Bon Accord lifted the first trophy of the season as they convincingly defended the Turriff Cup at Peoples Park on Sunday. Knight Riders made it through to the final courtesy of their boundary catching as Gordonians habitually holed out.
Bons took care of Crescent in their semi final with Fazal Awan and Presanth Gopinathan scoring 37 and 31 respectively. Taimur Suri picked up 4 for 16 as Bons were all out for 144. Alex Pereira scored 44 as Crescent fell short on 103.Bons batted first in the final and Gopinathan was in the runs again as they accumulated 121 for 8. Knight Riders were all out for 96 with Malik taking 4 for 16.
Bons remain top of the table in Grade 1 with a walkover against Stoneywood-Dyce, and they saw the gap to Inverurie widen as Gordonians pulled off a surprise at Countesswells. Scott White made 51 out of an Inverurie opening partnership of 93 with George Hadden, who eventually fell for 47 as they totalled 196 for 6. Gordonians were deep in trouble at 47 for 5, but 39 from Indy Pandit and an unbeaten 37 from Chamila Perera gave Gordos a 1 wicket win with 5 balls to spare. It was the battle of the number 7’s at Gordon Park as Ellon lost a nerve jangler to AGSFPs by 3 runs. Harry Mapplebeck top scored with 36 as the visitors were all out for 144, Richard Greenfield taking 3 for 20 to finish off the innings. Greenfield was the main contributor with 37 for Ellon as Mapplebeck took 3 for 18, and the last wicket partnership for Ellon almost did the business, but fell 3 runs shy of glory.The Knight Riders total of 228 for 9 was well above par for the Allan Park, Abhinav Kache making a half century. Cults were bundled out for 68 in the 25th over with Safeer Peedikayil doing the damage with 5 for 20. An unbeaten century from Will Anderson hoisted Mannofield to a more than respectable 200 for 7 against Crescent at Harlaw. Grant Jamieson took 5 for 20 to give Mannofield a 60 run victory.
Grampian keep the pressure up in Grade 2 as they picked up the 30 points for a win at Methlick. Jeby George made 69 as they were all out for 181 and John Varghese took 3 for 19 to remove the hosts for 124. Aberdeen Super Kings are level in 2nd place with Grampian as they had a 6 wicket win against 2nd AGSFPs. 4 for 8 for Mausam Thapa was the bowling highlight and 48 from Wilson D’Souza the batting highlight as ASK chased down the 117 required.37 from Lee Fenton helped Stonehaven to a total of 119 against 2nd Knight Riders, but it wasn’t enough as 2nd Knight Riders won in the 30th over with 4 wickets in hand. Banchory won their second match of the season as Sam Rotheram scored 49 out of their 189 against Fraserburgh. Tim Wilkinson picked up 3 wickets as Fraserburgh never got going and were all out for 72.
In Grade 3 Presheet Deshpande and Shovon Mostofa took 4 wickets apiece to knock the stuffing out of the 2nd Grampian batting line up. Portcullis chased down the 98 to win for the loss of 6 wickets. Early wickets for Gordonians youngsters Kanishka Desai and Shubhan Kistareddy had Crathie in a bit of bother at Balmoral, but 51 from Peter Cunningham and 80 from Mick Bestwick saw them post a winning score of 173 as 2nd Gordos struggled to 56 all out. In the remaining match, Dunecht kept 2nd Methlick down to 116 for 5, overtaking this score with 2 overs left and 5 wickets still standing.
In the SPCU NE Championship Arbroath will be kicking themselves for surrendering a winning position against Gordonians at Countesswells. For the hosts 13 year old Adi Hegde batted through to the 45th over for 59, but it needed a brisk 72 from Mayank Bhandari to take the score to 197 for 7. Arbroath were cruising at 170 for 2, but crumbled to 189 for 9 as Arora and Saraswat changed the game and put the brakes on. Harsha Cooray was on familiar ground at Mannofield as he made 71 out of a league best score for the season of 316 for 8 by Falkland. An under strength home side were bowled out for 111 and a 205 run defeat. Meigle stayed top of the table as Peter Drummond made 51 of their 188 against 2nd Forfarshire. Charles Clark took 4 wickets as Forfs were all out for 159, a half century from Graeme Garden being in vain. A low scoring match at Dalnacraig saw Dundee High bowl out Perth Doocot for 86 and then lose 9 wickets securing a nervy win. Strathmore overpowered Kinloch to stay 2nd in the table.
In the Eastern Premier League the last chance saloon is almost closing for relegation threatened Aberdeenshire. Juniors Ken Yahathugoda and Joseph Horne were the only batsmen to make double figures as Shire were bowled out for 73 by RH Corstorphine who only lost 2 wickets in overhauling the required total in 21 overs. Chris Greaves smashed 180 as Forfarshire made a huge 394 for 6 at Stoneywood-Dyce. The hosts were never in the running as they were bowled out for 146. Stewarts Melville were hammered by Heriots so they could still be overtaken by Shire if they can find some form. Grange and Carlton stay in 2nd and 3rd respectively after wins over Arbroath and Watsonians.