With just 4 rounds of fixtures remaining this season the slightest slip up by anyone is likely to be capitalised on. Its tight at the top and the bottom of the table with all to play for.
Crescent are still missing Anjum Toor as they face Mannofield at Harlaw, Rahul Chandu has had a selection headache this week as even Dan Brown can’t get in the team due to their strength in depth.
2nd Knightriders make the short trip to Cults and Balamurali Balaji will relish a bowl at Allan Park having already picked up 22 wickets this season.
Grammar and Inverurie face off at Rubislaw and despite being at the wrong end of the table this year the admin side of their game is strong being the first match to have both teams entered into resultsvault this weekend! Rob Swiergon and Roland Knudson are AWOL for Grammar and its rumoured that Knudson has an ASBO and is under house arrest for offenses committed at the beach boulevard in his boy racer car! Inverurie are without George Hadden and Trevor Norval.
Bon Accord host Master Blasters and make one change to the team that defeated Crescent last week with Asim Ali dropping out and being replaced by Adnan Mahmood. Master Blasters are missing Amol Deshmukh and Jay Gajjar.
In Grade 2 there’s a few unfamiliar names in the Fraserburgh line up for the trip to Sheddocksley to play Siyapa. Whether the Bowies and Michael Watson are too big time to play there isn’t for me to say. Arfan Ali returns to the Siyapa line up for this one.
Ellon appear to have raided the local old folks home with Keith McCredie and Scott Middleton bolstering their line up as they host Grampian. Grampian’s 2nd team aren’t in action this weekend so they’ve got the choice of their full club for this one. Batters are expected to prosper with a lack of grass on the Ellon playing surface this season.
In Grade 3 it could be a long day in the field for 3rd Gordonians and Crathie as the Countesswells Astro has been a batters paradise this year. Jack Humphrey is more than capable of wielding the willow and if he gets going Gordos could be in for trouble.
Dunecht have Matt Witz fresh from a ton last week but it’s a whole different story trying to score runs at the Cowdray Estate as the outfield is far from flowing as 2nd Siyapa are the visitors.
Stonehaven make the long journey to Huntly with nothing known of the makeup of either side.
The Methlick teams face off at Lairds and 2nd Methlick’s Dave Chalmers must be seeing it like a football as his batting average is almost at double figures. At the other end of the scale Adam Veersema is averaging triple figures and its definitely been a season to remember for the big Aussie.
Waqar Khan and Gaurav Lenekar have been in the runs for Stoneywood and you can’t keep Bruce Davidson out of the wickets however 2nd Gordonians have plenty of match winners in their own side including Umesh Basavaraju and Sivaram Gollakota. This should be a good game for the neutrals.
With Scotland playing at Mannofield on Saturday and Sunday, the SPCU North East Championship match at Countesswells between Gordonians and Aberdeenshire may struggle to get any actual spectators, but perusing the various online live scoring in the leagues has become a phone spectator sport in it’s own right. Gordonians go into the local derby without a recognised keeper with Shaunak Bhatta and Abhilash Vitthala both unavailable. Mayank Bhandari is also missing, but Prashant Wig, Abrar Ahmed and Akhlaq Bashir return after missing the defeat to 2nd Stoneywood Dyce. Shire need to keep winning in case Meigle slip up and the visit of Perth Doocot to Victory Park is their main hope of a result going their way. Meigle include veteran seamer Iain Stewart to add another bowling option to their already strong batting line up. Perth Doocot pro Usman Saeed has been piling up the runs this season, but others would need to score quickly around him to set any sort of total that would stress Meigle.
2nd Stoneywood Dyce are at Forfar looking to beat Kinloch and close the gap at the bottom to their opponents to give themselves a chance of avoiding relegation. Elsewhere Freuchie host 2nd Forfarshire and 2nd Arbroath will expect to win at Dundee High. Huntly have a day off.
The Eastern Premier League has a cut and dried feel to it as they go into the last 3 games of the season. Stoneywood Dyce host RH Corstorphine with their EPL status almost confirmed, and it will be if Arbroath United lose at home to Watsonian. Falkland will also be safe if they can overcome Stewarts Melville at Scroggie Park.
Forfarshire are at home to Grange without Michael Leask and Craig Wallace who will hopefully be scoring big runs at Mannofield. Forfs need to win to have any chance of dragging the title chase into next week, although if Heriot’s win at Carlton the trophy will be heading their way.
Sunday is the under 16s national finals day at Perth. Glasgow Accies are the surprise qualifiers from the West and they face Gordonians in one of the semi finals. Whilst Gordonians will be delighted that Adi Hegde and Abhilash Vitthala have been selected for the Scotland squad to travel to Ireland for the Celtic Cup next week, the timing of their flight rules them out of the Gordonians team for the finals. The other semi final is between Perth Doocot and Grange.