Stoneywood-Dyce made a poor start to their Eastern Premier campaign at home to defending champions Heriots.
They slumped to 83 all out after a generally good performance in the field, restricting the Edinburgh side to 107 for the loss of five wickets, only to fail to push home their advantage, enabling the visitors to reach 243 for nine after their allocation of 50 overs.
People’s Park captain Lennard Bester was disappointed after his side went from being 57 for the loss of only two wickets to collapse to 83 all out.
He said: “From being an organised, even aggressive outfit in the field, we were sunk without trace when we batted.
“Only Shaun Coetzer demonstrated any real application with a fine 36, opener Du Preez Stander (10) was the only other batsman to reach double figures.
“Even when we fielded we failed to pressurise them after some good bowling and fine catching in the first half of the Heriots innings but most of all we need to concentrate on applying ourselves with the bat.”
Some tight, controlled bowling enabled Stoneywood-Dyce to keep taking wickets on a regular basis, aided by two magnificent catches held by George Ninan and David Kidd, although a fifth wicket stand of 78 between James Dickinson (62) and Ryan Brown (34) took the game away from the home side.
Earlier in the innings, opener Lloyd Brown’s 48 provided the required stability.
Stander was the pick of the home bowlers, returning three for 42, while Sai Sawan Kumar and Jon Grant chipped with two apiece.
A veil is best drawn over the home batting, apart from Coetzer’s controlled, disciplined 36, while Dickinson added lustre to his day, capturing three for 12 from his 2.3 overs.
Life will not get any easier on Saturday when Stoneywood-Dyce travel to Edinburgh where they meet Grange, another likely contender for the top title in Scottish club cricket.
Shire and Huntly impress
There was much better news for the region in the NE Championship where Aberdeenshire and Huntly made winning starts to their campaigns.
Shire’s new captain David Gamblen made the perfect start, winning the toss which enabled his bowlers to take advantage of a soft, seaming track, resulting in Forfarshire 2nds being dismissed for 76.
Finlay Anderson was the destroyer-in-chief, taking three for only four runs in his devastating spell of three overs.
Gamblen used all his six bowlers in a bid to get them all turning an arm. A move which paid off as all six claimed at least one wicket.
The Shire reply was not without mishap, as they lost four wickets, but saved embarrassment by Lewis Munro who stepped up to the mark with a brutal 46.
“It was a good start to our season. We were in control for most of the afternoon. I am delighted with the all-round application,” said Gamblen.
Huntly captain Jack Mitchell was pleased with his side’s derby win over Gordonians who struggled on a soft pitch at Castle Park, sliding to 120 all out with only Adi Betha (35) and captain Mayank Bhandari (28) showing any resistance against an inspired home bowling attack led Jason Squire who took three for 19.
Their performance serving to clear the decks for Huntly opener Jay-Dee Oliver who swept to an imperious unbeaten 95, enabling his team to win the match in the 21st over.
Mitchell said: “Jay-Dee was just awesome but in the field we turned in a good all-round performance, setting us up nicely for a crack at Aberdeenshire at Mannofield next week.
“I will take a seven wicket win at any time, especially on the first day of the season.”
Day to forget for Knights
Knight Riders, the defending Grade One champions, made the worst possible start to their season by crashing to a seven wicket defeat at Mannofield.
Home opener Indika Yahathugoda was the rock on which the champions perished with his 59 being expertly constructed.
Bon Accord made their presence felt in a low-scoring affair at Countesswells where, despite being bowled out for 96, they went on to dismiss Gordonians for 59.
Their captain Tauqeer Malik took four wickets while Fazal Awan top-scored for the Bons with 53.
Inverurie laid down an early indication of their aspirations with a 77-run win after bowling out Crescent for 156 after scoring 234 of which 95 flowed from the bat of Chris Watson.
Master Blasters were narrow four wicket winners at Allan Park against Cults, but it was even closer at Harlaw where AberGreen hunted down the 159 set by Grampian with only one wicket in hand.
This weekend’s results…
EASTERN PREMIER LEAGUE
Heriots 242 for 9 (25 points) (J Dickinson 62, L Brown 48, D Stander 3-42, S Kumar 2-240 Stoneywood Dyce 83 (0 points) (S Coetzer 36, J Dickinson 3-12, J Hickman 2-7)
Falkland 101 (2 points) (J Martins 20, A Das 4-32, S Fischer-Keogh 2-15) RH Corstorphine 102 for 3 (25 points) (D Rane 45no)
Meigle 179 (2 points) (R Gayashan 48, S Ejaz 32, R Allardice 3-33, A Evans 3-37) Carlton 181 for 2 (25 points) (D Da Costa 100no, F Thornton 40)
Stewart’s Melville 147 (4 points) (S Pillay 59, A Appleton 34, D Budge 4-25, J Jarvis 3-28) Grange 150 for 4 (25 points) (C Sole 30no, A Brown 24)
Watsonian v Forfarshire – Match Abandoned
SPCU NORTH EAST CHAMPIONSHIP
2nd Forfarshire 76 (3 points) Aberdeenshire 80 for 4 (25 points)
Gordonians 120 (4 points) (A Mehta 35, M Bhandari 28, J Squire 3-19, J Mitchell 2-18) Huntly 122 for 3 (25 points) (J Oliver 95no)
Arbroath United 328 for 7 (25 points) Freuchie 98 (5points)
Perth Doocot 270 for 5 (25 points) Kinloch 138 (6 points)
Strathmore v 2nd Falkland – Match Abandoned
NORTH EAST SCOTLAND CRICKET GRADES
GRADE 1
Inverurie 234 for 6 (30 points) (C Watson 95, G Hadden 29, D Gibson 3-43) IDI Services Crescent 156 for 9 (14 points) (A Sharma 26, F Lawrance 3-23, J Jessiman 3-30)
Culter Curry Bon Accord 96 (30 points) (F Awan 53, P Gollakota 6-3, R Bhide 2-17) Gordonians 59 (12 points) (R Bhide 21, T Malik 4-15, N Mirza 4-27)
Ash Accountancy Cults 103 (11 points) (I Basheer 23, V Vijapur 5-20, S Peedikayil 2-17) TechForce Master Blasters Aberdeen 109 for 6 (30 points) (A Kache 29, P Tenneti 21, U Ullah 3-30, M Khan 2-31)
Knight Riders 194 (13 points) (P Ballal 32, M Mohan 29, L Saraswat 3-37, I Yahathugoda 2-6) Mannofield 195 for 3 (30 points) (I Yahathugoda 59, R Chandu 43no)
Grampian 159 (17 points) (M Nadim 52, B Jacob 37, A Yousuf 3-29, A Ali 3-34) AberGreen 160 for 9 (30 points) (A Yaqub 30, A Ali 26, J Varghese 3-26, Z Hussain 2-32)
GRADE 2
Banchory 275 for 4 (30 points) (S Rotheram 125no, W George 69, BKamal 2-56) 2nd AberGreen 71 (7 points) (S Jafri 20, I Davies 3-10, G Brown 2-9)
Huntly 30 (1 point) (P Poossapadi 5-11) AGSFPs 34 for 1 (30 points) (A Keith 25no)
Portcullis 156 for 7 (12 points) (O Thorpe 92, P Azhakath 21no, U Shirzad 4-15, C McLeman 2-17 Fraserburgh 157 for 4 (30 points) (C Bowie 87no, M Watson 32no, K Vijayakrishnan 2-28)
Quilter Cheviot Ellon Gordon 151 (30 points) (J Barrett 76, M Sandham 30, V Sasidharan 3-44, V Kannan 2-26) 2nd Grampian 76 (13 points) (S Joseph 23, V Sasidharan 22, B Webb 5-18, M Sandham 3-22)
GRADE 3
Stonehaven Thistle 50 (8 points) (N Macaulay-Dicks 28, K Babu Andru 4-2, B Balaji 2-8) Dunecht 51 for 7 (30 points) (N King 4-9)
2nd Mannofield v 2nd Master Blasters Aberdeen – Match Abandoned
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