Stoneywood-Dyce captain Lennard Bester has vowed to make sweeping changes among his misfiring top order batsmen for Saturday’s game with Stewarts Melville.
The People’s Park side slumped to 168 all out when chasing the Watsonians total of 205, making it eight consecutive defeats for the home side.
Bester said: “We just can’t go on having five wickets down for 50 odd every week.
“I will be pushing up batsmen who can stick around.
“Apart from Ewan Davidson (75) and Andrew McLaren (35) our batting was abysmal.
“We did well enough in the field, although once again we dropped catches including Scotland all-rounder Oli Hairs.
“We are better than this.”
Hairs was a standout, as once again one player proved to be the downfall of Stoneywood-Dyce. The Edinburgh side’s opener scored 65 from 43 balls before going on to take five wickets for 28.
The home side did well to recover from the early blitz of runs from Hairs which saw Watsonians race to 70 from the first seven overs. The spin attack of Du Preez and George Ninan curtailed the onslaught, enabling them to restrict the visitors to 205.
Wickets quickly fell in Stoneywood-Dyce’s reply and at 59 for five looked set for a drubbing but were saved by a partnership of 102 between Davidson and McLaren which gave hope of a victory but dashed by Hairs.
The return to form by 20-year-old Davidson was welcomed by Bester.
“We can build on his effort. He was just magnificent,” he added.
Elsewhere, Heriots’ cruise to the Eastern Premier title continued at Goldenacre where they were 156-run winners against RH Corstorphine, while the good news for the People’s Park faithful was the 10 wicket defeat suffered by bottom side Arbroath United at the hands of second placed Forfarshire, making it near certain that the Angus side will be the side to be relegated from the top club league.
Huntly dent Shire hopes
The top of the NE Championship battle for promotion took another twist at Mannofield where Huntly beat Aberdeenshire by four wickets, enabling Meigle to take over the leadership of this most competitive league with four games remaining in the season.
They ran out 136-run winners over 2nd Stoneywood-Dyce, despite a gutsy 67 from Michael Louw, the People’s Park captain.
The Mannofield match was much closer on a testing track after the overnight rain.
Huntly won the toss and elected to field which turned out to be a wise decision by captain Jack Mitchell whose bowling attack did him proud as Shire struggled to 90 for the loss of five wickets, including captain Kenny Reid (24) and overseas amateur Dian Forrester (14).
An unbeaten 35 from Cameron Clark, supported by an equally impressive 28 from Manu Saraswat who also took two for 25, demonstrated just how far Shire’s youngsters have come this season, as they battled to a respectable 187.
But it was to no avail as Huntly openers Mitchell (52) and Nicholas Cuconits (71) first dug in and then displayed their attacking flair in a partnership of 112.
Shire to their credit never gave up, taking six wickets before the visitors passed the required total in a fine derby match, handing Huntly their eighth win on the bounce, while blowing the title race wide open.
Mitchell was delighted with the win but said: “We are now rueing two early season defeats but we are still in contention for the title.
“His opposite number Reid agreed it had been a fine, fairly fought encounter.
“I was pleased with our final total but Huntly’s openers batted well, taking the match away from us, but we are still in there with every chance of promotion. I am proud of our application.”
Gordonians jumped into fourth place after a fine four wicket win at Strathmore where the home side scored 205 but not enough to hold off the charge of the Aberdeen side.
In the North East Scotland Cricket Grades, Crescent were stunned by Master Blasters Aberdeen who handed the Links side their second defeat of the season in Grade 1 after amassing 256 and then bowling the league leaders out for 125.
To cap a day of misery for Crescent, nearest challengers Bon Accord were three wicket victors at home to Inverurie after restricting the Kellands Park side to 192.
Going into the last month of fixtures the outcome of the league now hangs in the balance, particularly as the top two now meet on Saturday at the Links when winner could take all in one of the closest finishes in years.
This weekend’s results…
EASTERN PREMIER LEAGUE
Watsonian 205 for 9 (25 points) (O Hairs 65, A Arora 35, D Stander 4-32, J King 2-50) Stoneywood Dyce 168 (6 points) (E Davidson 75, A Maclaren 35, O Hairs 5-28, G Carr 2-29)
Arbroath United 158 (0 points) (M Petrie 63, W Lubbe 31, J Hogarth 5-59, S Cameron 2-15) Forfarshire 159 for 0 (25 points) (C Wallace 109no, R Johnston 36no)
Grange 223 (4 points) (T Foulds 62, J Jarvis 54, C Cassell 5-33, L Robertson 3-29) Falkland 226 for 5 (25 points) (H Cooray 61no, J Henderson 44, P Mommsen 2-24, T Foulds 2-46)
Stewarts Melville 204 (8 points) (S Pillay 106no, B Wilkinson 41, R Allardice 3-35, A Evans 2-34) Carlton 205 for 8 (25 points) (A Evans 64, S Gupta 41, N Tandel 2-24, C Shorten 2-43)
Heriot’s 293 for 9 (25 points) (D Mackay-Champion 63, J Kinghorn-Gray 37, J Dickinson 5-35, C Clarkson 3-51) RH Corstorphine 137 (0 points) (J Brydon 36, N Murray 21no, L Brown 4-29, J Kinghorn-Gray 2-14)
SPCU NORTH EAST CHAMPIONSHIP
Aberdeenshire 187 for 9 (8 points) (C Cameron 35no, M Saraswat 28, B Newlands 2-20, I Hussain 2-42) Huntly 189 for 6 (25 points) (N Cuconits 71no, J Mitchell 52, M Saraswat 2-25)
Strathmore 205 for 8 (9 points) (H Evans 55, C Milne 32, P Wig 2-27, U Basavaraju 2-39) Gordonians 206 for 6 (25 points) (H Saraswat 43, A Hegde 41, S Ejaz 2-35, L Sweeney 2-42)
Meigle 323 for 9 (25 points) (M Rasheed 115, H Guest 54, M Louw 2-38, M Hood 2-55) 2nd Stoneywood Dyce 187 (10 points) (M Louw 67, M Coetzee 27, M Rasheed 3-12, Z Rasheed 2-12)
Freuchie 224 (9 points) (D Cowan 65no, R Birrell 38, T Niazi 3-36, H Hussain 3-39) Kinloch 226 for 5 (25 points) (S Ahmed 103no, M Ali 37no, R Wiseman 2-45, G Birrell 2-49)
2nd Forfarshire 176 for 8 (7 points) (T Knight 33, G Garden 29, C Ross 2-7, S Lesolang 2-30) 2nd Arbroath United 178 for 3 (25 points) (B O’Mara 66no, S Lesolang 42no)
Perth Doocot 245 for 9 (25 points) Dundee HSFP 165 for 9 (9 points)
NORTH EAST SCOTLAND CRICKET GRADES
GRADE 1
Mannofield 83 (8 points) (M Yar 5-20) Gordonians 84 for 5 (30 points)
Infquick.com Cults 125 (12 points) (S Ali 31, A Ali 20, U Raghavendra 4-9, P Palaniyandi 2-22) Knight Riders 126 for 6 (30 points) (M Mohan 31, A Kache 27, M Tahir 4-44)
AGSFPs 273 for 5 (30 points) (A Haider 75, A Sood 70no, B Balaji 2-41) 2nd Knight Riders 192 (15 points) (S Muhammad 29, D Subramanian 25, P Poosappadi 4-33, A Sood 3-34)
Inverurie Don Valley 192 for 6 (17 points) (J Thom 70, G Hadden 47, U Khan 2-50) Culter Curry Bon Accord 193 for 7 (30 points) (H Omerkhail 59, F Awan 44, M Startin 3-14)
TechForce Master Blasters Aberdeen 256 (30 points) (H Ganesan 109, J Gajjar 64, K Reddy 4-44) B-Secure Crescent 125 (16 points) (A Sharma 46, H Chovatiya 4-26, J Gajjar 3-14)
GRADE 2
2nd Grampian 44 (4 points) (A Rennie 4-10, C Gospel 3-17) Fraserburgh 45 for 3 (30 points) (S Joseph 2-21)
Grampian 298 for 4 (30 points) (M Nadim 161, J George 54no) Portcullis 93 (8 points) (B Jacob 2-5, G Gilbert 2-11)
Quilter Cheviot Ellon Gordon 108 for 7 (9 points) (R Greenfield 55, A Ovenstone 31, M Shahid 3-11, A Yousuf 2-14) Siyapa 109 for 4 (30 points) (S Memon 36, F Sibtain 28, R Greenfield 3-11)
GRADE 3
3rd Gordonians 110 for 8 (7 points) (A Mukhopadhya 36, H Yar 25, C Addison 3-11, T Duffy 3-12) Methlick 115 for 2 (30 points) (S Murphy 50no, T Acton 24, G Singh 2-23)
Dunecht 127 (30 points) (B Ingram 51, A Hounsome 3-11, P Morgan 2-5) 2nd Gordonians 80 (13 points) (S Hounsome 45, S Derrett 3-6, M Baldry 2-10)
Crathie 110 (7 points) Stoneywood Dyce 113 for 2 (30 points)
2nd Siyapa 121 (14 points) (B Kamal 36, M Tandon 3-36) Huntly 122 for 8 (30 points) (A Dawar 28, S Sikander 3-19, B Kamal 2-19)