North-east cricket generally failed to match the splendid weather which prevailed in the region over the weekend.
The biggest disappointment came in Edinburgh where Stoneywood-Dyce ended the afternoon at the bottom of the Eastern Premier after being soundly beaten by fellow strugglers Watsonians.
Even in the NE Championship, joint leaders Huntly made hard work of seeing off 2nd Forfarshire, winning by a mere one wicket, while Aberdeenshire slumped to a disappointing three-wicket defeat away to Freuchie after clocking up a respectable 234.
The most joyous return of the weekend was in Perth where Gordonians registered their first win of the season, convincingly seeing off the challenge of Perth Doocot, one of the title hopefuls, by six wickets.
The slump of Stoneywood-Dyce to their fifth defeat in five starts is the most concerning for the area, especially as the defeat at Myreside was at the hands of a Watsonians side who were picking up their first win of the campaign, pushing the People’s Park side into the one relegation place in the division.
After winning the toss the home side reached 313 for the loss of seven wickets which given the fragile batting of the Aberdeen side was always going to be a challenge.
Opener Oli Hairs set the tone with a bristing knock of 53 from 29 balls but it was Liam Naylor who did the most damage with a classy innings of 102, including 11 sumptuous fours.
Nathan Elliott was the most effective of the visiting bowling attack, taking two wickets including that of Naylor.
Facing such a big total, the visitors were always chasing the game, and although seven batsmen reached double figures, only Hayden Laing (41) and Sai Sawan Kumar (30) looked like lasting the course as they fell 117 runs short on 196.
A home game against second bottom Falkland on Saturday represents an opportunity to pull out of trouble for Stoneywood-Dyce.
At Castle Park, Huntly were recording their 16th consecutive win under captain Jack Mitchell who although happy enough with keeping up the pressure on joint leaders Arbroath United, he was less pleased with the margin of the win.
He said: “‘We made hard work of bowling Forfarshire for 161 when we should have dismissed them for around 110.
“Even when we batted it should never have gone to our last wicket, but it’s a win.
“We now have tough games to come at home to Perth and then away to Arbroath.
“These games will define our season.”
Mitchell who played his part, taking three for 18, while teenager Andrew Petrie weighed in with three for 22 and a superb display of ground fielding in the deep.
Opener Jay-Lee Oliver led the home reply with 72, including six fours and two sixes before adjudged leg before.
Thereafter, Huntly limped over the winning line in the 38th over but with only one wicket in hand.
Gordonians owed much to opener Abrar Ahmed for their first win of the season away to Perth Doo’cot.
The talented all-rounder took four wickets for 12, helping bowl the home side out for 128 and hitting a magnificent 53 in his side’s four wicket win.
”After our poor start to the season, we have now launched our campaign in style,” said Mayank Bandari, the Gordonians captain.
At Freuchie on Saturday, Aberdeenshire looked to have set a winning total of 235 but despite a fine knock of 80 from opener Kenny Reid and a supportive 47 from Joshua Goodwin failed to hold off the home side who cruised to victory in the 42nd over.
”We just didn’t bowl well enough, it’s hugely disappointing,” said Shire captain David Gamblen who was the exception, taking three for 22 in his spell of six overs.
Aberdeenshire exited the Scottish Cup in the second round at the hands of Grange in Edinburgh on Sunday.
Chasing a total of 256, Shire fell to 189 all out despite the best efforts of Josh Goodwin who produced a superb 115 from 86 balls, including 17 boundaries and two sixes.
Grange will face Carlton in the quarter-finals of the competition.
In the Aberdeenshire Grades, Master Blasters Aberdeen kept their place at the head of Grade 1, beating Grampian by 10 wickets after bowing them out for 58.
The performance of the day was from Bon Accord openers Fazal Awan and Khawar Ahmed who put on 218 for the first wicket in their total of 341, helping them beat Crescent by 221 runs. Awan went on to score 127, which included seven fours and a remarkable 12 sixes.
Results
EASTERN PREMIER LEAGUE
Watsonian 313 for 7 (25 points) (L Naylor 102, O Hairs 51, D Stander 2-45, N Elliott 2-60) Stoneywood Dyce 196 (2 points) (H Laing 41, A Maclaren 31, T Pratt 4-45, J Davidson 2-30)
Meigle 132 (0 points) (T Brits 73, J Hogarth 4-34, M Leask 3-21) Forfarshire 134 for 0 (25 points) (J O’Neill 78no, R Johnston 52no)
Carlton 299 for 6 (25 points) (D Da Costa 148, R Main 112, R Henry 4-34) Stewart’s Melville 213 (4 points) (S Pillay 85, K Steel 43, A Pillai 3-35, C Stronach 2-24)
Falkland 174 for 8 (2 points) (J Henderson 102no, J De Jager 24, C Greaves 3-24, R McGlasham 2-16) Grange 177 for 2 (25 points) (F McCreath 68, T Foulds 68)
RH Corstorphine 254 (4 points) (B McMullen 132no, O Gould 38, J Dickinson 3-22, A Neill 3-45) Heriot’s 257 for 4 (25 points) (M Cross 145no, R Brown 30no)
BREEDON SPCU NORTH EAST CHAMPIONSHIP
Aberdeenshire 234 for 9 (11 points) (K Reid 80, J Goodwin 47no, R Wright 3-30, R Wiseman 2-30) Freuchie 235 for 7 (25 points) (J Niemann 53, I Stonebridge 36, D Gamblen 3-22)
Perth Doocot 128 (6 points) (T Hussain 38, S Sharif 34, A Ahmed 4-12, A Arora 3-43) Gordonians 129 for 6 (25 points) (A Ahmed 53, A Arora 23, S Sharif 4-48, O Patterson 2-30)
2nd Forfarshire 161 (9 points) (T Msarara 36no, T Richardson 31, J Mitchell 3-18, A Petrie 3-22) Huntly 162 for 9 (25 points) (J Oliver 72, E Ward-Armstrong 32, T Richardson 3-36, J Girolami 3-38)
2nd Falkland 182 for 5 (7 points) (G Cutler 60no, K Piyumal 26no, S Uddin 2-30)
Kinloch 183 for 4 (25 points) (A Awan 58no, A Ashfaq 33, G Cutler 2-25, C Hepburn 2-37)
Strathmore 152 for 8 (5 points) (H Kiyani 50, M Mudie 35, R McLean 4-27, J Meiring 2-34) Arbroath United 152 for 2 (25 points) (J Meiring 77no, D Sinclair 53no, J Choudhray 2-38)
NORTH EAST SCOTLAND CRICKET GRADES
GRADE 1
Gordonians 264 for 8 (30 points) (I Pandit 101, Ak Bashir 36, I Niamatullah 4-57, M Mohsin 2-35) Ash Accountancy Cults 243 for 9 (18 points) (A Gohar 99, S Ali 29, M Khosla 2-19, Ash Bashir 2-45)
Grampian 58 (2 points) (J George 21, S Peedikayil 6-24, H Chovatiya 3-3) TechForce Master Blasters Aberdeen 61 for 0 (30 points) (R Fernandes 27no, A Kache 26no)
Culter Curry Bon Accord 341 for 7 (30 points) (A Awan 127, K Ahmed 75, S Quraishi 3-50) IDI Services Crescent 121 (13 points) (S Sharma 56, S Quraishi 23no, N Mirza 3-12, F Awan 3-20)
AberGreen 210 for 3 (13 points) (H Masood 74, S Bedaar 53no) Knight Riders 212 for 3 (30 points) (S Kumarasamy 63no, S Palaniappan 54no)
Mannofield 211 for 9 (30 points) (R Tahir 88, R Hashmi 34, J Thom 3-44, G Hadden 2-38) Inverurie 141 (16 points) (J Thom 34, C Watson 31, A Hastie 3-33, I Bandara 3-35)
GRADE 2
2nd Knight Riders 111 (7 points) (V Vivekanandan 41, S Harrower 6-31) AGSFPs 112 for 2 (30 points (A Keith 46no, A Haider 42no, T George 2-15)
Huntly 152 (15 points) (A Dawar 41, D Morrison 30, A Sood 2-12, K Paterson 2-22) Portcullis 153 for 7 (30 points) (P Azhakath 30, J Dawson 29, L Paterson 2-23, M Myron-Petrie 2-23)
Banchory 250 for 9 (30 points) (M Herbert 63, M Thapa 50, M Kurian 2-17, B Gopinathan 2-38) 2nd Grampian 163 (18 points) (A Mahbub 43, K Gayashan 28, V Adyanthaya 3-19, M Thapa 3-32)
2nd AberGreen 119 (15 points) Fraserburgh 120 for 9 (30 points)
Methlick (30points) walkover against Ellon (0 points)
GRADE 3
2nd Mannofield 142 (8 points) (L Saraswat 25, E Shedball 22no, S Chouksey 2-7, A Nair 2-22) 3rd Gordonians 146 for 1 (30 points) (A Mukhopadhya 72no, A Nair 23no)
Dunecht 135 for 9 (13 points) (K Babu Andru 44, J Moore 3-31, L Crutchfield 2-30) 2nd Methlick 136 for 6 (30 points) (T Acton 48no, M Woodhouse 29, B Balaji 3-23)
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