Stoneywood-Dyce, not for the first time this season, found themselves on the wrong side of a nail-biting finish.
The People’s Park side failed by eight runs to chase down the 243 for eight set by Falkland at Scroggie Park, much to the frustration of captain Jamie King in his comeback game.
He said: “We did nothing seriously wrong in what was a very good, competitive game, played on what was a very easy track on which we really should have made the best of.
“We didn’t bowl particularly well, whereas Jan Stander was in magnificent form, scoring a splendid 111 but getting great support from Garreth Wolmarans who scored 55 in their partnership of 131.
“Garreth also bowled well, taking three for 34.
“We’ll just have to knuckle down against Arbroath at People’s Park next week if we are to maintain our top half of the league position in the league.”
While Stander and Wolmarans were at the wicket, the visitors had looked set to complete the double over Falkland but apart from a gallant seventh wicket stand of 45 between Stander whose century, included four sixes and 13, and Ryan Williams, the Aberdeen side were unable to get over the line as had been the case in three other games in the top Scottish league earlier in the season.
Having taken out the home side’s top two batsmen, professional Harsha Cooray and captain Lyle Robertson without either scoring, Stoneywood-Dyce might reasonably have been expected to bowl the Fifers out for less than 243.
At the top of the division Heriots routed challengers Grange after accumulating 354 and then dismissing their Edinburgh rivals for 194.
Shire impress in victory
The race for title in the NE Championship looks set to go the wire after the top three all won.
Leaders Aberdeenshire were the most impressive victors running out 273 run winners at Mannofield where 2nd Arbroath were the hapless losers.
Shire amassed 334 for eight of which 158 was smashed in 88 balls by overseas amateur Dian Forrester who also starred with the ball, taking four wickets for 30 as the visitors collapsed to 61 all out.
Captain Kenny Reid was again among the runs, hitting 45, but said: “There is no talk of winning titles in the team.
“We just continue to concentrate on one game at a time, while focusing on training hard for the next game which is Freuchie, but we are in a good place.”
Second-placed Meigle beat Strathmore by 56 runs, but arguably the best performance of the day was at Freuchie where third-placed Huntly ended the home side’s slim title hopes in the last over of the game.
Having restricted the hosts to 201 for seven, they then stuttered in the middle order after sound knocks from brothers Nicholas (62) and Sam (32) Coconits, but were rescued by stand-in captain Frank Summers who thrashed the home attack for an unbeaten 60 from 32 balls to see them home with five balls to spare.
Gordonians, who are out of the title race, cruised to a total of 306 from their allocation of 45 overs before bowling out 2nd Forfarshire for 189.
In the NE Cricket Scotland (Grades) only a handful of games were scheduled to be played, the most significant was in Grade 1 where Knight Riders signalled they are still in the title race, closing in on the two leaders Crescent and Bon Accord after beating their own second team by 61 runs, having bowled them out for 208 in pursuit of 269.
In Grade 2, Banchory edged a fiercely fought affair with Portcuillis, easing past the Aberdeen side by 33 runs. Banchory totalled 248 for nine.
In Grade 3, Methlick kept up their charge to the title with a handsome 191 run win at the expense of Stonehaven Thistle who could only manage 56 when chasing the home side’s 247 for three.
T20 disappointment for city sides
Meanwhile, Stoneywood Dyce and Aberdeenshire failed to reach the final of the Caledonia T/20 Cup at Mannofield yesterday, leaving Arbroath United and Forfarshire to make it an all-Angus final.
Stoneywood-Dyce crashed out of the first semi-final, losing by 90 runs after collapsing to 75 all out when chasing Arbroath United’s total of 165.
Captain Jamie King said: “We were probably suffering a reaction to Saturday’s narrow defeat at Falkland but it was unacceptable. George Ninan was our only player who can hold his head up after his battling 29 and two wickets.”
Aberdeenshire were also well beaten but gave a much better account of themselves as they attempted to hunt down Forfarshire’s mammoth total of 220, 79 of which was scored by opener Craig Wallace.
A blistering start to the innings from openers Lewis Munro who top scored with 28 in the company of captain Kenny Reid gave hope but they eventually succumbed to 96 all out.
“It was another steep learning curve for us, but we are learning all the time. At one point the chase looked on but we’ll get back to league cricket next week. That’s our focus,” said Reid.
Forfarshire went on to defeat Arbroath United by three wickets in the final.
This weekend’s results…
EASTERN PREMIER LEAGUE
Falkland 243 for 9 (25 points) (J Henderson 51, C Cassell 44, G Wolmarans 3-34, N Elliott 2-39) Stoneywood Dyce 235 (8 points) (J Stander 111, G Wolmarans 55, G Chambers 3-31, L Robertson 3-34)
Stewarts Melville 226 for 9 (6 points) (K Steel 46, H Armstrong 44, F Duncan 3-40, S Cameron 3-43) Forfarshire 227 for 6 (25 points) (C Wallace 115no, J Hogarth 22, N Tandel 2-33, S Khanusiya 2-47)
Watsonian 225 (4 points) (O Hairs 55, A Chalmers 51, S Fischer-Keogh 5-43, J Dickinson 2-32) RH Corstorphine 229 for 5 (25 points) (E Mason 59no, B James 44, G Carr 2-35)
Heriot’s 345 for 6 (25 points) (D Mackay-Champion 132, H Van Der Berg 111, F Huddleston 3-61, J Jarvis 2-49) Grange 194 (0 points) (R Flannigan 75, T Foulds 46, J Kinghorn-Gray 3-23, L Brown 3-42)
Carlton 247 for 8 (25 points) (S Khan 65, H Laing 38, C Robb 3-31) Arbroath United 220 (6 points) (W Lubbe 51, J Plomer 38, N Madziva 3-30, S Khan 2-26)
SPCU NORTH EAST CHAMPIONSHIP
Aberdeenshire 334 for 8 (25 points) (D Forrester 158, K Reid 45, J Burnett 2-38, M Salmond 2-52) 2nd Arbroath United 61 (4 points) (J Salmond 24, D Forrester 4-30, A Cummings 2-1)
Gordonians 306 for 6 (25 points) (A Hegde 94, A Mehta 53no, L Robinson 2-64) 2nd Forfarshire 189 (8 points) (C Herath 41, C Watson 34no, Ak Bashir 4-40, H Saraswat 3-28)
Freuchie 201 (10 points) (I Stonebridge 37, D Cowan 32, J Squire 3-32, B Newlands 2-22) Huntly 202 for 7 (25 points) (F Summers 62no, N Cuconits 60, A Naeem 2-36, G Birrell 2-38)
Meigle 221 for 8 (25 points) (S Saeed 92no, M Harvey 43, S Ejaz 2-25, L Sweeney 2-37) Strathmore 165 (8 points) (M Shoaib 53, S Ejaz 24, H Guest 4-20, R Gayashan 3-12)
Perth Doocot 270 for 8 (25 points) Kinloch 172 (8 points)
NORTH EAST SCOTLAND CRICKET GRADES
GRADE 1
Mannofield 284 for 8 (30 points) (L Saraswat 106, S Alawattage 69, T Norval 2-20, C Watson 2-35) Inverurie Don Valley 168 (17 points) (T Norval 63, C Watson 23, A Sharma 3-31, A Hastie 2-23)
Knight Riders 269 (30 points) (A Kache 62, S Togarrati 36, B Balaji 4-48, B Vijayaraj Jayakumari 2-47) 2nd Knight Riders 208 (20 points) (P Venkatesan 75, B Vijayaraj Jayakumari 29, V Vijapur 4-18, S Muhammad 2-26)
GRADE 2
Banchory 246 for 9 (30 points) (M Herbert 113, C Counsell 66, B Harper 2-4, J Raj 2-10) Portcullis 215 for 9 (19 points) (S Horne 52, J Dawson 40, T Wilkinson 4-39, M Thapa 2-19)
GRADE 3
Dunecht 114 (9 points) (M Witz 27, B Davidson 5-15, A Jawad 2-11) Stoneywood Dyce 115 for 4 (30 points) (S Reid 38no, A Merry 22, M Baldry 3-33)
Crathie 229 for 5 (30 points) (L Belton 44, G Feeney 43no, L Crutchfield 3-58) 2nd Methlick 80 (8 points) (M Rehman 20, L Belton 2-8, J Humphrey 2-14)
Methlick 247 for 3 (30 points) (A Veersema 89no, A Smith 65) Stonehaven Thistle 56 (5 points) (T Duffy 5-18, J Jones 3-19)
2nd Gordonians 232 for 9 (16 points) (R Davis 57, P Gollakota 48, Maahir Patel 4-53, R Kirodian 2-36) 3rd Gordonians 236 for 6 (30 points) (Mahesh Patel 106no, A Mukhopadhya 61, J Durward 2-15)