickly recovered and ended their innings on 169 for nine.

Hafeez Muthair was the top bowler with 5-28 in a dazzling spell, while South African overseas amateur Bevan Carsle took an impressive 2-32.

However Irvine got off to a bad start when opener Inderj Singh was dismissed for two and overseas amateur Koot Pienaar only hit three with only two more reaching double figures, including Mo Alam who made 16.

They were all out for just 51, giving the visitors a 118-run victory.

Skipper Stuart McCallum said: "We fielded quite well and had them under pressure early on, but our batting was appalling. We can do much better and will be looking for an improved performance at GHK on Saturday."