Lokesh Saraswat doesn’t appear often in the Mannofield line up, but he may be under a bit of pressure to get the whites on more regularly as his century opening the batting against Inverurie helped his side to 284 for 8. Sajan Alawattage weighed in with 69 alongside a quick half century from Rene Van Oorschot, Norval and Watson picking up 2 wickets each for Inverurie. Trevor Norval made yet another half century, but Inverurie were all out for 168.
Knight Riders closed the gap on 2nd place Bon Accord as they beat their 2nd team at Groats Road. Abhinav Kache top scored for KR 1sts and Bala Balaji took 4 for 48 as 2nd KR used 9 bowlers. Prasanna Venkatesan made 75 and Vijay Vijapur came on to wrap up the tail with 4 for 18. 2nd KR picked up 20 losing bonus points for the second time this season.
The only game in Grade 2 saw Banchory travel into Duthie Park to play Portcullis. A solid 66 at the top of the order from Carl Counsell got the Banchory innings off to a great start, but it was a maiden century from Mark Herbert that propelled them to 246 for 9 with Brian Harper taking 2 cheap wickets. Jake Dawson and Dave Forbes began well for Portcullis with the bat, but both fell to Tim Wilkinson who took 4 for 39. A late half century from Stuart Horne saw Portcullis conclude their innings 31 runs behind Banchory.
Methlick maintained their unbeaten league season as they piled up 247 for 3 at Lairds against Stonehaven. Adam Veersema was unbeaten on 89 and Alasdair Smith made 65 for Methlick with Tim Duffy taking 5 for 18 to dismiss Stonehaven for 56. 2nd Methlick didn’t fare so well on their trip to Crathie. The hosts posted 229 for 5 with scores in the 40’s from Lloyd Belton, Geoff Feeney and Paul Morris. Only one 2nd Methlick player made it into double figures as they were bowled out for 80 in the 29th over. A Grades game at People’s Park is a rarity, and Dunecht almost batted out their overs there, but struggled to put runs on the board, only making 114 thanks in part to Bruce Davidson taking 5 for 15 for Stoneywood Dyce. SDCC took their time to knock the runs off, Mike Baldry taking 3 for 33 as Stuart Reid made an unbeaten 38 to secure a 6 wicket win.
Gordonians had no Formula 1 team orders in place as their 2nds and 3rds met at Links. The 2nds would have been more than happy with their 232 for 9, Ryan Davis with 57 as Maahir Patel took 4 for 53 for the 3rds. The 3rds were reduced to 70 for 4 in the 18th over and then the unexpected comeback ensued. Adi Mukhopadhya made 61 but it was Mahesh Patel with a century who took the game to the last ball. 2 needed to draw and he smashed a 6 to give the 3rds a 5 wicket win.
With his Dad taking 3rd Gordos to Grade 3 victory, Adi Hegde did the same for Gordonians in the SPCU North East Championship as they travelled to Forthill to play 2nd Forfarshire. Adi was out for 94 and a quickfire 53 from Adi Mehta gave Gordos 306 for 6. 2nd Forfs went for the chase from the off and collapsed to 57 for 7 with Ahklaq Bashir taking 4 for 40 and Himanshu Saraswat 3 for 28. The 2nd Forfs lower order settled for batting practice and dragged the game out to the last over before they were all out for 189. Aberdeenshire gave 2nd Arbroath a 273 run mauling at Mannofield. Dian Forrester only needed 88 balls for his 158 as they made 334 for 8, and he followed this up with 4 for 30 as Arbroath didn’t bat past the 17th over. Meigle remain in hot pursuit although they weren’t at their fluent best at home to Strathmore. Shahzeb Saeed batted through the innings for 92 as Meigle made 221 for 8 off their 45 overs. Hayden Guest took 4 for 20 as Strathmore toiled to 165 all out in 44 overs. Jordan Squire topped the wicket taking for Huntly with 3 for 32 as they bowled out Freuchie, who were without Safyaan Sharif, for 201. 60 from opener Nick Cuconits got Huntly off to a decent start, but with their run chase a bit on the ponderous side, Frank Summers rolled back the years to his more exuberant younger days in the Grades as he smashed 62 off 35 balls to give Huntly victory with 5 balls to spare. Perth Doocot made 270 for 8 at Forfar as they easily beat Kinloch by 98 runs.
In the Eastern Premier League the pressure continues to mount on Arbroath as Falkland had a narrow win at home against Stoneywood Dyce. Jack Henderson of Falkland would have been in the doldrums as he called through Harsha Cooray for a quick single only for a direct hit from Jan Stander to remove the Falkland Pro for a duck. Henderson went on to make 51 as Falkland had good contributions from the lower batting order to take them to 243 for 9, a useful recovery after Garreth Wolmarans had taken 3 quick wickets. Wolmarans went in at number 3 and made 55, but it was a century from Jan Stander that took SDCC to 227 for 6, and within sight of victory. Enter Greg Chambers to remove Stander for 111 and run through the tail as 4 wickets fell for 8 runs to spark Falkland celebrations as they won by 9 runs.
Arbroath restricted Carlton to 247 for 8, but when Willem Lubbe was out for 51 their later batters could not kick on and they were all out for 220. The EPL clock is ticking on Arbroath.
Heriot’s opened up a gap at the top as they amassed 345 for 6 against Grange. Centuries from Duncan Mackay-Champion and Hayes Van Der Berg set the platform for their bowlers to put Grange in trouble from the off, and they were eventually all out for 194. Stewarts Melville batted consistently to score 226 for 9 against Forfarshire, but if you can’t get Craig Wallace out then the chances are you will lose, and his unbeaten 115 saw Forfs home by 4 wickets. Oli Hairs made a rapid 55 for Watsonian but their 225 all out was comfortably chased down by RH Corstorphine for the loss of 5 wickets. RHC edge ahead of Grange into 2nd spot.