Champions Heriot’s moved within touching distance of another Eastern Premier title with a comfortable win over Edinburgh South at Goldenacre.

Save for a tie and a defeat – both against Falkland – Lloyd Brown’s side have been a dominant force throughout the season and matchday 16 proved no different.

In registering their tenth victory of the season, they demonstrated that, as well as their big-name stars, they have plenty of talented back-up players who are rarely blinded by the light of centre stage.

On Saturday it was Dougie Voas who stood up to be counted, the top order batter posting his first century for the club as they recovered from an indifferent start to reach an imposing 377-6.

Having opted to bat, Heriot’s lost Mark Watt with just four runs on the board but Voas and Brown embarked on a 99-run stand before the skipper was bowled by Asad Amir for a 54-ball 47.

An even bigger partnership ensued as Josh Elliott joined Voas plundered 131 runs for the third wicket.

Voas went on to top-score with a sparkling 128 from 109 deliveries, featuring fifteen boundaries and three clearances, before holing out off Bilal Asghar.

Elliott also reached three figures, 101 from 91 balls, before Charlie Cassell added the final flourish, a hard-hitting 24-ball 43 with three big sixes.

Edinburgh South have proved to be a competitive outfit during their first top-flight campaign, and they were typically feisty with the bat, seven players reaching double figures even if a successful chase never looked likely.

In the event, opener Vaishak Rajagopalan’s 61 was their best individual effort as they were dismissed for 213 in 45.1 overs.

Khalik Abdul was the most successful bowler, his 4-46 eclipsing Watt’s 3-47.

Carlton remain second top after a commanding performance at Lochlands against an Arbroath side who have gone spectacularly off the boil, losing four matches in a row.

Having been sent in to bat, the home side lost wickets from the start as Rudy Adair proved a handful on a tricky track.

The opening bowler dismissed Arbroath skipper Iain Worth and the experienced Hayden Laing in his first spell and returned to complete figures of 4-32 when he ended the home innings at 125 by bowling Craig Ramsay.

Carlton lost five wickets in reaching the target, emphasising the difficult batting conditions, but Ruari MacPherson’s 42, the highest individual score of the match, proved pivotal.    

At the other end of the table Meigle took another positive step in their bid to beat the drop with a convincing win over RH Corstorphine at Victory Park.

The Perthshire side looked doomed until matchday 15 when they secured only their second success of the campaign.

Now they have three victories and, while they remain bottom, they have both Stewarts Melville and Falkland in their sights going into the final two weeks of the season.

It was little surprise when RH Corstorphine skipper George West opted to bat first, giving the prolific Liam Naylor, Johnathan van Zyl and Owen Gould the chance to add to their tallies.

However, the dangerous trio managed just 34 runs between them as Meigle took charge, Zahid Rasheed accounting for Naylor before Charles Clark removed van Zyl and Gould in quick succession.

Sami Ejaz then bowled skipper West before Clark claimed a third scalp in Tyler Stagg as the visitors slumped to 47-5.

Robert Thompson offered some resistance with 32 but wickets continued to fall, Clark finishing with 3-24 and Ejaz 3-26 as RH Corstorphine collapsed to 94 all out in 34.5 overs.

The run-chase wasn’t plain sailing for Meigle, three wickets falling early before Tassawar Hussain’s 31 and 30no from skipper Raju Gayashan carried them to a six-wicket win with 29.1 overs to spare.

Falkland’s hopes of easing their relegation fears were dashed when they went down by eight wickets against Grange at Portgower Place.

A 99-run partnership for the sixth wicket between Jaryd Lookwhy (80no) and Logan Briggs (40) hoisted the Fifers’ tally to 232-8 after the loss of cheap early wickets.

However, the home side had little difficulty in reaching the target, opener Jamie Crawley hitting an unbeaten 105 and Scotland all-rounder Jack Jarvis 79no as Grange cruised home with ten overs to spare.

Michael Leask was another Scotland all-rounder in form but he was fighting a lone battle for Forfarshire as they went down by 75 runs to Stewarts Melville at Inverleith.

Needing 271 for victory, Leask scored a brilliant 119 from 90 balls with sixteen boundaries and four maximums but ‘Shire’s next highest score came from Extras with 34.

Earlier Shaylen Pillay top-scored with 83 as StewMel posted 270-5.

Western Premiership One champions Clydesdale remain unbeaten and unstoppable in pursuit of a successful title defence.

Their latest victory was a routine affair against Kelburne at Titwood where home skipper Kallum Dhami top-scored with 65 in a total of 229-8 before Rafay Khan’s 5-44 sealed a 27-run success.