Stoneywood-Dyce missed a golden opportunity to move clear of fellow strugglers Meigle in the Eastern Premier League in Edinburgh after throwing away a winning position against Stewart’s Melville.
After dismissing the Inverleith side for 171, the visitors looked to be cruising to victory at 60 without loss, only to crash to 122 all out.
They face Meigle at People’s Park on the final day of the season.
In the meantime they have five testing games against Carlton (a), Watsonians (h), Falkland (a), RH Corstorphine (h), and Forfarshire (a) in which to make their top flight status safe.
Fortunately, Meigle’s form is no better, having also won only one game.
Stand-in captain Ewan Davidson enjoyed a good day, making the perfect start when he won the toss, and given the strength of his bowling attack, rightly elected to put Stewart’s Melville in to bat.
The 20-year-old then went on to marshall his attack with authority before deciding to open the batting for the visitors, going on to top score with a responsible, determined 48, only to see his fellow batters, crumble under pressure, apart from opener Du Preez Stander who knuckled down with a gutsy 25.
Earlier in the afternoon, the People’s Park bowling attack kept the pressure on, with only professional Shaylen Pillay being able to exert any kind of mastery with a tidy 35, although former Aberdeenshire player Connor Shorten’s unbeaten 26 proved invaluable.
Stander returned two for 20, while Abullah Khallid’s two for 22 included the two home openers. Once again Shaun Wolmarans was on the money with two for 23.
Davidson said: “I am disappointed for the team, but we’re not down by a long chalk, although it was hard to take.”
At the other end of the division, Grange maintained their top place, this despite their game at home to Meigle being abandoned,as were all the other EPL games, bar the game at Inverleith, involving Stoneywood-Dyce.
Shire stumble against Arbroath
In the NE Championship, only Aberdeenshire among the north-east representatives were able to get a game played after Huntly’s game a Falkand was called off, as was the game between Gordonians and Kinloch at Countesswells.
Shire were unable to take advantage and were comprehensively beaten by runaway leaders Arbroath United who after bowling the home side for 112, cruised to victory by nine wickets.
Captain David Gamblen said: “We failed to take advantage of a good track, as was proved by Luke Bain’s 23 for us, and underlined by Arbroath’s opener Ross McLean’s unbeaten 65.
“Losing wickets in clusters does not help.
“It’s all very disappointing but we have six more games in which to make impact. The season is by no means over.”
Kenny Reid, top-scored for Shire with 28 and looked for a while like a man intent on rolling back the years.
In the Grades, Bon Accord remain top of Grade 1 but were made to fight all the way at Allan Park where they successfully hunted down the Cults total of 164.
Master Blasters Aberdeen kept up the pressure on the Bons with a convincing 92-run win over AberGreen.
The shock of the day was in Grade 2 where leaders Aberdeen Grammar were beaten by six runs by 2nd Grampian whose 151 was too much for the Rubislaw side.
This weekend’s results…
EASTERN PREMIER LEAGUE
Stewart’s Melville 171 (25 points) (S Pillay 35, C Shorten 26no, D Stander 2-20, A Khalid 2-22) Stoneywood Dyce 122 (4 points) (E Davidson 48, D Stander 26, J Newman 4-25, S Pillay 3-29)
Forfarshire v RH Corstorphine – Match Abandoned
Falkland 195 for 7 (K Jacobs 73, J Henderson 36, Z Rashid 3-15, R Gayashan 2-38) Meigle 6 for 1 – Match Abandoned
Grange 293 for 7 (C Greaves 59, F McCreath 59, R McIntyre 3-59, L O’Donnell 2-30) Carlton 22 for 2 (J Jarvis 2-10) – Match Abandoned
Watsonian 114 (L Naylor 33, J Dickinson 5-11, G Main 2-27) Heriot’s 19 for 0 – Match Abandoned
BREEDON SPCU NORTH EAST CHAMPIONSHIP
Aberdeenshire 112 (3 points) (K Reid 28, L Bain 23, C Ross 4-23, C Robb 2-17) Arbroath United 119 for 1 (25 points) (R McLean 65no, J Meiring 46no)
Gordonians v Kinloch – Match Abandoned
2nd Falkland v Huntly – Match Abandoned
Perth Doocot 258 for 6 (25 points) (S Sharif 109no, R Khan 49, D Cowan 2-38) Freuchie 196 for 8 (8 points) (I Stonebridge 34, R Wiseman 34, R Khan 5-47)
Strathmore v 2nd Forfarshire – Match Abandoned
NORTH EAST SCOTLAND CRICKET GRADES
GRADE 1
Grampian 177 (15 points) (J Aluvathingal 47, M Nadim 23, S Mehta 4-49, H Parkar 3-25) Gordonians 179 for 5 (30 points) (Ak Bashir 51no, R Ratan 45, John Varghese 2-15, B Jacob 2-28)
Ash Accountancy Cults 164 (17 points) (U Ullah 83, A Gohar 39, T Malik 3-15, S Ahmed 3-31) Culter Curry Bon Accord 168 for 8 (30 points) (M Ahmed 63, P Gopinathan 26no, U Ullah 3-45, S Ahmad 2-35)
Mannofield 184 for 8 (16 points) (R Hegde 57, R Hashmi 33, K Reddy 3-47, K Quraishi 2-33) IDI Services Crescent 187 for 6 (30 points) (N Thangaraj 40, S Sharma 39, V Sood 3-32)
TechForce Master Blasters Aberdeen 198 (30 points) (H Mohan 39, S Peedikayil 30, A Upadhyaya 4-27) AberGreen 106 (15 points) (H Chovatiya 4-28, V Vijapur 3-18)
GRADE 2
Banchory 163 (14 points) (W George 53, S Rotheram 37, S Kodur 5-23, B Vijayaraj Jayakumari 2-9) 2nd Knight Riders 164 for 5 (30 points) (U Reddy 81, G Bhatia 40no, S Abbott 2-37, C Findlay 2-41)
Methlick 101 for 7 (6 points) (R Fryer 22, M Woodhouse 21no, M Myron-Petrie 2-17, D Morrison 2-23) Huntly 102 for 1 (30 points) (A Dawar 56no, D Morrison 26no)
2nd AberGreen 111 (7 points) (S Ahmed 34, P Azhakath 3-11, P Sharma 3-23) Portcullis 116 for 2 (30 points) (P Azhakath 56no, S Malaviya 54no)
2nd Grampian 151 (30 points) AGSFPs 145 (18 points)
GRADE 3
Stonehaven Thistle v 2nd Gordonians – Match Abandoned
2nd Methlick v 2nd Master Blasters Aberdeen – Match Abandoned
Dunecht 305 for 3 (30 points) (M Witz 129no, K Babu Andru 80no) Stoneywood Dyce 94 (7 points) (A Madigan 51, V Mani 3-1, F Smeaton 2-10)