The brief spell of sunshine disappeared on Saturday to be replaced by slightly more precipitation than expected. The Grade 1 fixtures were wiped out, although Master Blasters and Cults did give it a go for 5 overs before realism took hold.
3rd Aberdeen Grammar picked up their 2nd Grade 2 win of the season, signalling what may be a challenging campaign for Methlick. None of the Methlick batters made double figures as they were bowled out for 69, Babar Kamal taking 3 for 7 and Rasib Bashir 2 for 12. Tom Acton picked up 2 for 5 but an unbeaten 43 from Bashir gave Grammar 3rds a 7 wicket win in the 17th over.
Portcullis posted 175 for 8 against 2nd Knight Riders at Duthie Park, Kannan Vijayakrishnan last man out for 44 after Ross Mckenzie had made 38 opening the innings. Having been reduced to 36 for 5 thanks to Parameswaran Azhakath taking 3 for 7 from his 8 overs, 2nd Knight Riders fought back with scores in the 40’s from Ambrose John and Dinesh Subramanian. Unfortunately for them they couldn’t find the boundary with any regularity in the last 10 overs and they finished 9 wickets down and 5 runs adrift of the Portcullis total.
Grampian set a daunting 266 for 6 for Huntly to chase at Castle Park. Alwin Nimmy got the innings off to a great start with 84 and Bijil Jacob kept the pain going with a brisk 44. Tomcy Thomas took 4 for 21 as Huntly were all out for 159.
220 for 9 proved 127 runs too many for Fraserburgh to chase at Kessock Park as 2nd Aberdeen Grammar bounced back from defeat last weekend.
Closest match of the day was the ground debut at St Margaret’s as 2nd Gordonians were bowled out for 174 by 2nd Master Blasters, Mahesh Patel top scoring with 44. Umesh Basavaraju took 4 for 18 to help reduce Master Blasters to 68 for 8 but an unbeaten 9th wicket partnership of 108 sealed a win for the Blasters with 3 balls to spare. Chandrashekar Mallireddy was the hero with 79 but it needed the support of Sahil Kini with 36 to secure full points.
Aberdeen Tigers debuted in Grade 3 at Ellon and made life difficult for themselves as they conceded 49 extras, one behind a half century from Tom Proctor as Ellon totalled 220. Brian Veldsman with 40 was one of 5 victims for Zakir Hussain. Akil Mahbub recorded the first half century for the Tigers but he didn’t get any substantial support from the latter part of the batting order and they were bowled out for 177.
The Dunecht batting was a one man show, and not for the first time, as Matt Witz contributed 106 of the team total of 140 against Stoneywood Dyce. Mike Baldry took 4 for 13 as Stoneywood Dyce could only manage to score 50.
Jack Humphrey took 4 for 49 as Crathie removed 2nd Grampian for 120 at Balmoral. A belligerent 63 from Shahmir Naseer gave Crathie an 8 wicket win.
Lokesh Saraswat was out 3 runs short of a century for 2nd Mannofield, the first of 4 wickets for Vithyaprakash Ramasamy as Stonehaven restricted the visitors to 203 for 8. 91 for no wicket changed to 94 for 4 as the Stonehaven chase petered out, Andy Gale topping the scoring with 61 as Stonehaven ran out of overs 37 runs short of their target.
Contrasting totals at Banchory as their renewed 2nd team racked up 257 for 9 against the new 2nd Fraserburgh side. Pulkit Singh smacked 20 boundaries as he was out for 124 and Hasmatullah Niazai made 37 of the Broch total of 80 as the 4 Banchory bowlers rattled through them, Vikas Adyanthaya taking 5 for 25.
No play at Countesswells in the SPCU North East Championship game between Gordonians and Dundee High, but Aberdeenshire did manage a reduced 30 overs a side match at Mannofield against the newly promoted St Modans. As if prepping the ground isn’t stretching enough, Calum Howard also had to bowl for Shire on his own pitch taking 3 for 35 as the visitors made a useful 161 for 9. Kenny Reid was run out for 74 with the scores tied, and a wide finished the game off as Shire lost 4 wickets but had 5 overs unused.
It was a tough day at the office for Huntly as they travelled to Perth and had to suffer as Joel Rush hit 80 of the Perth total of 245. Jaco Beneke top scored with 44 as Huntly were dismissed for 117.
Ewan Davidson led from the front as he made 55 of the Stoneywood Dyce score of 137 at home to Freuchie. Freuchie might have had concerns about how they would bat without the Stonebridge brothers in their ranks, but it mattered little as Jeandre Niemann made a quick unbeaten 57 to add to his earlier 4 for 31 to ease Freuchie to a comfortable 8 wicket win.
65 from Rhys Tweedy got Strathmore off to a good start at home to 2nd Forfarshire but the lower order wilted as Liam Latto took 4 for 19 to bowl them out for 146. An undefeated 70 from the evergreen Graeme Garden gave the visitors an 8 wicket victory.
In the Eastern Premier League the Meigle v Arbroath game didn’t get started. Michael Leask was in devastating form with the bat with an imperious unbeaten 147 as Forfarshire chased down the 305 for 7 of RH Corstorphine. Liam Naylor made 150 of those in a day for the batters as Callum Garden scored 96 for Forfs as they won by 5 wickets.
Finlay McCreath was not out on 139 as Grange made the highest total of the day with 381 for 5 as they won big against Watsonian. Du Preez Stander made 59 of the Stewart’s Melville score of 247 for 9, but this wasn’t enough as Falkland, thanks to a century from Kyle Jacobs, had already posted 297.
Half centuries from Peter Ross and Mark Watt helped Heriot’s to victory in the derby against Carlton as Gavin Main took 3 for 13.