At Countesswells Gordonians welcome a resurgent Inverurie. Gordos are missing Chamila Pererra who’s been called up for 1’s duty but do have teenage run machine Tanish Kirodian in their side. Inverurie are missing the holy trinity in George Hadden, Fraser Lawrance and Jordan Thom.
Mannofield make the short trip to Rubislaw without their captain Indy Yahathugoda so Rahul Chandu picks up the captains armband. Chandu’s chargers do welcome back Phil Wood for a first appearance of the season. Alec Keith and Rob Swiergon are due a big score but Grammar will have to do without their quiet and understated allrounder Karan Anand.
Crescent could put the final nail of the coffin in Bon Accord’s title chances at the Links today, Crescent go with their tried and tested line up that’s done the business this season while early indications suggest that the Bons will have to do without messrs Malik and Awan.
Groats Road sees an interesting batting between Knightriders 1sts and 2nds. Interesting to see normal 1st team bowlers Bijin, Mahesh and Uday all stepping down to the 2nds for this game although if rumours are to be believed then umpires were requested for this game which would suggest that neither team will be giving less than 100% in this one.
Cults entertain their tenants Master Blasters at Allan Park, Cults must be at full strength if they are loaning Brian Lynas and Patrick Watson to Dunecht although team news is a bit thin on the ground for this one. I can only presume both sides were making the most of the jubilee holiday yesterday.
Grade 2 returns to league action after a 3 week T20 break for the Bon Accord Cup. Fraserburgh will the rueing the current fuel price with a trip to Banchory. The broch are without Alan Rennie for this one but do include Leanne Broadley in the side for this one.
2nd Grampian meet Portcullis and both teams appear to be keeping their selections under wraps, Portcullis will be hoping that Keir Paterson and Ben Horne are amongst the wickets while Kanan Vijayakrishnan and Owen Thorpe are due to make a sizable contribution with the bat. Mynul Nadim is 2nd Grampians top wicket taker and run scorer this season so keeping him quiet today could be a tall order.
In Grade 3, 2nd Methlick host Crathie and they’ll be hoping for more runs from Dod Duncan who’s been in a rich vein of form this season. Crathie will be without the service of Mike Baldry who has transferred to Dunecht.
Huntly will be no doubt give Stoneywood Dyce a typical warm welcome with lots of constructive feedback to help improve their game. Stoneywood include Mark Lambley, Mike Hood and Sawan Kumar to add a bit of experience to their side.
It’s a family affair with the Nair family, Kirodian family and Amirtharaj family all in the line up for 3rd Gordonians against Stonehaven. Stoney are without all rounder Nigel King however Clive Hinchliffe and Bryan Snelling could extract some life from the Gordos astro.
2nd Siyapa and 2nd Gordonians meet at Sheddocksley. Gordos have Umesh Basavaraju and Sivaram Gollakora in fine form with the bat this season. Sultan Sikandar is averaging 3 wickets a game for 2nd Siyapa so he’ll be a major threat with the ball.
Grade 3’s specialist loan arrangers Dunecht have been busy in the transfer market this week, first Alan Burnett has had the chequebook out to secure the services of Mike Baldry from Crathie on a long term deal and then he’s carried out a double loan swoop on Brian and Patrick from Cults and Veera Mani from Crescent. Methlick seem to have an abundance of talent at their services although Tom Acton misses out in their one. Runs have been flowing from the bats of Mike Hordley, Steve Murphy and Alasdair Smith while Tim Duffy, Grant Cordiner, Jamie Jones and Colin Addison are all averaging single figures with the ball as well.
he SPCU North East Championship takes a break from league cricket this weekend as the 12 teams split into 4 groups to find 4 winners who will qualify for 3 Counties Cup finals day. The local qualifier kicks off at Mannofield at 11am with 3 T20 matches between Aberdeenshire, Gordonians and Huntly. The Shire v Gordonians match is first up and both teams will take this a bit more seriously than their NESC CS T20 qualifier on Thursday evening, a game that Shire won by 4 wickets. Gordonians add Chamila Perera and Prashant Wig and Shire add Aayush Das and Luke Bain. Huntly play Gordonians at 2pm and Aberdeenshire at 5pm. Elsewhere it would be a surprise if Meigle, Freuchie and Strathmore didn’t qualify from their groups, but in the shorter format it only takes one player to have a blinder and affect the result.
Stoneywood Dyce will be looking to build on their excellent start to their Eastern Premier League campaign as they welcome Stewarts Melville to People’s Park. Last season this would have been in the ‘must win’ games at the wrong end of the table, but a win for SDCC could see them top the table. Heriots are marginally above SDCC at the top, but they go to Forthill to face Forfarshire in what should be a very close game. Heriots add Scotland star Mark Watt. Bottom side Arbroath are at home to Grange as they may look in vain for a first win, and Falkland host Watsonian as both sides look to improve on their difficult starts to the season. The other fixture has Carlton taking on RH Corstorphine. Stoneywood Dyce are at home to a strong Forfarshire line up in the Scottish Cup on Sunday and Aberdeenshire will be favourites to get through to the next round as they go to Freuchie.
Sunday also sees Gordonians at Arbroath for their ECB Vitality Under 13 quarter final. The winner will progress to the national finals day on 19th June. Gordonians have already qualified for the Under 15 national finals day thanks to 8 wicket wins in earlier rounds over Aberdeenshire and Arbroath. Their finals day is at Stirling on 12th June.