Grade 1 leaders Bon Accord produced a remarkable performance in their Aberdeenshire Cup bowl off against Master Blasters on Thursday evening. Hitting the stumps under pressure isn’t easy and Master Blasters got off to a great start with a hit in their first 2 deliveries, but Bon Accord answered back with a remarkable 6 in a row to end the contest early. They progress to play Crescent in the quarter final on 16th July.
With the Race for Life needing set up time at Links, the Bon Accord v Gordonians match has had to be postponed, so Bons will still be top of Grade 1 as we get through round 10 of matches for the season.
Match of the day is at Groats Road as Knight Riders host Mannofield. Will Anderson adds depth to the Mannofield batting and Uday Reddy of Knight Riders comes into the match having been not out in his last 6 innings. A challenge there for the Mannofield bowlers.
Inverurie are at home to Crescent and are without Fraser Lawrance and Jordan Thom. John Jessiman returns to offer slow bowling support for George Hadden and Chris Watson.
Grampian play AberGreen at Harlaw with the winner likely to escape the relegation places for at least a week.
AGSFPs have been winning with ease in Grade 2, but their team sheet for the trip to Huntly is bereft of Alex Keith, Karan Anand and Prasanth Poosappadi, with the bonus inclusion of the all round talents of George Gill. Huntly have the stylish batting of Liam Ferguson available and his battle with the pace bowling of Gill may be the personal match up of the day.
Neither Bowie brother is in the Fraserburgh team to play Portcullis at Duthie Park so they will need big runs from the likes of Nick Gray or Chris Gospel, the latter overdue a half century.
Methlick have gone slightly off the boil recently and the experienced batting of visitors 2nd Knight Riders may well pose them problems at Lairds.
Banchory are in town to play 2nd AberGreen at Rubislaw and Ellon face 2nd Grampian at Inverdee.
The 2nd Master Blasters v Stoneywood Dyce clash in Grade 3 has been moved to People’s Park to take advantage of a scratched SPCU match. Stoneywood Dyce have been improving as the season has gone on and this could well be a close game which will probably be available to watch on live streaming.
2nd Mannofield are the home side at Inverdee against 2nd Gordonians. The latter look very strong on paper and will be expecting wickets from the young guns of Gollakota, Chouksey and Seenivasan, if the older heads give them the ball!
3rd Gordonians have a mix of vast experience and fearless youth, and a large generation gap in between the 2. Dunecht are at Countesswells to face them and will need big performances from their top players to pull off an upset.
Stonehaven will be relying on the tried and trusted partnership of Andy Gale and Nathan Macaulay-Dicks as they head to the Crathie pie shop. Taking wickets may be their biggest problem with no Nigel King on their team list.
The SPCU North East Championship sees runaway league leaders Arbroath at Freuchie, the reverse fixture having gone in favour of Arbroath to the tune of 230 runs. Don’t expect a surprise.
Aberdeenshire are at home to 2nd Forfarshire who didn’t have a great game at Countesswells last weekend. The Shire batting has struggled to get runs outside of their top 5 and this game will be an opportunity for someone to go for 3 figures.
Gordonians are at home to Huntly, the latter without Irtaza Hussain and Jordan Squire so a little pressure on others to back up the leagues leading wicket taker Jack Mitchell. Exciting 15 year old batter Adi Mukhopadhya gets his chance to impress in the Gordonians 1sts having warmed up with an unbeaten 50 in the national under 16 cup at Arbroath on Thursday.
The Perth Doocot line up always looks better with Safyaan Sharif in it, but they have been producing results without him and they are at Forfar to play the mercurial Kinloch.
One of these days 2nd Falkland might break their losing streak and Strathmore will go to Scroggie Park as strong favourites. If Greg Chambers can get his bowling radar working then it might not be entirely straightforward.
After the euphoria of winning their first Eastern Premier League match of the season at Meigle last Saturday, it could be back to earth with a resounding bang as Stoneywood Dyce head to Edinburgh to play a strong Heriot’s side.
Meigle will hope to get back on track as Carlton head north, a lot for Carlton depending on the batting prowess of Daniel Da Costa.
Grange are unbeaten at the top of the league but are missing a lot of big names as they play Stewart’s Melville. The Forfarshire v Watsonian game at Forthill looks mouth watering in terms of the talent on show, and the RH Corstorphine v Falkland match could go either way if Falkland can get through the bowling spell of Caleb Whitefoord.
Sunday is Challenge Cup quarter final day and Crescent will be boosted by the non-inclusion of Adnan Mufti in the Edinburgh South team. Mufti was the difference in the previous round as his century was the highlight of their win at Gordonians. Bon Accord are in Edinburgh to play Edinburgh Accies and their ability to bowl stump to stump, as demonstrated on Thursday evening in the bowl off, looks like the right tactic against a team who like a swing.
It’s also Bon Accord Cup semi final time on Sunday for AGSFPs and Ellon at Rubislaw, the hosts looking to keep their hopes of the double alive.