After a Friday of prolonged and persistent rain, it was a surprise to see any cricket surviving on Saturday. Gordonians visited Kellands Park and got off to a great start as Chamila Perera ripped through the Inverurie top order taking 5 for 7 from his 8 overs, but he couldn’t remove Chris Watson who made 63. Late order support from numbers 8 and 9, Strachan and Pratt with 30 and 37 respectively, rescued some respectability as they took the score to 159. Jordan Thom and Luke Bain took 3 cheap wickets apiece as the Gordonians batsmen had a day to forget as they crumbled to 59 all out. If you can score runs at Sheddocksley then you can score more runs on better pitches, so the emergence of Ajay Narne with 96 not out from a Cults total of 188 for 9 against Siyapa will give opposition bowlers some concern. He was amongst the wickets as well as Cults won by 55 runs. Crescent had a good start to the season as Umar Qureshi opened up with 48 and others made solid contributions as they accumulated 205 for 7. Bimalsony Gopinathan notched up 57 opening for Grampian, but only Varghese made double figures in support and the evergreen Dave Gibson took 4 for 11 to wrap up a 76 run victory.Bon Accord and Master Blasters had a day off as no play was possible at Allan Park and Knight Riders against AGSFPs was unable to go ahead as discussions continue around the new pricing structure for Council facilities.
In Grade 2 the Stoneywood Dyce v 2nd Knight Riders match also fell victim to the Council switch to an hourly hire rate and the wet outfield at Mannofield put paid to their match against Fraserburgh. Johnny Barrett was the star turn at Gordon Park taking 3 for 17 as Portcullis were restricted to 133 for 8. Barrett was unbeaten on 64 as Ellon cruised to a 7 wicket win.It was a low scoring thriller at Rubislaw as 2nd AGSFPs totalled 128 in large part thanks to Rajaa Monnapillai with 43. His 4 for 10 then had Methlick in a lot of trouble but an unbeaten 21 from number 9 Grant Cordiner gave them a nail biting win with 2 balls to spare.
In Grade 3 the 2nd Methlick v Banchory match was another victim of the Friday rain. The Stonehaven against Crathie match proved to be the expected close run affair. Robin Blackwood scored 36 as Stonehaven were all out for 106 in the 30th over with Mike Baldry doing most of the damage with 5 for 19, ably supported by Justin Thomas with 3 for 24. An undefeated 39 from Paul Morris brought Crathie to within 15 runs of Stonehaven, but the home side took the spoils and will be in and around the top of the table as the season goes on. 2nd Grampian took advantage of the quick outfield at Countesswells as a late flurry of runs helped them rattle up 213 for 6 against 2nd Gordonians. The home side did well to bat for 34 overs accumulating 122, and will have been delighted that 2 of their under 13s topped the scoring, Tanish Kirodian with 21 and Pranav Gollakota on 16.
In the Eastern Premier League it took a lot of hard work to get a 2pm start to the Stoneywood Dyce v Meigle match. Catches stuck as Meigle couldn’t cope with 4 wicket hauls for Jon Grant and Leighton Collins as the EPL newcomers were out for a disappointing 67. Stuart Lister was severe on anything loose and took SDCC to a 7 wicket win in the 22nd over. Elsewhere there were wins for Grange, RH Corstorphine, Watsonians and Forfarshire.Aberdeenshire had a fruitful start to life in the SPCU NE Championship with a trip to Forfar as they rolled over Kinloch. David Gamblen and Findlay Anderson both took 3 wickets as Kinloch were removed for 83 in 23 overs. It didn’t take long for Aayush Das and Kenny Reid to finish things off, unbeaten on 47 and 25 respectively. The encounters between Gordonians and Strathmore and Freuchie versus 2nd Forfarshire were non-starters and the Arbroath v Dundee High match was unable to reach a conclusion. Lyle Robertson was the main man as Falkland thrashed Perth Doocot by 104 runs. He was unbeaten on 80 out of a score of 157 all out and then took 4 for 7 to complete the rout.