Despite forecasted early morning rain its expected to clear by lunchtime to hopefully see a full Grade programme in action.
Gordonians and Mannofield meet at Countesswells and neither side appears to be feeling the effects of the school holidays ravaging their sides. Gordos include Sree Devadas, Indy Pandit, Mohit Khosla, Chamila, Ash Bashir and Jamil Sheikh. Rahul Chandu leads Mannofield despite the return of Indy Yahathugoda. Be on the look out for Phil Wood bowling shorter spells and without doubt Arnav Saraswat will keep up the noise levels in the field.
Knightriders will be looking to bounce back to winning ways at home to Cults. With neither club being fans of uploading their teams to the results vault before the game we have no idea how these sides are looking.
Grammar host 2nd Knightriders and Alec Keith returns to the side, Geoff Morrison takes the gloves with Jim Lee unavailable and the thing that all local cricket enthusiasts are looking forward to is the potential of Ian Johnston opening the batting. Saj Muhammad is back on 2nd Knights duty while Prasanth Malireddy gives Balamurali Balaji another option with the ball.
Bon Accord have a host of unfamiliar names in their line up for the visit of Inverurie but all eyes will be on Fazal Awan and Nawaz Mirza to provide runs and wickets. Fraser Lawrance and Mark Strachan miss out for Inverurie due to work commitments but Matt Startin makes a welcome return to the side.
Crescent have the delights of a visit to Allan Park to play Master Blasters. Rajeev Sujaya and Dave Gibson miss out as Baba Mohammad makes his debut and Veera Mani returns from a loan spell at Dunecht.
In Grade 2 Fraserburgh are at Sheddocksley to play Grampian without the Bowie Brothers so they look a little bit light on the batting front. Alan Rennie and Ryan Duthie will need to be in the wickets to give the away team a chance.
Grampian entertain Portcullis at Harlaw, Connor Johnson has made an impressive start to life at Portcullis with 2 red inkers with scores of 45 and 96. Ronnie Falconer and Bob Adie drop out of the side and if there’s anything other than an away win in this one heads might roll on the Portcullis selection committee.
Ellon welcome Siyapa and if rumours are to be believed could be struggling for bowling options. Jonny Barrett misses out after tying the knot yesterday but hopefully Rich Greenfield sobers up in time for the toss.
In Grade 3 Stoneywood Dyce and Crathie meet at Duthie Park. Bruce Davidson has taken 11 wickets in his last 3 games for Stoneywood so you wouldn’t bet on him having a quiet day with the ball. Crathie will miss the consistent run scoring abilities of Peter Cunningham as he’s unavailable for this one.
3rd Gordonians have the unenviable task of stopping the Methlick juggernaut. Adam Veersema has passed 50 in his last 4 innings so with the short boundary and quick outfield only this commentators curse can stop him. Young Adi Mukhopadhya is having an impressive season with the bat for Gordos but Messrs Duffy, Addison and Jones could make life difficult for him.
2nd Gordonians are on their travels out to Dunecht and with Tanish Kirodian, Alex Hounsome and Ryan Davis in their line up runs shouldn’t be in short supply. Mike Baldry, Steve Derrett and Alan Burnett will have to be at their best with the ball to contain the Gordos batting line up.
Huntly are Morrison-less as they host 2nd Siyapa so without the inspirational Darren or the more talented Donald their chances of victory have got a lot tougher. Anuj Dawar has had a lean spell with the bat recently so he’ll be looking to get back to run scoring ways.
2nd Methlick will be hoping Liam Davis and Fraser Grant are in the wickets especially with Nathan Macaulay-Dicks scoring so heavily this season for Stonehaven. Dave Chalmers is hoping to scale back on his wicket keeping duties and if he can get rid of the gloves he might be able to take his batting average up to double figures.
Whilst you shouldn’t count your chickens before they cross the road to potentially hatch, the chances of the SPCU North East Championship heading the way of Aberdeenshire depends on how they negotiate some potential banana skins, the first being Huntly at home this weekend. They weren’t overly convincing when winning at Huntly earlier in the season, and Huntly have added Nick Cuconits to their line up since. Frank Summers is missing for Huntly and John Dickinson is added to the Shire line up.
Gordonians head to Forfar to play Strathmore. Gordonians are without injury victims Aman Arora and Akhlaq Bashir, but Mayank Bhandari returns from an extended holiday. Strathmore have hit a bit of form after initially suffering from Tiann Brits dropping off the team sheet, so this could be a close encounter. On paper Meigle have an easier run to the end of the season compared to Shire, and they would expect to win against visiting 2nd Stoneywood Dyce. Freuchie will again be without Safyaan Sharif and this could give Kinloch a chance to pull off a surprise result. Perth Doocot should be far too strong at home to Dundee High, and the 2nd Arbroath versus 2nd Forfarshire match is another one that is too close to call.Sunday is 3 Counties Cup Finals day at Perth. In the semi finals Gordonians play Perth Doocot with Aman Arora added to a strong line up, and Meigle will be the overall favourites as they play Strathmore first up. Ollie Hairs has had a miserable time with the Scotland T20 side against New Zealand but he returns to the Watsonian line up as they head to People’s Park to play Stoneywood Dyce. Falkland are pretty much at full strength as Grange make the trip to Scroggie Park. Craig Wallace also leaves the Scotland squad to join up with Forfarshire as they try to control the skills of Willem Lubbe for bottom side Arbroath United. Having been hit around the park by New Zealand, Ali Evans will be hoping for a better day as he leads the Carlton bowling attack at home to Stewarts Melville. Fraser Proud could again be an important batter for Heriot’s as they host the consistent RH Corstorphine.