Aberdeenshire made it two wins in a row in the North East Championship, cruising to an easy 60-run win at Mannofield where Strathmore were the visitors.
Kenny Reid, the Shire captain was delighted with his team’s all round performance.
“We shared our 224 runs around which is always good, while we used eight bowlers when we bowled Strathmore out for 164. It’s been a satisfying day for us. We are going in the right direction,” said Reid.
Knocks of 24 from Reid, 47 from Lewis Munro, and 22 from Nathan Elliott helped swell the home total but it was opener Aayush Dasmahpatra who took pride of place with a sumptuous 66 making him Shire’s top scorer for the second week running.
The win takes the Mannofield side to the top of the division.
Gordonians take derby spoils while Huntly are defeated
At Countesswells, local derby opponents Gordonians and Stoneywood-Dyce were getting their first outings of the season on the beautifully manicured playing fields belonging to Robert Gordon’s College.
Gordonians batted first after being put in by Andrew Rayner, and were given the best of starts by their top order batsmen, including Adi Hedge, Sandy Richards and Himanshu Sarawal, who top scored with a sparkling 72, helping them to 203 from 43.2 overs.
It proved to be too much for the Peoples Park side who struggled to 115 all out from 37.1 overs. Only Mark Lambley came to terms with the home bowling attack, hitting a fine 54.
“It was a good start to our campaign on what was a difficult seaming wicket,” said Mayank Bandari, the Gordonians captain.
At St Andrews, Huntly made the worst possible start to the season, losing out by 18 runs to a Kinloch side who had not won a league game since April, 2017.
Jack Mitchell, the Huntly captain was disappointed at the outcome but said: “It’s not what we would have wished for ourselves. We’ll just have to beat Shire when they come calling next Saturday.”
Kinloch scored 197 for the loss of five wickets, while Huntly were 179 all out.
Meanwhile, Gordonians crashed out of the CS Challenge Cup yesterday, failing to hunt down the 136 set by Morton. The Edinburgh side bowled out the home side for 78.
“It was not one of our better days, although we did not get the break of the ball on a difficult, green wicket,”said Mayank Bandari, the Gordonians captain.
Aberdeen Grammar were also in action in the same national competition but fared no better against Stenhousemuir. Set 141 to win, the Rubislaw side fell 84 runs short after being bowled out for 37.
Inverurie upset Bon Accord in the Grades
In the NE Grades the match of the day was at the Links where Inverurie stunned Bon Accord, making the Kellands Park side strong favourites for a top placing in Grade 1.
The Bons were bowled out for 112, a total surpassed by the visitors for the loss of five wickets, while Aberdeen Grammar were making their mark in the same division.
Grammar successfully hunted down Crescent’s total of 216 for six for the loss of only four wickets.
Cults made it two wins in a row, taking them to the top slot after an 88 run win over Grampian. In the closest game of the day Siyapa were one wicket winners against Knight Riders.
And finally newcomers Master Blasters announced their arrival in the top league with a 76 win run at the expense of Gordonians.