Stoneywood-Dyce’s remain bottom of the Eastern Premier after slipping to a seventh successive defeat.
Captain Lennard Bester, who missed the game at Corstorphine stayed loyal to his misfiring charges who recorded 219, their highest total of the season, but were surpassed for the loss of only two wickets in the 44th over by the home side.
He said: “It was a tough one to take, but as long as we have quality performances from players like Du Preez Stander, we’ll be able to turn things around.
“Carrying your bat for a knock of 102 is some achievement in this league.
“Andrew MacLaren’s 23 was a study in concentration.
“We didn’t bowl as well as we have done of late but then it was a scorching day, and not one in which to be out there.
“Anyone who writes us off does so at their peril.”
The People’s Park side won the toss and elected to bat but apart from Stander’s superb century which included 11 fours and lasted for 139 balls there was little else to commend the visitors’ batting.
Five others reached double figures, including former captain Jamie King who weighed in with a whirlwind unbeaten 15.
Home star was Tony Dunford took three for 35 before stroking an immaculate 95 to steer his side home to a comfortable eight-wicket victory.
Another test of the area’s top team comes on Saturday when highly-rated Forfarshire come calling in Aberdeen.
FOUR games this weekend! 🏏
First up on Saturday, the 1s travel to RH Corstorphine, eyeing up a first league win of the season after some good recent performances.
🎥 Live streaming: https://t.co/WdzLLlumZl…
📝 Live scoring: https://t.co/ShcSOD7H5b…
🧵…(1/4) pic.twitter.com/Pn4sDqwD2w
— Stoneywood Dyce (@StoneywoodDyce) June 9, 2023
Countesswells men ease to victory
There was little by way of consolation for the region for the three clubs in the NE Championship with only Gordonians winning comfortably against 2nd Falkland, easing home by nine wickets after bowling the visitors out for 118.
Captain Mayank Bandari starred with the ball, capturing five for 24, while the in-form Arbrar Ahmed was the batting hero, stroking an elegant 62.
“It’s good to on a winning streak,” said Bandari.
Title contenders Huntly found unbeaten Arbroath United too hot to handle, although the Castle Park captain Jack Mitchell was disappointed not to have made a better fist of defending their very respectable total of 230.
He said: “We were probably 20 or 30 runs short of a winning total but we didn’t bowl well.
“It was a great shame for Elijah Ward-Armstrong who hit a magnificent 105, sharing a partnership of 102 with Jay-Dee Oliver.
“We are not out of it yet, though someone will need to beat Arbroath.”
But probably the most disappointed skipper of the day was Aberdeenshire’s David Gamblen who presided over a good fielding performance in which they dismissed Perth Doo’cot for 180 and then failed to hunt down the required total.
He said: “We really should be winning games like this.
“We bowled well enough with Lewis Munro taking five for 21, only to slump to three down for nine, and despite a fight back lost by 64 runs.
“We need to stop losing wickets in clusters but it’s back to the drawing board.”
Title race springs to life
Inverurie blew the Grade 1 title race wide open at Kellands Park by forcing their way into the battle for the top place at the expense of Master Blasters Aberdeen, one of the early pacesetters.
Set 285 to win by the home side, Master Blasters fell 61 runs short, enabling Mannofield to take over at the head of affairs, vying for the leadership with four other teams, including Inverurie, Bon Accord, Gordonians and Master Blasters.
On a day when firm wickets made for high scoring, Fazal Awan of Bon Accord led the way with an imperious 132 out of his side’s 281 against Grampian’s 125.
In Grade Two, Methlick kept up the pressure on leaders Aberdeen Grammar after a narrow one wicket win at home to Fraserburgh.
This weekend’s results…
EASTERN PREMIER LEAGUE
Stoneywood Dyce 219 for 8 (2 points) (D Stander 102no, A Maclaren 23, A Dunford 3-35, T Lush 2-51) RH Corstorphine 220 for 2 (25 points) (A Dunford 95, D Rane 76)
Carlton 136 (25 points) (R McIntyre 21, U Mohammad 21, R Hepburn 3-17, J Henderson 2-10) Falkland 126 (8 points) (J Henderson 41, S Meikle 25, A Pillai 3-17, R Allardice 3-23)
Forfarshire 187 (2 points) (C Wallace 73no, L Robertson 50, G Goudie 3-22, R Dharani 3-52) Grange 191 for 3 (25 points) (F McCreath 71no, H Carnegie 63)
Meigle 209 (4 points) (T Brits 54, R Gayashan 47, E Ruthven 5-17, J Hickman 2-19) Heriot’s 210 for 5 (25 points) (L Brown 80, J Dickinson 34no, C Clark 3-46)
Stewart’s Melville 254 (8 points) (R Henry 105, A Appleton 39, G Weatherall 4-32, O Hairs 2-34) Watsonian 255 for 9 (25 points) (J Davidson 78no, M Carson 64, S Pillay 4-37)
BREEDON SPCU NORTH EAST CHAMPIONSHIP
Perth Doocot 181 (25 points) (J Rush 57, T Hussain 34, L Munro 5-21, M Saraswat 2-26) Aberdeenshire 117 (9 points) (J Goodwin 48, M Saraswat 36, M Hussain 5-18, B Ditchmen 2-24)
Huntly 230 for 6 (8 points) (E Ward-Armstrong 115, J Oliver 54, D Sinclair 2-26, C Ross 2-49) Arbroath United 231 for 2 (25 points) (J Meiring 73no, D Sinclair 53no)
2nd Falkland 118 (3 points) (C Langlands 20, M Bhandari 5-24, H Saraswat 2-23) Gordonians 122 for 1 (25 points) (A Ahmed 62no, T Kirodian 37no)
Strathmore 203 for 8 (25 points) (J Blackie 42, L Trueman 37, R Wright 2-29, S Birrell 2-32) Freuchie 158 (8 points) (I Stonebridge 57, D Stonebridge 43, J Choudhray 4-39, L Sweeney 2-34)
2nd Forfarshire 283 for 7 (25 points) (G Garden 86, J Girolami 71, H Hussain 3-50, S Shafi 2-67) Kinloch 224 (10 points) (A Awan 65, H Hussain 42, C McConnachie 2-10, F Duncan 2-28)
NORTH EAST SCOTLAND CRICKET GRADES
GRADE 1
Culter Curry Bon Accord 291 for 5 (30 points) (F Awan 132, M Ahmed 49, M Nadim 2-38) Grampian 125 (11 points) (B Jacob 26, A Nimmy 22, V Kalashetty 2-0, A Chattha 2-16)
Mannofield 285 for 5 (30 points) (W Anderson 82, R Chandu 60no, A Siddiq 2-25, T Khan 2-54) AberGreen 226 for 7 (15 points) (M Hassaan 56no, A Yaqub 53, R Tahir 2-22, A Ali 2-38)
Ash Accountancy Cults 133 (13 points) (S Ali 30, V Amirtharaj 5-27, U Reddy 2-20) Knight Riders 138 for 6 (30 points) (S Kumarasamy 26, S Arumugam Vijandiran 24, A Gohar 3-29, I Niamatullah 2-19)
IDI Services Crescent 253 for 7 (15 points) (S Sharma 157no, S Tahseen 37, H Parkar 4-39) Gordonians 256 for 5 (30 points) (A Vitthala 37, I Pandit 35, J Panchal 2-23)
Inverurie 284 for 7 (30 points) (G Hadden 86, R Kola 47no, J Gajjar 2-33, V Vijapur 2-66) TechForce Master Blasters Aberdeen 223 (17 points) (H Mohan 50, M Khan 38, F Lawrance 3-30, J Thom 3-39)
GRADE 2
2nd Knight Riders 208 for 8 (30 points) (P Chellappan 47, M Wilson 39no, A Blackburn 2-24, K Vijayakrishnan 2-32) Portcullis 196 for 5 (18 points) (O Thorpe 61no, K Vijayakrishnan 33, K Kesavan 2-34)
2nd Grampian 87 (13 points) (A Mahbub 42, M Tandon 4-32, S Shorten 3-8) Huntly 88 for 9 (30 points) (S Joseph 3-13, B Gopinathan 2-22)
Banchory 221 for 9 (18 points) (S Rotheram 80, M Herbert 72, B Veldsman 4-29, B Webb 2-31) Quilter Cheviot Ellon Gordon 222 for 8 (30 points) (J Barrett 85, B Webb 64, M Thapa 2-28)
Methlick 137 for 9 (30 points) Fraserburgh 135 (16 points)
AGSFPs 250 for 4 (30 points) (K Anand 109no, A Keith 73, U Ghafoor 3-33) 2nd AberGreen 156 (12 points) (R Swiergon 3-20, G Morrison 2-20)
GRADE 3
Stonehaven Thistle 78 (30 points) (B Slee 3-1, S Naseer 3-28) Crathie 58 (12 points) (P Morris 23, N King 5-5, Z Hussain 2-20)
2nd Master Blasters Aberdeen 189 for 8 (30 points) (S Tenneti 57no, A Deshmukh 49, F Jack 3-29, S Palaninathan 2-34) Stoneywood Dyce 143 (15 points) (J Slater 41, F Marcelline 22, R Shrivastav 2-16, S Tenneti 2-20)
Dunecht 91 (30 points) (B Ingram 33, V Nair 4-10) 3rd Gordonians 87 (14 points) (R Kirodian 34, D Balamurali 3-28, A Burnett 2-9)
2nd Mannofield 155 for 7 (9 points) (L Saraswat 61, S Shedbal 28, J Shaikh 3-23) 2nd Gordonians 158 for 1 (30 points) (S Gollakota 78, A Hounsome 41no)
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