Our wonderful juniors continue their quest to bring glory to the club on Sunday in Paisley, when our under-16s squad faces Dumfries in the Scottish Cup Final, following a fine performance against West Quarter & Redding in last week’s semi.

Aberdeenshire took the early initiative in this match; opening batsmen, Joseph Scotting and Marcus Vila, dominated the early exchanges and both retired having scored the maximum half-centuries. Riyansh Kirodian and Arnav Saraswat also made useful contributions to an impressive final total of 171 for 1 in the allotted twenty overs.
We then required measured, accurate bowling to halt a team that required more than eight runs per over. Arnav and Marcus Siddharth Seenivasan delivered a combined 9 overs for just 36 runs. Thus, the win was secured, as our opponents fell 39 runs short of the required target. Aberdeenshire C.C. under-16s can now look forward to Sunday’s match at Kelbourne C.C. with a degree of confidence!

Spare a thought for Ethan Shedbal, however, for the recently capped under-15 player will miss the final having dislocated a finger while in action for our 2nd team. You will be missed, Ethan, but the lads will just have to play well without you in this one!

In a high-scoring match that is decided by a single run, many instances will spring to mind of crucial incidents that settled the outcome; inevitably the losing side will dwell on such moments with regret!

Aberdeenshire came so close but fell just one run short, chasing Strathmore’s total of 250 runs at Lochside Park on Saturday. As a supporter, I found this agonising; I can only imagine the players’ feelings! Regrettably, this setback rules us out of any faint chance of retaining our league title; the trophy will now go to Freuchie or Huntly.

Like all cricket matches, this one had mistakes and several “what if?” moments. There were also several outstanding performers on both sides, battling to give their team a win. All twenty-two combined to provide an intriguing match!

As he did at Mannofield before the rain ruined the earlier meeting of the season, Majid Rasheed set about our opening attack with vigour and struck several powerful shots with apparent disdain; his hard-hit fifty put ‘Shire on the back foot, until Lewis introduced the off-breaks of our under-19 World Cup player, Manu Saraswat. Manu bowled beautifully on a pitch that was turning; his 4 for 25 were the best figures of the day. More significantly, however, aided by a good catch in the deep by Luke Bain, Manu removed the dangerous Rasheed. The later Strathie batsmen then dug in to use up all their overs; at this point Lorenzo Pyer made a telling contribution for the home side, with a carefully crafted half-century that saw the Forfar lads put up a challenging total.

Early in our innings, we suffered a significant setback; our in-form centurion from last week, Kenny Reid, fell cheaply! Our response at that moment was impressive, when youngsters Manu, along with Marcus Vila, settled in to build a major partnership worth 88 important runs. Manu is looking ever more accomplished and confident in his cricket. He displayed an admirable variety of scoring shots all around the wicket as he amassed a score of 85 runs off just 72 deliveries. Marcus very wisely played a supporting role in this partnership; we were then in a strong position.

What would Strathie do?

Chris Milne is a veteran cricketer who has adopted many roles in the Forfar side over the years; I knew him well as an opening batsman/wicket-keeper in the 80s. In his latter years, he has become an off-spin bowler. On Saturday he bowled accurately and made good use of the turning track. His decision to bowl round the wicket was a shrewd one; he increased the possibility of trapping right-handed batsmen L.B.W. This was how he gained the two vital wickets that turned this match on its head. Firstly, a dejected Manu was forced to leave the field as he was trapped in front, having taken more wickets and scored more runs than anyone else on the day. Later in his spell, Chris did likewise to Ewan Davidson, as he looked to be settling to the task of seeing us over the line. Still, the run chase continued as Rutwik Hedge contributed well. Post Rutwik, the onus fell on Nathan Elliott to deliver, and our opening bowler so nearly did just that by striking the ball well and selecting his shots wisely in his innings of 36 not out off just 25 balls, which took us to the very cusp of victory – tantalisingly close! We needed just two runs from the final delivery. It didn’t happen, and we must duly lick our wounds and regroup for next week’s important tie against Huntly at Mannofield. This Huntly game is a crucial one in the context of the league race. Our lads will surely be out to make it a very competitive tussle.

Our seconds were more fortunate in the outcome of their home tie with Crescent. The visitors, thanks to a fine knock of 64 runs by Vinoth Ramalinga, managed a total of 227 for 8. Ali Gohar and Abid Ali both picked up a couple of useful wickets, as did thirteen-year-old Kanishk Tata, who followed up his maiden Grade 1 wicket the week before with this week two! Can you make it three next week , Kanishk?

This total hardly seemed likely to be enough on Mannofield.

So it proved, as half-centuries by Rizwan Tahir and Varinder Sood laid the foundations for a match-winning response.Ali Gohar , Joseph Scotting and Akhlaq Bashir also chipped in with useful knocks and the home side eased home with two overs and five wickets to spare. Next week Rahul’s men travel the short distance to Countesswells. I expect a run-feast in this one!

The thirds, without their ever-youthful, grey-bearded wise captain, Mr. Phil, completed the second half of their Deeside tour with another victory in the unique setting of Balmoral Castle.

Geoff Boardman scored an impressive innings of 93 runs for Crathie, as his team managed to reach 197 for 6, arguably a testing target on the Royal Estate wicket. We were well served by economical spells of bowling by Umesh Basavaraju and Leo Wood, who both managed a couple of wickets in the process.

Umesh had a fair match all round, making good use of the shorter boundaries at Crathie to strike 15 fours and a six in a magnificent innings of 96 runs. His partner early on was yet another of our youngest players, Oscar Vila. The younger Vila shared a second wicket partnership of 99 runs with Umesh, crafting his way to a fine innings of 41 runs. Skipper Lokesh Saraswat and Mark Broadribb then chipped in as our thirds won yet another match and put themselves at the top of Grade 3.

Next week they journey north to Ellon; victory in that tie will set up a huge match in two weeks’ time against second-placed Masterblasters!

The fourth eleven had no fixture last week. They host Knight Riders on Sunday.

I note with pleasure and admiration that Marcus Vila, playing for Scotland under-15s yesterday, scored 72 runs against East England under-15s. Many congratulations to Marcus and also to Aayush Sinha and Riyansh Kirodian, who also represented their country in this match!

As always, the fans wish all the players the best of luck this weekend!