ABERDEENSHIRE CUP FINALISTS SETTLED

The Aberdeenshire Cup semi final between Knight Riders and Crescent turned out to be an attritional low scoring eventual thriller where every run was crucial. The Knight Riders openers put on 28 off the first 9 overs and then things started to unravel. 2 wickets in 2 balls for Rajeevan Sujaya did the damage and then 61 for 3 turned into 62 for 7 which included the dismissal of Madhan Mohan for a top score of 32. Kamal Reddy took 4 for 9 and Sujaya 4 for 18 as Knight Riders didn’t hit a boundary after over 18 as they were all out for 86 in the 33rd over. The Crescent reply was looking solid at 38 for 1 but they slipped to 43 for 4. A partnership of 22 got them back on track, but a further glut of wickets reduced them to 69 for 8. Kamal Reddy managed the innings to 84 before they lost another wicket and with 2 required to win, a Crescent batter slipped turning for 2 and was run out, leaving Knight Riders victors by a solitary run. Siva Palaniappan took 3 for 9 and Knight Riders move on to the final against Gordonians.  

Gordonians were one of 3 Grade 1 teams who had a passing interest in the North of Scotland Cricket Association Senior Cup final on Saturday. Northern Counties might have been a little surprised to see the 3 new Forres St Lawrence signings. Forres bowled out Northern Counties for 116 and the top scorers for Forres were Akhlaq Bashir with 31, Sajid Muhammad with 30 and Rizwan Tahir with 18 as they won comfortably by 5 wickets.

Master Blasters remain at the top of Grade 1 by a very small percentage even though they didn’t play on Saturday as the appointed umpires decided the Allan Park pitch wasn’t fit. Bon Accord beat Grampian to keep up the pressure in second place, but it wasn’t plain sailing. The free flowing Bons batting from earlier in the season isn’t what it was and they needed half centuries from Fazal Awan and Nawaz Mirza to take them to 185 all out. At 95 for 3 Grampian must have sensed a chance of a victory, but when Josino Aluvathingal was out for 39 they were 131 for 7 and eventually all out for 165 with 17 balls in hand.

Third place Gordonians had a day to forget with the bat as nobody made more than 20 as Crescent dismissed them for 121. Rana Ahmed with 3 for 18 did the most damage for Crescent with the ball, and then it was down to Shubham Sharma with 65 to compensate for the other batters who struggled. Gordonians will look back on the 33 wides they bowled and get some sort of clue as to why they lost by 3 wickets. 

Knight Riders continued their winning ways with a 3 wicket win over Cults. 4 wickets for Siva Palianappan helped bowl out Cults for 147 for whom Ahsan Jawad top scored with 40. Palianappan added 40 when he batted, Jawad the top wicket taker for Cults with 3 for 20.

The strong Mannofield middle order had a field day at Harlaw against AberGreen as 5 of them made notable contributions without anyone going on to a half century. 263 for 7 was always going to be a tough ask for AberGreen who were dismissed for 133.

AGSFPs edged closer to securing the Grade 2 title with a convincing win over 2nd AberGreen. Alex Keith is running out of time to get his first century of the season, but he did manage his 5th half century, which was added to by an unbeaten 86 by Rob Swiergon as they amassed 303 for 8. Tanweer Khan top scored with 44 for AberGreen as they almost batted out the overs for 146.

Fraserburgh stay in 2nd place even after a drubbing at the hands of Methlick as 183 for 7 played 76 all out. Adam Veersema made 46 and Mike Hordley 66 for Methlick with Fraser Grant topping the Methlick bowling with 4 for 22.

It was another miserable day for Ellon as Tommy Burnett took 5 for 23 as Banchory bowled them out for 63. Only the opening batters got their pads on as Banchory romped home.

Well done to Finlay Cameron of Huntly as he notched his first half century of the season out of a team total of 166 for 7 against 2nd Grampian. Sony Gopinathan topped the batting and bowling for Grampian but 3 for 12 from Emily Henderson helped their demise to 132 all out.

Aman Sood picked up 3 for 13 as Portcullis broke the 2nd Knight Riders revival. They were bowled out for 96 and Portcullis only lost 2 wickets in completing the win before the drinks break.

It was a very low scoring day in Grade 3, the lowest of which was at Stonehaven as Kanishka Desai took 3 for 15 from his 10 overs, only to be outdone by his father taking 4 for 8. Stonehaven were all out for 35 and 2nd Master Blasters won by 7 wickets in under 10 overs.

2nd Gordonians were indebted to the experienced Jamil Shaikh for rescuing a below par batting effort at Countesswells, his 42 squeezing them up to 115 all out against Dunecht. Bala Balaji and Ehtisham Ul-Haq took 4 wickets apiece. Craig Strachan made 24 opening the Dunecht innings but this was followed by a long line of single figure scores as Shiv Chouksey took 5 for 22. Alan Burnett had a season’s best 10 not out at number 11 as Dunecht were 89 all out.

3rd Gordonians toiled to 90 all out at Crathie with Shravan Aravind favouring the 6 hit option as he topped the scoring with 27. Varun Kumar spun his way to 4 for 11 as Crathie were dismissed for 49.

Stoneywood Dyce bowled out 2nd Methlick for 116 as they recorded an 8 wicket win.

Arbroath completed the long anticipated collection of the SPCU North East Championship as they overpowered Huntly. An undefeated 68 by Bryce Carnegie was the best of their 260 for 4. Huntly will have been disappointed to be all out for 92 as Craig Ross, not for the first time, came on at the right time to pick up 3 cheap wickets. Arbroath will be keeping an eye on the top of the ESCA Championship to see who might be coming their way in the Eastern Premier League play off.

Lewis Munro took 4 for 13 and Alex Cummings 4 for 24 as Aberdeenshire bowled out Perth Doocot for 126. It could have been an even lower score if Rehmat Khan hadn’t made 64 and Joel Rush 39 as the scorecard didn’t feature any other innings above 5. Safyaan Sharif had made a duck with the bat but roared back with 3 for 25, and with Brock Ditchmen returning 4 for 8 off his 9 overs, Shire were all out for 60. 

The forecast for Falkland was rain all morning and heavier stuff arriving after that. Having been persuaded to make the drive down, at least Gordonians got a tea before they got back in the cars.

2nd Forfarshire versus Kinloch didn’t start, and Strathmore were 105 for 4 against Freuchie before that match was also abandoned.

The Eastern Premier League title was secured by Grange, but they were pushed hard on Saturday by Forfarshire. 114 from Ryan Flannigan set up a Grange total of 324 for 8. Forfarshire appeared to be accelerating towards a positive result, particularly when Craig Wallace and Jack O’Neill got to their centuries off consecutive balls. Once they were out the scoreboard pressure was too much for the remaining batters, and Gordon Goudie took 5 for 37 to give Grange a 10 run victory.

No change at the foot of the table as Stoneywood Dyce and Meigle both had bad days. Nick Murray made 76 as RH Corstorphine were bowled out for 256 by Stoneywood Dyce, but Rex Hugill took 4 for 7 as Stonewyood Dyce could only make 60.

Heriot’s took a quality bowling attack to Meigle and it wasn’t a surprise when they ran through the Meigle batting for 71. The Heriot’s batters finished it off within 9 overs.

Watsonian chased down the 123 of Stewart’s Melville for the loss of 3 wickets and Carlton lost 4 wickets overtaking the 219 for 5 that Falkland had set them.