Stoneywood-Dyce’s dropped to bottom of the Eastern Premier League after another disastrous batting collapse but it could have been so different had the home side made the most of their early advantage against Watsonians.
After less than an hour’s play the Edinburgh side, who had chosen to bat, were reduced to only 25 for the loss of five wickets, including the valuable one of Oli Hairs, the Edinburgh side’s most prolific batsman.
He was comprehensively bowled by Jamie King, one of four victims claimed by the near unplayable Stoneywood-Dyce captain.
King, in the company of fellow opening bowler Jon Grant, ripped through the top order of the Myreside batting to the delight of the home support.
But like all top teams, Watsonians had something in reserve which came in the form of Scotland player Andrew Chalmers (78) and Harry Shivmangal (55), who enjoyed a partnership of 119.
The home side had their chances with Chalmers dropped twice, the first when the score was only 42 being the most crucial.
A late flurry of scoring led by captain KP Maksimczk helped the Edinburgh side reach the respectable total of 243 for nine from their allocation of 50 overs.
King was the most impressive of the home attack with his four for 24, easily his best performance and figures of the season, although he had good support from Grant and Shaun Coetzer who stopped Chalmers in his tracks when on his way to a century, having him neatly stumped by Bruce Maclaren.
The Stoneywood-Dyce reply never got off the ground, needing middle order knocks of 27 and 26 from Coetzer and David Kidd to enable them to reach 101, 142 runs short of the Watsonians total.
King was bitterly disappointed with the outcome but said: “We dropped catches at crucial times, something you just can’t do at this level if you are to survive.
“Again the positives are in getting ourselves in a position to win. If we continue to do this we’ll stay up. We’ll come good with the bat at some point soon.”
Much will now depend on how the Aberdeen side perform on Saturday when they meet second bottom Stewart’s Melville who had their first win of the season on Saturday at the expense of RH Corstorphine, easing home by two wickets.
Stoneywood-Dyce will look to make the most of home advantage in what already looks a crucial game.
