Stoneywood-Dyce were pushed into the relegation slot in the Eastern Premier League after fellow strugglers Meigle managed to claim eight points in their narrow defeat at the hands of champions Grange.
This means the People’s Park side will need to beat their Perthshire rivals in Aberdeen in the last game of the season on Saturday to avoid finishing bottom.
Stoneywood-Dyce have won only one game this season – away to Meigle – after their own game at Foothill against Fofarshre was abandoned due to heavy overnight rain without a ball being bowled.
Meigle battled to a respectable 207 for the loss of nine wickets before giving their Edinburgh visitors the fright of their lives, as they struggled to pass the home total but eventually managed with eight wickets down, enabling them to not only win, but claim the EPL title.
Stoneywood-Dyce captain Ewan Davidson said: ”We’ve beaten them once this season, so why not again, especially as the game is at People’s Park.
“A bigger fear could be the weather, for if the game were to be abandoned Meigle would stay up. We’ll just have to keep our fingers crossed.”
The three games in the NE Championship involing Aberdeenshire, Gordonians and Huntly were all rained off, but in the shock of the day, champions Arbroath United were bowled out for 87 when chasing Perth Doo’cot’s lowly total of 103.
The run-in to the title race in the NESC Grade 1 looks to be heading for an exciting climax after the top game in the division between Master Blasters Aberdeen and Bon Accord at Inverdee was called off due to rain.
This gave third-placed Gordonians the opportunity to close the gap on the two leaders.
It was a chance the Countesswells side grabbed with both hands at Kellands Park where they convincingly hunted down the 132 total set them for the loss of only two wickets, an unbeaten 77 coming from the bat of Gordonians opener Indy Pandit.
The emphatic win keeps them on track for a league and cup double, as on Saturday they play their penultimate league game of the season before meeting Knight Riders in the final of the Aberdeenshire Cup.
Elsewhere in the division, Crescent won the basement battle against AberGreen by three wickets after bowling out their opponents for 137, while taking themselves out of the relegation area at the expense of Grampian whose game with Knight Riders was rained off.
This week’s results…
EASTERN PREMIER LEAGUE
Meigle 207 for 9 (8 points) (A Neave 56, U Muramalla 48, G Goudie 3-34, J Jarvis 2-35) Grange 208 for 8 (25 points) (H Carnegie 79, J Jarvis 37, Z Rasheed 2-30, T Brits 2-42)
Forfarshire v Stoneywood Dyce – Match Abandoned
Falkland 244 for 9 (25 points) (J Henderson 86, J Martins 50, T Pratt 3-43, G Carr 2-27) Watsonian 159 (2 points) (O Hairs 57, M Carson 30, J Martins 4-40, L Briggs 2-18)
Heriot’s v Stewart’s Melville – Match Abandoned
Carlton 276 for 6 (25 points) (D Da Costa 125no, S Khan 43, C Clarkson 2-23, S Fischer-Keogh 2-63) RH Corstorphine 106 (0 points) (M Sahare 26, R Allardice 2-11, A Evans 2-15)
BREEDON SPCU NORTH EAST CHAMPIONSHIP
Perth Doocot 103 (25 points) (S Sharif 60, J Meiring 4-11, C Robb 3-39) Arbroath United 87 (8 points) (J Meiring 33, B Ditchmen 4-17, R Khan 3-6)
Gordonians v Strathmore – Match Abandoned
Aberdeenshire v 2nd Falkland – Match Abandoned
Kinloch v Huntly – Match Abandoned
2nd Forfarshire 173 for 9 (25 points) (C Robertson 68, C McConnachie 44no, M Hastie 4-29, R Wright 2-14) Freuchie 80 (8 points) (R Wiseman 27, C McConnachie 3-22, H Brar 2-10)
NORTH EAST SCOTLAND CRICKET GRADES
GRADE 1
Inverurie 132 for 8 (9 points) (T Norval 43, G Hadden 25, H Parkar 2-23, M Khosla 2-26) Gordonians 133 for 2 (30 points) (I Pandit 77no, H Parkar 22, C Watson 2-38)
Master Blasters Aberdeen v Culter Curry Bon Accord – Match Abandoned
Grampian v Knight Riders – Match Abandoned
Ash Accountancy Cults v Mannofield – Match Abandoned
AberGreen 137 (14 points) (M Hassaan 22, K Reddy 4-33, A Toor 2-16) IDI Services Crescent 138 for 7 (30 points) (S Sharma 43, R Sujaya 30, S Bedaar 3-30, M Shahid 2-22)
GRADE 2
Methlick v AGSFPs – Match Abandoned
Portcullis 133 (9 points) (H Murphy 43, J Dawson 20, K Gayashan 4-15, B Gopinathan 3-20) 2nd Grampian 135 for 2 (30 points) (M Nadim 59no, J George 50)
Banchory 178 for 5 (30 points) (W George 71no, S Rotheram 35, K Khan 2-21, C Gospel 2-24) Fraserburgh 137 for 8 (12 points) (M Watson 59no)
2nd AberGreen 123 (8 points) (T Khan 41, S Palaniappan 3-34, S Kumarasamy 2-23) 2nd Knight Riders (30 points) (S Duraisamy 39no, U Reddy 35 no)
Quilter Cheviot Ellon Gordon 165 for 9 (30 points) (A Starling 38, J Barrett 32, M Myron-Petrie 3-26) Huntly 135 (C Kennedy 25, M Sandham 4-19, A Starling 2-20)
GRADE 3
2nd Gordonians v 2nd Master Blasters – Match Abandoned
Dunecht v 2nd Methlick – Match Abandoned
Stoneywood Dyce v Crathie – Match Abandoned
2nd Mannofield 117 (9 points) (A Sharma 47, P Patel 6-28, V Kumar 3-21) 3rd Gordonians 121 for 3 (30 points) (M Patel 40no, V Kumar 39no, A Saraswat 2-4)
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