The first silverware of the season was decided at Mannofield on Sunday as AGSFPs comfortably won the Bon Accord Cup as they look to be heading for the Grade 2 double. Sahadat Abbasi made 2 early breakthroughs to reduce AGSFPs to 19 for 2, but that was as good as it got for Abergreen. Alex Keith made 77 and Agha Haider 42, with a quick 24 from Karan Anand topping things off as Grammar totalled 173 for 4 off their 20 overs. Anand took 3 for 22 and Hasnain Javaid 4 for 20 as AberGreen were bowled out for 95. Alex Keith took the player of the match award.
Grade 1 delivered another topsy turvy result on Saturday as Grampian pulled off a shock win over Master Blasters. Vijay Vijapur took 4 for 46 as Grampian posted a respectable 208 for 9, Jeby George and Mynul Nadim with 45 and 46 respectively the main contributors. Whilst Hari Mohan scored 36, the middle 5 Master Blasters batters only managed 9 runs between them and they were bowled out for 142. They now drop 12 points behind Bon Accord who won against Crescent without Awan and Malik. An unbeaten 126 from Nawaz Mirza propelled Bons to 304 for 7, Pavan Boni taking 5 for 65 for Crescent. An opening partnership of 107 between Rajeevan Sujaya and Ankush Sharma set a useful platform for Crescent, but 5 for 20 from Shakeel Ahmed gave Bons a 97 run victory.
Vijay Ramaswamy made his first half century of the season as his 83 helped Knight Riders to 233 for 8 as they continued their revival. Nikhil Chaudhari picked up 4 for 30 as they bowled out AberGreen for 145.
Gordonians had a big win over Cults. Akhlaq Bashir top scored with 64 as they piled up 271 for 6. Chamila Perera had contributed 43 off only 17 balls and he then took 5 for 25 as Gordos bowled out Cults for 122. Gordos wait in 3rd spot to capitalise on any further slip ups from Bons and Master Blasters.
Batting in an unfamiliar position at number 6, George Hadden made an undefeated 45 out of an Inverurie total of 175 for 7 at home to Mannofield. Chris Watson teased out 4 for 34, but Mannofield ran out victors by 2 wickets.
In Grade 2 AGSFPs went to 2nd placed Fraserburgh with a team bereft of their more familiar bowlers, which gave Leston D’Costa a rare opportunity to show he can bat and bowl. His 4 for 33 helped bowl out the Broch for 206 and then he led the batting with 79 as Grammar won by 5 wickets. Despite this all round performance, D’Costa didn’t get to bat or bowl in the cup final the following day!
A half century from Mohan Vallatharasu was the highlight for 2nd Knight Riders as they were bowled out by Huntly for 135. Innes Parkin was unbeaten on 36 as Huntly cruised to a 5 wicket win.
Portcullis didn’t have their best day with the bat as they were bowled out by Banchory for 118. An opening 41 from Carl Counsell got the Banchory reply off to a good start and Sam Rotheram completed a 7 wicket win with an unbeaten 40.
2nd Grampian totalled 215 for 8 against Methlick who only had one batter reach double figures in their response. 83 from Tom Acton rescued an otherwise pedestrian innings as Methlick lost by 74 runs.
4 for 25 from Brian Veldsman was the most effective of the Ellon bowling as they kept 2nd AberGreen down to 151 for 9 at Gordon Park. With time in hand Ellon ran out of batting and fell an agonising 7 runs short.
It was low scoring stuff in Grade 3. 2nd Master Blasters made a disappointing 142 against 2nd Mannofield, but that turned out to be the highest score of the day in Grade 3. Jack Dunston took 3 for 20 for Mannofield, but that was outshone by the 6 for 17 from Kanishka Desai as Mannofield were all out for 35.
A late 42 from Mike Baldry rescued the Dunecht batting at Stonehaven as Bryan Snelling took 3 for 3 to bowl them out for 89. Stonehaven weren’t looking very healthy at 35 for 7, but Snelling steadied the collapse and his unbeaten 17 was vital as Stonehaven pulled off a 2 wicket win.
3 for 16 from Lloyd Belton bowled out 2nd Gordonians for 119 at Balmoral. With Belton out for a quick 28 that allowed Gordos to take regular wickets and Crathie were all out for 87.
Aberdeenshire have waited a while for Kenny Reid to make a ton in the SPCU North East Championship, but his 118, with an additional 91 from Josh Goodwin, took Shire to an impressive 320 for 7 against Freuchie. A swashbuckling 68 from Dean Stonebridge was built on by his brother Ian with 86, but the rest of the batting struggled as they were bowled out for 241.
Arbroath stayed topped after a demolition of Strathmore. 4 wickets apiece for Chris Robb and Craig Ross skittled Strathie for 45 and the chase was all over within 10 overs.
Huntly remain in 2nd place. The majority of their 230 for 8 against 2nd Forfarshire came from Jack Mitchell with 42 and Eli Ward-Armstrong with 107. 66 from Christian Robertson gave Forfs hope, and they got very close thanks to 65 from James Sim as they were all out 17 runs short with 2 overs unused.
4 for 42 from Rudra Chouksey, including the prize wicket of Safyaan Sharif, bowled out Perth Doocot for 235. Unfortunately for Gordonians, Sharif had already scored 102. 60 from Abrar Ahmed got Gordos off to a good start but 4 for 14 from Musakhar Hussain dismissed them for 154.
Kinloch beat 2nd Falkland by 74 runs after they had knocked up 274 for 8.
All 3 Eastern Premier League games in Edinburgh were abandoned before the conclusion of the first innings. Stoneywood Dyce lost wickets in 2 costly clumps as they were bowled out by Watsonian at home for 124. Sai Kumar top scored with 29 before being out to his 7th lbw in 14 league games. Michael Carson was unbeaten on 62 as Watsonian won by 9 wickets.
Wallace and Leask were both out as Meigle reduced Forfarshire to 43 for 3, but half centuries from Scott Cameron and Lyle Robertson repaired the damage and they posted 254 for 9. The Meigle reply was looking quite healthy at 159 for 4, but when Tiaan Brits fell for 83 it was downhill from there as they were bowled out for 211.
Gordonians had a tough draw as they faced Arbroath in the SPCU T20 Cup (formerly the 3 Counties Cup) semi finals at Perth, but 3 early wickets from Prashant Wig made a mess of the Arbroath top order, and they needed a half century from Darryl Sinclair to get them to respectability at 106 for 8. 42 from Himanshu Saraswat and a well controlled 38 from Mayank Bhandari gave Gordos a surprise 6 wicket win. Perth Doocot beat Kinloch by 28 runs in the other semi final, but this wasn’t the display of boundary hitting which won them the cup in 2022.
The Gordonians bowlers didn’t have the same impact in the final, and 66 from Joel Rush took Perth to 165 for 7. The Gordonians batting onslaught wasn’t unleashed until the required rate had crept up considerably, and despite quick knocks from Bhandari, Khosla and Bashir, they lost by 12 runs.
The Gordonians under 16s gained a morsel of revenge for their 1sts losing twice to Perth as they beat them in the semi final of the national under 16s finals day at Freuchie. Unbeaten innings of 53 and 40 from Riyansh Kirodian and Pranav Gollakota took Gordos to 153 for 3 in their 20 overs, and their bowlers had things under control as they won through to the final by 22 runs.
Carlton didn’t register their usual batting performance as they were restricted by Glasgow Accies to 131 for 5, but their bowlers ran through the Accies batting to dismiss them for 57.
Carlton have always been dominant over Gordonians at any finals day, but Siddharth Seenivasan took 3 for 23 as Gordos kept them down to 138 for 8. Gordos needed their big batters to get them off to a good start, but it didn’t happen, and despite excellent innings from Rudra Chouksey and Mati Yar, they were the only Gordos batters to hit boundaries and they ran out of overs still 20 runs behind. Gordos will be looking ahead to the under 14s finals day in Aberdeen next Sunday with Watsonians being the Edinburgh qualifier rather than Carlton.