3 of the Aberdeenshire Cup ties on Sunday had nail biting finishes, but Bon Accord proved far too good for promoted Banchory.
The first round tie between Master Blasters and Gordonians got off to a cracking start as Shoaib Laghari smashed his 2nd century of the weekend. When he was out for 126 (off 73 balls) with the score on 169 for 3, the batters at the other end had contributed a collective 20. Other than Ajay Narne scoring 41, the rest of the Master Blasters batters didn’t look on their game. Ashfaq Bashir took 4 for 36 as Gordonians perhaps expected to be chasing more than a total of 258. Muhammad Ayaz batted for the full 40 overs of the Gordonians chase, unbeaten on 108, but his late big hitting onslaught wasn’t quite enough as Gordos lost by 3 runs.
The other first round tie was between Inverurie and Mannofield. Mannofield batted first and were on 80 for 5 at the halfway point in their innings. 39 off only 29 balls from Andrew Hastie gave their innings some much needed get up and go, and Rameez Hashmi was their last man out having made 70 of their total of 183. It was a contrasting start from the Inverurie openers as Jordan Thom hit a rapid 38 from 22 balls whilst George Hadden took 83 balls for his 38, the score 115 for 3 when he was out in the 24th over. Inverurie looked to be coasting home, but when 4 wickets fell for only 13 runs, the pressure was on their lower order. Will Doherty on debut, batting at number 8, hit a couple of boundaries to give them a 2 wicket win in the 39th over.
It was a vintage start to the Bons batting as Fazal Awan and Pal Dhami put on 73 before Awan was out for a quick 54. When Dhami fell for 53, the first of 3 wickets for Banchory debutant Mark Addinal, the score had advanced to 134 for 3. The expected run surge didn’t happen as Mausam Thapa picked up 3 for 24 to take the sting out of the Bons lower order as they were bowled out for 182. Aqdas Chattha took 4 for 17 as the Banchory reply finished on 119 and Bons advanced to the semi finals.
Knight Riders began their defence of the Aberdeenshire Cup with a quarter final contest at Rubislaw against Aberdeen Grammar. Many thanks to Gilles Gardner for the excellent team photos below. Only 6 boundaries in the Grammar innings, 3 of those to Alex Keith who top scored with 41. Harry Mapplebeck is more renowned for his bowling, but his unbeaten 28 was vital in giving Grammar a respectable total of 143 against a miserly Knight Riders attack. The Knight Riders response started in very watchful fashion, but they increased the run rate progressively and an unbeaten 39 from Gautam Bhatia, including a 6 off Mapplebeck to win it, gave them victory with 4 wickets in hand and 10 balls to spare.
