Congratulations to our players, young and older, for a successful three days at the start of the competitive season.

On Saturday our 1st XI kicked off their league season and the combined bowling skills of Cameron Brown (our overseas amateur for the 2024 season), Luke Bain, James Robb and Calum Howard limited newly promoted St Modans to a total of 161 in Saturday’s opener in the Strathmore Union. Inspired by a free-flowing 74 from Kenny Reid, our lads passed this total for the loss of six wickets. In a typical early season match, punctuated by several errors, Aberdeenshire avoided a major set-back and took full points.

On Sunday a different challenge faced the 1st XI. Western Union side, Greenock, were our visitors for a Scottish Cup match. Once again Kenny Reid was in excellent form falling just three runs short of a century. There were other worthwhile contributions from Harsha Vithana (our overseas professional for the 2024 season) who notched up an unbeaten, very steady half century and Cameron Brown who has shown already by his abilities to strike the ball cleanly and to bowl at a brisk pace that he is likely to be a real asset to the team this season. There were glimpses also of the bowling talents of Lewis Munro in his short spell as he reacclimatises to the game in this hemisphere having spent the winter Down Under in Perth, Australia.

Our second eleven had a frustrating as first weekend as their game was rained off on Saturday. Better luck next week, lads.

Lokesh Saraswat was in splendid form for the third eleven, scoring 97 and thus reminding us that, along with his talented sons, he is likely to be a major contributor this season. Joseph Scotting batted well with Lokesh and together made a very good half- century partnership. A total of 203 was always going to challenge opponents, Stonehaven and our bowlers dismissed them for 166, thanks to useful spells from Muteeb Furdous, Aayush Sinha, Ranga Bandara and Leo Wood.

A great start to the campaign!

On Monday our u13 team played magnificently to defeat Gordonians in the first round of the national knockout competition. Head Coach, Phil Wood, and his team have been working tirelessly with these youngsters throughout the winter and they impressed in every aspect of the game on Monday. Members would do well to look out for fixtures involving our juniors this year; the hard work is paying off and the quality of their cricket is hugely impressive!