REVIEW 13TH AUGUST 2022

Knightriders and Gordonians had a bit of a low scoring thriller at Groats Road, Knights posted 158 all out thanks to Sajid Muhammad making 43 but Mo Challa was hero taking the last Gordos wicket as they fell agonazingly short losing by 5 runs. No wonder ex Gordo Prasanth Mallireddy was giving it big licks on the Club Tropicana dancefloor after his 26 not out in a key last wicket partnership then cleaning up the Gordos openers.
Mannofield proved to be a thorn in Crescent’s side for the 2nd time this season as they won by 6 wickets. Arush Sharma took a 3 for however Andy Hastie’s bowling revitalization was evident as he picked up the key wickets of Rajeevan Sujaya who top scored with 44 and Abrar Pewekar. Chasing over 200 is never easy however former Mannofield captain Indy Yahathugoda let his bat do the talking as he thrashed 96 and son Ken finished the game off with 46 not out. Sujaya took 2 wickets to further enhance his reputation and put his name on top of Rahul Chandu’s wish list for the 2023 season.
2nd Knightriders relegation hopes suffered a dent despite posting 233 all out at Allan Park with Premanand Reddy scoring 68 and Mohan Vallatharasu narrowly missing out on a half century with 48. However Cults reached the target only losing 4 wickets in the process as Muhammad Tahir made 82 and Ravi Majahan saw Cults home with 37 not out.
Grampian Police have been called to Rubislaw after Saturday’s game as John Jessiman and Chris Watson burgled 6 wickets between them as Grammar were bowled out for 160. Alec Keith got Grammar off to a typical fast start with 32 and Aman Sood held the innings together with 41. Inverurie’s reply wasn’t looking clever as ex West of Scotland, Kelburne and now Grammar’s Harry Mapplebeck who’s had a busy 2022 reduced them to 18 for 2 but Fraser Lawrance with 44 and Jordan Thom with 38 dug them out of a hole as ICC got over the line with 4 wickets to spare.
Master Blasters must have thought it was going to be their day when they removed Fazal Awan for single figures however Haroon Ahmed with 103 and Varinder Sood with 96 not out helped the Bons to 297 for 6. Scoring at 7.5 an over for 40 overs was always going to be tough and when Nawaz Mirza ripped through the top order with 4 for 6 there was no coming back by the most improved side in Grade 1 this season. Bhanu Yalamanchili offered some resistence with 52 as Master Blasters were bowled out for 136.

In Grade 2 the inexperienced Fraserburgh line up was bowled out for 98 by Siyapa despite 35 from Usman Shirzad. Ryan Duthie restored a bit of pride for the Broch with 3 for 22 as Siyapa won by 5 wickets thanks to 32 not out from Asif Yuqub.
There was a run fest at Gordon Park as Grampian racked up 265 for 7 with Johnston Varghese making 95 and Jeby George scoring 49 in 2 exceptional feats of jug avoidance! In reply 57 from Ben Webb and 124 from the lesser spotted Tom Proctor got Ellon close as they were bowled out for 242 to give Grampian a 23 run victory.

In Grade 3 an 8 man Dunecht scored a very credible 200 all out against 2nd Siyapa as Matt Witz was in the runs again with 66 and Mike Baldry made 46. 2nd Siyapa won by 2 wickets as 59 from Hassan Masood provided the backbone of their chase.
The Countesswells Astro didnt disappoint as Crathie piled on 295 for 5 against 3rd Gordonians. Justin Thomas scored 86 and Jeff Schuneman making 53. In reply 79 from Vijay Hegde and 65 from Vijay Amirtharaj allowed Gordos to pickup full batting point as Schuneman had an afternoon to remember taking 5 for 30 as Gordos were bowled out for 202.
Methlick showed no mercy to their 2nds scoring a highly impressive 284 for 0 with Tom Acton scoring 112 not out and Adam Veersema making his 2nd undefeated ton of the season with 102. Grant Cordiner picked up 5 for 24 as the 2nds were bundled out for 79.
Stoneywood Dyce defeated 2nd Gordonians by 1 run at Duthie Park, 68 from 33 balls by Waqar Khan was the highlight as Stoneywood were bowled out for 213, in reply Gordonians lost by the closest of margins despite 52 from Ryan Davis.

Barring the completely inexplicable, the SPCU North East Championship is heading to Meigle. They put 252 on the board for Perth Doocot to chase at Victory Park and bowled them out for 170 in the 39th over. Meigle pro Raju Gayashan had been off the boil with the bat of late, but he made 87 before smacking a full toss from Kash Khalil straight to a leg side boundary fielder. Khalil took 5 for 31, the other 4 with much better deliveries. Perth pro Usman Saeed made a steady 63 before falling tamely to Iain Stewart who took 3 wickets in one over as he also picked up a 5 for. 

A couple of the spectators who turned up to Countesswells for the Gordonians v Aberdeenshire match will be regretting leaving early as it delivered a nerve wracking, albeit somewhat anticlimactic finish. Gordonians made a good start with the bat, Adi Hegde making 36 before Akhlaq Bashir accelerated the scoring. Bashir made 77 and Gordos had built well to be on 211 for 5, but the return of Forrester and Munro to the Shire bowling attack ran through the lower order to leave Gordos 225 all out in the 43rd over. Aayush Das took 3 big wickets in the middle overs for 34 to put the brakes on what had looked like a much larger score. The Shire response was soon in trouble at 45 for 4 off 16 overs with Bashir taking 3 of the wickets, but Dian Forrester certainly hadn’t thrown in the towel, and with Manu Saraswat making 36 out of a partnership of 137, the game was up for grabs again. Forrester was the 8th wicket to fall with the score on 220, his contribution being 141. The 9th wicket fell with the scores tied and as the fielders circled around the last batter the ball flew away for 5 wides to give Shire the win. 

Andy Rayner took 3 for 41 as 2nd Stoneywood Dyce restricted Kinloch to 252 for 8 at Forfar. Half centuries from Martin Reid and Marthus Coetzee kept SDCC in the hunt, but the lower order had too much to do and SDCC finished on 225 for 9. 2nd Forfarshire were bowled out for 209 at Freuchie who lost 8 wickets on their way to the points. 

Stoneywood Dyce have waited a long time for another win in the Eastern Premier League, and they will have been dancing in the moonlight as they beat RH Corstorphine by 2 wickets. Jon Grant took 4 for 39 to do the early damage as Liam Naylor was the only RHC batter to get going with 73. George Ninan picked up 3 for 19 to bowl out RHC for 159. Stoneywood Dyce found themselves in the not unfamiliar position of 50 for 6, but 43 from George Ninan started a recovery that was finished off by Du Preez Stander and David Kidd with plenty of overs to spare.

Heriot’s bowled out Carlton for 153, but chasing a total isn’t easy if 5 lbw decisions appear on the scorecard. With quite a number of their big names missing, Heriot’s were bowled out for 138. Win or lose, the champagne would have tasted the same as Heriot’s did enough to be well deserved winners of the EPL.

Without Messrs Wallace and Leask, Forfarshire will have been happy to have put 244 on the board against Grange, but the latter won by 8 wickets, guided home by an unbeaten century from Jack Jarvis. With Willem Lubbe away, the local Arbroath batters finally stepped up, although none of the 3 half centurions went big enough as they made 219 for 7 against Watsonian. A rare failure from Oli Hairs just gave opportunities to others and Watsonian romped to a 7 wicket win. Arbroath are duly relegated to the SPCU. Falkland beat Stewarts Melville by 15 runs.

With Adi Hegde and Abhilash Vitthala away with the Under 17 Scotland squad, it was no surprise that a young Gordonians side struggled at the under 16 national finals day. Gordonians had Glasgow Accies in early trouble in the semi final, but Paterson and Shaikh both passed 40 to take Accies to 153 for 5. 3 early wickets for Shabbir knocked the stuffing out of the Gordos reply and they settled for a bit of batting practice as they finished on 79 for 7. Grange demolished Perth Doocot by 10 wickets in the other semi final and went on to beat Accies in the final.