Stoneywood-Dyce’s top order batsmen failed to come to terms with a soft, seaming wicket at People’s Park as they succumbed to a third defeat on the spin.
Had it not been for a gutsy middle order performance the Aberdeen side might have been handed a bigger defeat than five wickets by Stewart’s Melville.
The 162 for the loss of eight wickets was a respectable enough total given the difficult batting surface, although Scott Parker, the captain of the Edinburgh side, made light of the conditions, stroking his way to a superb unbeaten 70 from 124 balls.
He was given maximum support from Riyyaan Henry whose 50 from 79 balls finally took the game away from the Aberdeen side.
Earlier in the afternoon, Henry had made a huge contribution to the home side’s third loss in three games, taking four wickets for 20 runs, reducing them to 53 for six and facing the possibility of a thrashing, only to be saved from humiliation by a stand of 68 between Andrew MacLaren 41 and Nathan Elliott 37, taking the home score to something resembling respectability.
Sai Sawaan Kumar’s late knock of 22 from 29 balls gave Stoneywood Dyce a glimmer of hope of a victory but destroyed by the sensible innings of Parker who sent out a clear message that it was possible to score runs on a poor wicket.
Opener Jack Lambley could count himself unlucky among the top order batsmen, having battled to 15 with some authority before being run out, although Ewan Davidson’s first ball dismissal by Henry was a beauty.
Lennard Bester, the Stoneywood Dyce captain, was disappointed by the outcome but said: “This was a game of fine margins.
“Their captain stood up to be counted with a great knock.
“Our opening attack of Jon Grant and Abdullah (Khalid) gave us fighting chance chance, taking five wickets, but it was not to be.
“We will need to do some tweaking before our game at home to Watsonians next week.”
Huntly hit the right notes
In the NE Championship, it was a day of mixed fortunes for teams from the region with Huntly showing the way with an eight wicket win at home to Falkland 2nds.
They were inspired by captain Jack Mitchell who took six wickets for 20 from 6.3 overs, helping the Castle Park side dismiss the visitors for 90 who collapsed after being 68 for the loss of only one wicket.
Mitchell then went to score 27, making it two out of two wins for the season but more remarkably means Huntly have now won their last 14 games under the leadership of the former Stoneywood Dyce player.
Mitchell said: ”We have hit the ground running, continuing our good form of last season.We are very hopeful of a high placing in this league.”
Aberdeenshire endured a day to forget as the Mannofield club were dismissed for only 54 at Lochlands where Arbroath United look set on a quick return to the Eastern Premier.
Opener Kenny Reid’s 16 made him the only Shire batsman to reach double figures, while his two boundaries were the only ones hit by the visiting batsmen, leaving the 25 extras as top scorer for the visitors.
Craig Ross was the pick the home bowlers, taking three for six before Arbroath rattled off the 55 required to win for the loss one wicket.
”There were very few positives,” admitted Shire captain David Gamblen.
In a much closer fought affair away to Kinloch, Gordonians came up 14 runs short of the 202 set them.
Aman Arora was the pick of the Countesswells side, top-scoring with 45 and taking two for 35 in the narrow defeat.
”It was disappointing to come so close,” said Gordonians captain Mayank Bhandari.
In the Aberdeenshire Grades, title favourites Bon Accord lost their unbeaten record after being comprehensively beaten at the Links by five wickets by Master Blasters Aberdeen who look like being major players in Grade 1 this season.
The Bons were bowled out for 139 of which 41 was scored by Nawaz Mizra.
Chetan Aggarwal was the destroyer- in-chief for the winners with four for 24, while Hariharan Mohan steered them home with a superb unbeaten 40.
Mixed fortunes in the Scottish Cup
Aberdeen’s two representatives in the first round of the Scottish Cup enjoyed mixed fortunes on a rain-affected day.
It ended in disappointment for Stoneywood-Dyce who went out of the competition on Sunday after the umpires decided no play was possible, and that the tie would be decided by a bowl out which ended in Arbroath progressing to the second round by virtue of hitting the wicket more often.
“It was a terrible way to go out of a major tournament, especially after the disappointment of losing our league game on Saturday,” said club captain, Ewan Davidson.
Aberdeenshire had a more positive day in the Scottish Borders, beating Gala by 64 runs, putting behind them the misery of a nine-wicket defeat in the NE Championship on Saturday.
”It took much of the pain of the reverse in Arbroath, while making for a happy trip back home,” said Shire captain David Gamblen who chipped in with a use unbeaten 20 out of his side’s total of 144.
Opener Kenny Reid top-scored with 30. Gala were bowled out for 80.
This weekend’s results…
EASTERN PREMIER LEAGUE
Stoneywood Dyce 162 for 8 (4 points) (A Maclaren 41, N Elliott 37, R Henry 4-20, M Miller 2-18) Stewart’s Melville 165 for 5 (25 points) (S Parker 70, R Henry 50, A Khalid 3-34, J Grant 2-19)
Meigle 175 (6 points) (R Gayashan 70, A Hegde 23, L Briggs 4-26, R Hepburn 2-18) Falkland 177 for 6 (25 points) (J Henderson 70, L Briggs 34, R Gayashan 2-33, S Ejaz 2-34)
Grange 220 (25 points) (J Jarvis 52, R Flannigan 38, R McIntyre 4-44, R Allardice 2-30) Carlton 73 (0 points) (D Da Costa 31, C Greaves 4-21, C Peet 2-18)
RH Corstorphine 125 (6 points) (B McMullen 31, M Sahare 31, J Hogarth 4-20, B Allchin 2-16) Forfarshire 126 for 6 (25 points) (M Leask 51no, C Garden 49, M Sahare 2-13, C Clarkson 2-21)
Watsonian 99 (0 points) (O Hairs 29, J Davidson 25, A Neill 6-17, N Alexander 3-21) Heriot’s 100 for 0 (25 points) (L Brown 48no, M Cross 48no)
SPCU NORTH EAST CHAMPIONSHIP
Aberdeenshire 54 (1 point) (J Meiring 4-18, C Ross 3-6) Arbroath United 55 for 1 (25 points) (M Petrie 29)
2nd Falkland 90 (2 points) (C Langlands 37, J Mitchell 6-20, A Petrie 2-22) Huntly 95 for 2 (25 Points) (E Ward-Armstrong 37no, J Mitchell 27, G Cutler 2-37)
Kinloch 202 for 8 (25 points) (S Shafi 42no, S Ahmed 42, A Arora 2-35) Gordonians 188 for 9 (9 points) (A Arora 45, A Mehta 38, S Khan 3-13, H Hussain 2-30)
2nd Forfarshire 128 (25 points) Strathmore 68 (7 points)
Perth Doocot 239 for 7 (25 points) (J Rush 62, S Sharif 56, R Wright 4-33, J Niemann 2-49) Freuchie 126 (7 points) (I Stonebridge 58no, D Stonebridge 29, S Sharif 7-19)
NORTH EAST SCOTLAND CRICKET GRADES
GRADE 1
Grampian 219 (30 points) (M Nadim 110, B Vijayaraj 3-36, P Mallireddy 3-37) Knight Riders 197 (20 points) (V Ramasamy 37, P Mallireddy 28, M Rahman 4-36, J Joseph 2-33)
Inverurie 126 for 4 (10 points) (T Norval 68no, G Hadden 27, A Bashir 2-14) Gordonians 127 for 4 (30 points) (M Khosla 35, A Bashir 30no)
IDI Services 135 (30 points) (B Mohammad 27, S Sharma 25, M Hassaan 4-33, N Ul-Hassnan 3-19) AberGreen 110 (15 points) (S Bin Khalid 20, Z Rabbani 2-25, S Sharma 2-2)
Mannofield 184 (16 points) Ash Accountancy Cults 187 for 6 (30 points)
Culter Curry Bon Accord 139 (12 points) (N Mirza 41, C Aggarwal 4-24, V Vijapur 2-15) TechForce Master Blasters Aberdeen 140 for 5 (30 points) (H Mohan 40no, A Kache 38)
GRADE 2
Banchory 302 for 4 (30 points) (S Rotheram 90, W George 54) 2nd Knight Riders 168 (13 points) (B Zachariah 44, G Bhatia 32, M Herbert 4-41, T Khalid 2-16)
AGSFPs 192 for 3 (30 points) (A Haider 88no, A Keith 54, S Rathnayake 2-34) 2nd Grampian 41 (4 points) (R Swiergon 5-10, H Javaid 2-6)
Quilter Cheviot Ellon Gordon 90 (30 points) (B Veldsman 44, H Niazai 3-29, C McLeman 2-16) Fraserburgh 22 (10 points) (R Greenfield 5-7, B Webb 5-15)
GRADE 3
2nd Master Blasters Aberdeen 167 (30 points) (M Khan 53, R Mantha 27, J Moore 6-34, D Low 2-42) 2nd Methlick 74 (13 points) (R Moir 29, A Kolapalli 3-7, S Dhanamani 3-11)
2nd Gordonians 264 for 8 (30 points) (S Gollakota 86, R Davis 32, Z Hussain 2-42) Stonehaven Thistle 177 for 6 (18 points) (A Gale 63no, J Sura 31, S Gollakota 4-36)
Crathie 234 for 7 (30 points) (L Belton 52, P Cunningham 29, V Saravanan 2-29) 2nd Mannofield 136 (14 points) (P Wood 50, S Horne 24, L Belton 3-18)
Stoneywood Dyce 83 (30 points) (H MacKenzie 24, B Balaji 3-10, M Baldry 2-9) Dunecht 76 (13 points) (J Slater 3-5, G Perera 3-17)
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