The first Grade 1 century of the season went to Shoaib Laghari of Master Blasters. Aberdeen Grammar would have been expecting a tough game at Inverdee, but probably didn’t expect to be hit to all parts by a player with 36 first class games behind him. His knock of 140 lasted 92 deliveries, 14 of those being dispatched for maximums. He was eventually bowled by Harry Mapplebeck who took 3 for 48 before Muhammad Hassaan rattled through the lower order with 4 for 32. Grammar were never on course to chase the Master Blasters total of 253, who used all 11 bowlers, including a rare turn of the arm for Pehlaj Tenneti who took the last 2 Grammar wickets to fall as they picked up 20 bonus points by reaching 176 for 9.
Quickest game of the day in Grade 1 was at Banchory as the hosts were bowled out by Mannofield for 114. Abid Ali did the most damage as he picked up 4 for 12. Banchory did reduce Mannofield to 32 for 4, but an unbeaten 41 from Varinder Sood gave the visitors a comfortable 5 wicket win.
Inverurie made a great start to the season as their top 4 all made notable contributions as they posted 227 for 6 at home to Cults. Jordan Thom made a quickfire 55 alongside 40 from Chris Watson. The Cults reply was led by Muhammad Areeb with 74 and they looked on course at 143 for 3 but 6 wickets fell for 15 runs as Messrs Jessiman, Watson and Burr all took 3 wickets to bowl Cults out for 198.
49 from Adithya Bineesh was the only major score as Bon Accord bowled out Crescent for 111. Fazal Awan topped the reply with 38 as Bons won by 6 wickets.
The Gordonians v Knight Riders match followed a similar pattern to their Aberdeenshire Cup final clash last season. Gordonians batted first with Mohit Khosla making 45 of their 157 as Bijin Vijayaraj Jayakumari claimed the last 5 Gordos wickets for 34 runs. The Knight Riders reply stuttered to 55 for 5, but 46 from Gautum Bhatia helped them to score the 50 runs that were ultimately needed off the last 7 overs.
In Grade 2, having won 2 in a row, the wheels came off for 3rd Aberdeen Grammar at Inverdee. Josino Aluvathingal hit 67 of the 217 that Grampian were bowled out for, but this was more than enough as Grammar were all out for 38, Sebin Joseph taking 3 for 11.
4 for 17 from Fraserburgh skipper Chris Gospel made a mess of the Portcullis batting plans, and Calum Mcleman finished them off as his 3 for 11 bowled the Duthie Park side out for 74 as Fraserburgh eased to a 7 wicket win.
A well managed 2nd Knight Riders innings of 174 for 8 was led by Raja Duraisamy with 48. Mike Hordley made 42 of the Methlick reply, but nobody else could bring any impetus to the chase and they were all out for 136.
Huntly found run scoring tricky at St Margaret’s as 2nd Master Blasters bowled them out for 117 with Kalyan Babu Andru pick of the bowlers with 3 for 5. Emily Henderson took 2 early wickets, but an unbeaten 58 from Samuel Nishanth gave Master Blasters a 6 wicket win in the 19th over.
2nd Gordonians must have had a feeling of deja vu as another hefty partnership took the game away from them against 2nd Aberdeen Grammar. 57 for 6 at one stage, Aberdeen Grammar completed their 40 overs on 182 for 6 thanks to a rapid 77 from Muaz Waheed and 43 from Abdul Saboor. Asif Yousuf with 5 for 16 killed off any Gordos momentum and they batted out the overs to finish on 123 for 9.
It was slow going in Grade 3 as 2nd Fraserburgh batted out their 40 overs against Dunecht, putting 86 for 7 on the board. John Morgan took 3 for 5 but didn’t get a bat as Barney Ingram was 61 not out as Dunecht didn’t lose any wickets winning in the 14th over.
It was a bit of a one man batting show for 2nd Banchory as Will Redpath held firm through the full 40 overs for 86 out of their total of 124 for 7 at Stonehaven. Nathan Macaulay-Dicks was one of 4 victims for Barry Watt, but his 47 set the platform for an otherwise shaky 2 wicket victory.
62 from Zakir Hussain set up an impressive Aberdeen Tigers total of 278 against 3rd Gordonians for whom Aarav Nair outshone his Dad with the ball, taking 4 for 42. Mahesh Patel made a half century in the Gordonians reply, but they were all out for 182.
2nd Methlick were dismissed for 67 as they found the 2nd Grampian score of 231 for 7 a bit of a steep ask.
Gordonians opened their SPCU North East Championship campaign with a very comfortable 7 wicket win at St Modans. Zeb Alamgir made 46 for the hosts out of their 140 as Prashant Wig and Sai Kumar both took 3 wickets for Gordos. Sree Devadas raced to his 50 off only 19 balls, being out for 80 as Gordos won in the 19th over.
Graeme Garden got 2nd Forfarshire off to a steady start at Mannofield before being out for 48, one of 3 scalps for Calum Howard. 161 for 3 deteriorated to 179 all out as the Forfs lower order lost their way. Aberdeenshire cantered to a 6 wicket win with Kenny Reid continuing his impressive start to the season, unbeaten on 72, with excellent early support from Pranav Saravanan on 70.
A half century from Jack Lambley was the highlight of the Stoneywood Dyce total of 157 as they couldn’t bat the overs against Strathmore. Majid Rasheed took 3 for 37 without being at his dynamic best. Strathmore lost 7 wickets overhauling the required figure, Jonny Blackie top scoring with 56 as the Strathie batters didn’t hang around.
Whilst Jack Mitchell topped the scoring for Huntly against Freuchie with 44, it was the Petrie family who stole the show. Lewis Myron-Petrie was undefeated on 42 with Dad Andrew sticking in for 12 as they set a total of 160 for 9. A patient 54 from Shane Munro kept Freuchie in the game, but a pressure spell of 3 for 13 from Andrew Petrie led to a bit of Freuchie panic and they were all out 3 runs short with 5 balls remaining.
Perth Doo’cot are starting to look like title favourites as they were far too good for Dundee High. Joel Rush was the star man with the bat with 82 out of a Perth score of 311 for 7 and Safyaan Sharif picked up 4 for 19 to bowl out Dundee High for 163.
Mismatch of the day in the Eastern Premier League was at Meigle as Carlton piled up a massive 420 for 3 with Chris McBride 220 not out, rather dwarfing the 112 from Daniel Da Costa. Meigle were all out for 183.
An unbeaten 122 from Jasper Davidson took Grange to 223 for 8 against a stacked Heriot’s bowling attack. 5 for 30 from Chris Sole gave Grange a slightly unexpected 48 run victory.
Falkland did well to put 241 on the board at home to Watsonian who never recovered from losing Oli Hairs for a duck as they were skittled for 105.
Forfarshire bowled out Arbroath for 129 as they easily won by 7 wickets. Aayush Das took 3 for 43 as RH Corstorphine won by 4 wickets against Stewarts Melville. After his high scoring efforts last weekend, Liam Naylor was out for a second ball duck for RHC but former Strathmore overseas player Lance Trueman calmed any RHC nerves as he sorted a middle order wobble.