Aberdeenshire passed up a chance start their home campaign with a win when they tamely surrendered the initiative to a workmanlike Heriot’s at Mannofield.
The Edinburgh side looked there for the beating after posting a modest 174 for the loss of six wickets from its allocation of 50 overs.
Only 12 overs into their reply, Shire looked to be coasting with 60 on the board. With opener Chris Venske carrying on from where he had left off the previous week when he hit an unbeaten century against Carlton, a home win appeared a formality, only for Shire to fall four runs short.
Inexplicably, the Shire batsmen went into their shells, but some astute Heriot’s tactics cleverly denied Venske although the opener still managed to score 58, most of them in the opening 10 overs.
When the South African departed with the score on 81, the game took on a different hue, especially as club professional Harsha Cooray looked badly out of touch. His 29-ball knock of 10 contained only one boundary, in contrast to Venske’s seven sumptuous contributions.
The Shire run drought continued until Graham Tomlinson came to life after an agonisingly slow start, even if his carefully constructed 30 took 69 minutes and did not yield a boundary. The middle-order batsman took the home side to within touching distance of a win until he was stumped when attempting to force the pace.
A stand of 24 for the eighth wicket gave Shire hope, but Heriot’s were not to be denied, closing out the game with the last pair at the wicket.
Former Stoneywood-Dyce stalwart Steve Knox was the Heriot’s man with the bat, carefully accumulating 39 runs in an innings which lasted 151 minutes, during which he faced 120 balls.
“We enjoyed that one and just hung in, putting them under as much pressure as possible,” said the opener.
For Shire captain Tyler Buchan there were the positives of Venske showing he is probably the best opener in the Eastern Premier Division, while overseas amateur Hayes Van der Berg looks a real find. The South African’s haul of four wickets for 33 was top drawer – as was his knock of 21.
Buchan said: “It was a frustrating day for us, but we’ll learn from the experience. It was never an easy pitch to play. We got ourselves bogged down.”