Stoneywood-Dyce registered their first win in the Eastern Premier League since the opening day of the season on May 22, spinning out Stewart’s Melville for 144 when chasing the home total of 176.
The win, which takes the Peoples Park out of the bottom two in the top Scottish club league, was all the more remarkable for the fact that three key players were not available, having had to self-isolate after they had been in contact with players from another club who had Covid 19.
Captain Jamie King, an opening bowler, and David Kidd, a first change bowler, were two of the three, leaving stand-in captain Jan Stander the problem of how to marshall his deleted attack.
In the event the Scotland player did a superb job, relying mainly on his spinners to take the game to their Edinburgh opponents.
Stander, who was unable to bowl due to broken finger, said: “It was pleasing to be able to able to deploy our spinners, who bowled 32 of our total of 46 overs.
“Jon Grant did a magnificent job with his fast left arm opening spell, restricting them to 19 runs from his 10 overs.
“Not having access to Jamie and David was a blow, as was not having Andrew Maclaren behind the stumps, although Ailsa Lister did a great job.”
George Ninan was the pick of the home attack, claiming four wickets from his 9.5 overs to sit nicely with his 30 runs when he opened the home batting after his team had been asked to bat.
But, while it was the Stoneywood-Dyce bowlers who claimed the honours, including Shaun Coetzer’s two for 16 and Leighton Collins two for 21, it was also a day when their misfiring batsmen at last stood up to be counted, not least Lennard Bester, who in the company of Ewan Davidson put on 69 for the sixth wicket.
Bester’s 54 from 52 balls, helped take the game away from the visitors, enabling them to reach 176 on a wicket where the variable bounce kept the batsmen on their toes.
Stander said: “They were quality knocks which were the basis for our win. Ewan’s 31 was beautifully crafted, while Lennard’s half century was more belligerent, but was just what was needed.”
Stewart’s Melville struggled against the spin of the home attack, but were boosted by a late innings of 40 from Joe Newman, taking them to 144, 32 short of the home total.
The third of the league’s strugglers, Meigle, were beaten by Carlton, making it a good day for the Peoples Park side.
