Sunday saw Gordonians make it through to the Aberdeenshire Cup final in a rain interrupted semi final against Grampian. Bijil Jacob took 2 early wickets to cause Gordonians to recalibrate their expectations, and a patient 40 from skipper Indy Pandit set the platform for a 35 run flurry from Chamila Perera to take them to 160 for 6. Mynul Nadim ran out of partners and was unbeaten on 40 as Grampian were bowled out for 124. Gordonians will have to wait to find out who they will meet in the final as the Crescent v Bon Accord quarter final was rained off after 20 overs of the Crescent innings. They will try again at Inverdee next Sunday.
Gordonians also beat Grampian at Countesswells in Grade 1 on Saturday. Grampian were dismissed for 177, Josino Aluvathingal top scoring with 47 as Sheetal Mehta took 4 for 49. It’s pretty rare that you have to wait until mid July for Akhlaq Bashir to make his first half century of the season, but his unbeaten 51 helped Gordos to a comfortable 5 wicket win.
Bon Accord stay top of Grade 1, but Cults made them work for it. Tauqeer Malik took 3 for 15 to put Cults in a bit of bother, but 83 from 51 balls (including 7 sixes) from Ubaid Ullah took Cults to 164 all out. Ullah opened the bowling and took 2 wickets in his first over including Fazal Awan, but Bons knuckled down and eventually got over the line with 10 balls to spare and 2 wickets in hand.
Aavash Upadhyaya took out 4 of the Master Blasters top 5 batters, but that didn’t stop them getting to 198 all out from their full 40 overs. Hemal Chovatiya replied with 4 for 28 as Master Blasters bowled out AberGreen for 106.
Rutwik Hegde topped the batting for Mannofield with 57 as they were restricted to 184 for 8 at Links by Crescent. Links has been a boundaryfest this season, but Crescent didn’t hit the accelerator until Hari Konda made a quick 29 to ease them to a 4 wicket win with 15 balls still left.
In Grade 2 Prasanth Poosappadi bowled a miserly 8 overs taking 3 for 7 as AGSFPs threatened to end matters quickly against 2nd Grampian at Inverdee. An unbeaten 28 from Mejo Thomas batting at number 10 added some gloss to proceedings as Grampian totalled 151 for 9. The Grammar top 5 all made it to double figures, but none of them went past 16, and it was left to Hasnain Javaid batting at number 9 to go for glory. Grammar needed 7 to win off the last over but Grampian only bowled one delivery as Javaid was out for 39. The wheels haven’t quite come off for the Grammar league and cup double juggernaut, but a few wheel nuts are starting to rattle.
Fraserburgh have moved quietly up to 2nd spot, although success for Ellon on Saturday was getting 11 on the pitch, the team bereft of all the usual big names. None of the Ellon batters made it past 6 as they were skittled by the Broch side for 33. Kamaludeen Khan had a triple wicket maiden in his 5 for 9 as he outshone Chris Gospel who picked up 4 for 15. Fraserburgh won by 8 wickets.
Old style test match stuff at Huntly as Methlick laboured to 101 for 7 off their 40 overs. Anuj Dawar was undefeated on 56 as Huntly got the required runs in half the time.
Another half century from Will George helped Banchory to 163 against 2nd Knight Riders, but it might have been slightly more if Santhosh Kodur hadn’t taken 5 for 23. Knight Riders were reduced to 31 for 4, but Uday Reddy took the attack to the Banchory bowlers and his 81 secured a 5 wicket win with 11 overs in hand.
Portcullis are on a good run at the moment and they were too good for 2nd AberGreen at Duthie Park as they ran out 8 wicket winners against AberGreen who were all out for 111.
In Grade 3 the games at Stonehaven and Methlick were victims of the earlier rain, and Crathie were the victims as 2nd Mannofield won their first game in a low scoring affair at Inverdee. Chasing 77 to win, Crathie were all out for 65.
305 for 3 isn’t a score you would normally associate with Dunecht but unbeaten knocks of 129 and 80 from Matt Witz and Kalyan Baba Andru respectively, put the game beyond Stoneywood Dyce. A first half century of the season for Andrew Madigan was some sort of consolation as they were bowled out for 94.
In the SPCU North East Championship the games between Gordonians and Kinloch, 2nd Falkland and Huntly, and Strathmore v 2nd Forfarshire were all weathered off. A lot of patching was done to the Mannofield square to get their match versus Arbroath to the starting line, but the Arbroath bowlers were the ones to benefit as they bowled out Shire for 116 in 42 overs. Craig Ross was the pick of a pretty good bunch with 4 for 23. An unbroken 2nd wicket century stand between Ross McLean and Jared Meiring eased Arbroath to victory in 22 overs.
Scotland bowler Safyaan Sharif earned his match fee with the bat for Perth Doocot scoring an unbeaten 109 out of their total of 258 for 6 against Freuchie. The top 8 Freuchie batters all made it to double figures, but none of them kicked on quickly enough for Sharif to have to bowl. Rehmat Khan took 5 for 47 to keep Freuchie down to 196 for 8.
The only game in the Eastern Premier League to get completed was the Stoneywood Dyce visit to Stewart’s Melville, and the Stoneywood Dyce bowlers made a good start being the first team to get Riyaad Henry out for a duck this season. Unfortunately they came up against a stubborn last wicket partnership of 45 that included an unbeaten 26 from Connor Shorten as they eventually bowled Stew Mel out for 171. Ewan Davidson was elevated to the opening berth and along with Du Preez Stander they put on 66 for the first wicket, but from there wickets fell slowly but regularly, and Davidson was the top scorer with 48 from a final score of 121.
Stoneywood Dyce remain in 9th position, precariously ahead of Meigle, who would have been fairly happy to have restricted Falkland to 195 for 7 before the really heavy rain intervened.
Grange were on top against Carlton and Watsonian were unlikely to defend 114 against Heriot’s when rain in Edinburgh called a halt to both matches. The Forfarshire versus RH Corstorphine match was an early casualty.
The Scottish Cup semi finals were completed on Sunday with Michael Leask taking 4 for 25 for Forfarshire to bowl out Clydesdale for 149. Forfs started the chase well but lost their way as they struggled to 120 for 7. Jack Hogarth and Lewis James kept it simple with the bat and Forfs won by 3 wickets. They will meet Uddingston in the final although Grange will be giving themselves a long hard look in the mirror as their long batting line up slumped from 174 for 4 to 199 all out as they chased the Uddingston score of 204 for 9.