Stoneywood-Dyce ended their nine week run of defeats with a gutsy but narrow win at the expense of RH Corstorphine.
People’s Park captain Lennard Bester, who has consistently backed his young team to come good, was pleased to deliver a morale-boosting win.
He said: “It’s been a hard week for the guys but they proved they were up to the task.
“I am delighted for them after a great performance in the field.
“Bowling RHC out for only 159 was just splendid, although we struggled to reach the target, relying on veteran George Ninan who dropped down the order and anchored us to a two wicket win with great support from David Kidd and Du Preez Stander.”
But while Ninan’s 43 was the mainstay of the People’s Park side’s batting, it was the home bowling attack that claimed the honours of the day, not least birthday boy Du Preez who took two wickets, followed by an unbeaten 32 when his side batted.
Ninan took three for 19, while once again Jon Grant proved he is a left arm opening bowler to be reckoned with after his electric spell of four for 39.
Liam Naylor was an unlucky loser for RHC, having scored 73 and then claimed four home wickets for 29.
Elsewhere, leaders Heriot’s suffered a rare loss at Carlton, losing out by 15 runs. Nearest challengers Forfarshire were unable to take advantage after losing out by two wickets at Grange.
Meigle edge closer to title
In the meantime, Meigle’s march to the NE Championship continued at home to Perth Doo’cot where they scored 252 all out. In reply the visitors could only muster 170.
Aberdeenshire kept up the pressure on the Angus side with a narrow one wicket win over near neighbours Gordonians. Chasing 225, the Mannofield men eased home in the penultimate over to stun the unlucky Countesswells side.
“I am really proud of the guys. We’ll give it our best shot over the next two weeks,” said Kenny Reid, the Shire captain.
Huntly, who are still in contention, were not in action.
In the NE Grades, Bon Accord strengthened their lead at the head of Grade 1 after racking up 297 and then dismissing Master Blasters Aberdeen for 136, while nearest challengers Crescent were well beaten by Mannofield at Harlaw where they were bowled out for 208 who then passed the required target with six wickets in hand.
In Grade 2, Grampian remain on target for the title after a 23-run win over Ellon Gordon for whom Tom Proctor hit a splendid 124 out of his side’s 242.
Tom Acton and Adam Veersema scored unbeaten centuries for Grade 3 leaders Methlick in their 205 run win of their own second team, scoring 284 bowling out the seconds for 79, assuring the Lairds side promotion.
This weekend’s results…
EASTERN PREMIER LEAGUE
Forfarshire 244 (8 points) (J O’Neill 57, C Garden 42, T Foulds 3-32, G Goudie 2-23) Grange 247 for 8 (25 points) (J Jarvis 101no, T Foulds 63, J O’Neill 3-40, L James 3-57)
Arbroath United 219 for 7 (2 points) (G Peal 69, M Petrie 52, A Arora 4-31) Watsonian 220 for 3 (25 points) (D Voas 88, A Chalmers 53no)
Falkland 253 for 7 (25 points) (H Cooray 80, J Henderson 54, S Pillay 4-26, J Newman 2-30) Stewarts Melville 235 for 9 (8 points) (S Parker 71, K Steel 33, H Cooray 3-43, C Cassell 2-38)
RH Corstorphine 159 (8 points) (L Naylor 73, G West 23, J Grant 4-39, N Ninan 3-19) Stoneywood Dyce 163 for 8 (25 points) (N Ninan 43, D Stander 32no, L Naylor 4-29, J Dickinson 2-32)
Carlton 153 (25 points) (N Madziva 51, A Pillai 26, L Brown 4-23, E Hutchinson 2-8) Heriot’s 138 (8 points) (D Mackay-Champion 25, R Allardice 3-27, A Pillai 2-16)
SPCU NORTH EAST CHAMPIONSHIP
Gordonians 225 (12 points) (A Bashir 77, A Hegde 36, A Das 3-34, D Forrester 3-43) Aberdeenshire 230 for 9 (25 points) (D Forrester 144, M Saraswat 36, A Bashir 3-36, A Ahmed 3-46)
Meigle 252 (25 points) (R Gayashan 87, A Neave 40, K Khalil 5-31, M Hussain 2-24) Perth Doocot 170 (11 points) (U Saeed 63, B Ali 35, I Stewart 5-29, M Rasheed 2-19)
2nd Forfarshire 209 (10 points) (S McIntyre 40, J Girolami 38, D Cowan 3-39, A Naeem 2-30) Freuchie 211 for 8 (25 points) (R Wiseman 71, D Cowan 67, G Garden 3-28, G Quinn 2-37)
Kinloch 252 for 8 (25 points) (R Razak 41, S Shafi 40no, A Rayner 3-41, M Louw 2-68) 2nd Stoneywood Dyce 225 for 9 (11 points) (M Coetzee 61, M Reid 52, S Raghuraman 3-33, R Adeel 2-22)
NORTH EAST SCOTLAND CRICKET GRADES
GRADE 1
Knight Riders 158 (30 points) (S Muhammad 43, P Mallireddy 26no, J Shaikh 3-21, M Khosla 2-22) Gordonians 153 (18 points) (M Khosla 41, A Bashir 27, M Challa 4-32, B Vijayaraj Jayakumari 2-23)
B-Secure Crescent 208 (14 points) (R Sujaya 44, K Reddy 38, A Sharma 3-39, A Hastie 2-15) Mannofield 212 for 4 (30 points) (I Yahathugoda 96, K Yahathugoda 46no, R Sujaya 2-34)
2nd Knight Riders 233 (14 points) (P Reddy 68, M Vallatharasu 48, I Nawaz 4-69, A Shehman 3-35) Infquick.com Cults 236 for 4 (30 points) (M Tahir 82, R Mahajan 37no)
AGSFPs 160 (15 points) (A Sood 41, A Keith 32, J Jessiman 3-25, C Watson 3-37) Inverurie Don Valley 164 for 6 (30 points) (F Lawrance 44, J Thom 38, A Sood 3-46, H Mapplebeck 2-21)
Culter Curry Bon Accord 297 for 6 (30 points) (H Ahmed 103, V Sood 96no, C Aggarwal 2-55) TechForce Master Blasters Aberdeen 136 (13 points) (B Yalamanchili 52, V Desai 25no, N Mirza 4-6, H Omerkhail 2-35)
GRADE 2
Fraserburgh 98 (9 points) (U Shirzad 35, F Sibtain 3-18, A Yousuf 2-12) Siyapa 99 for 5 (30 points) (A Yuqub 32no, A Ali 24, R Duthie 3-22)
Grampian 265 for 7 (30 points) (J Varghese 95, J George 49, J Barrett 2-28, R Greenfield 2-49) Quilter Cheviot Ellon Gordon 242 (17 points) (T Proctor 124, B Webb 57, S Charley 3-28, J George 2-31)
GRADE 3
Dunecht 200 (18 points) (M Witz 66, M Baldry 46, B Kamal 2-23, A Abassi 2-33) 2nd Siyapa 201 for 8 (30 points) (H Masood 59, S Abassi 24, D Davis 3-57, L Rahman 2-35)
Crathie 295 for 5 (30 points) (J Thomas 86, J Schuneman 53, V Nair 2-77) 3rd Gordonians 202 (15 points) (V Hegde 79, V Amirtharaj 65, J Schuneman 5-30, F MacLeod 2-22)
Methlick 284 for 0 (30 points) (T Acton 112no, A Veersema 102no) 2nd Methlick 79 (3 points) (M Rehman 24, G Cordiner 5-24, T Duffy 3-18)
Stoneywood Dyce 213 (30 points) (W Khan 68, S Reid 30, U Basavaraju 4-19, R Chouksey 2-23) 2nd Gordonians 212 for 8 (18 points) (R Davis 52, U Basavaraju 35, A Goheer 2-35, W Khan 2-39)
