2021 Season, Completed It Mate

The 2021 season that was shrouded in so much uncertainty due to Covid restrictions, was completed on Saturday, and whilst problems were encountered along the way, only one weekend was seriously affected by rain. The rain that was in evidence in most of the Aberdeenshire area, relented in the Broch, and the Grade 2 fixture between Fraserburgh and 2nd Knight Riders went ahead. Fraserburgh batted first and Liam Bowie and Stuart Flowerdew got them off to a good start, Bowie the first out for 34. A rare outing in Grade 2 for Somu Kumarasamy brought about the demise of Paul O’Neill for 3, and the eventual stumping of Flowerdew for 76. A trademark final flourish from Chris Gospel, unbeaten on 52, saw the Fraserburgh innings end on 204 for 4. Kumarasamy opened the batting for Knight Riders and top scored with 72, but wickets fell at regular intervals, Alan Rennie with the best return of 3 for 28 as Knight Riders were all out for 176 in the 31st over. Despite the defeat, 2nd Knight Riders secured the runners up spot in Grade 2 behind Mannofield.

2nd Gordonians had enough of their regulars involved that they had high hopes of spoiling the Banchory BBQ, but rain kept the cars in their driveways, and Banchory secured the Grade 3 title. 

The SPCU hierarchy will have been delighted to see Falkland defeating Gala in the Eastern Premier League play off. This avoided the complexities of having to arrange a 13 team league, although being the only top league in Scotland with 12 teams will still be a fixturing challenge. Falkland were bowled out for 175 and then took early wickets to make the chase an uphill struggle for Gala. A mid innings recovery couldn’t be sustained, and Gala were dismissed 23 runs short of the much prized EPL spot. 

And so the bats and pads of the North East cricketing fraternity will hibernate in cricket bags for the winter, some whites may find their way into a washing machine, some will be left to fester until next April, and those who have done the previews and reviews for the website will ponder (probably in vain) how they can get others to do the job in 2022.