Only three weeks ago our first eleven faced the disappointment of losing by a single run to Strathmore in the recent league encounter. These two sides may have had this in their minds as they faced up to one another on Sunday, in the semi-final of the Three Counties Cup in Perth.

We batted first with openers, Ewan Davidson and Kenny Reid, in confident, determined mood as they ruthlessly attacked the Forfar bowling. Several boundaries and maximums followed, until Kenny holed out for a wonderful 36 runs in just 22 deliveries; crucially for ‘Shire, Ewan continued his aggressive assault on the unfortunate Strathie lads – he was to finish on a score of 69 runs off a mere 47 deliveries. Ewan was well supported by his partners, Lewis Munro and Marcus Vila; Noah Kelly also added useful runs at the tail of our innings, leaving Strathmore the target of 180 runs to win.

A very healthy total for a twenty overs match! Safe and sound?

Strathie’s openers, Majid Rasheed and Rhys Tweedy most certainly had other ideas as they outscored even our prolific openers with a partnership of 100 runs, before the dangerous Rasheed was run out by Nathan Elliott; Nathan has shone in the field a few times this season, but this dismissal was to prove his most vital achievement of all! Unlike Ewan, Tweedy followed his partner shortly thereafter, a victim to the ever-enthusiastic, young seamer, Izzy Bandara. There followed the tensest of finales; our bowlers’ temperaments were put to the test! Time then for our Skipper to assume the mantle of responsibility, and Lewis did just that very successfully, as he struck three times to dent our opponents’ progress, but still the Angus side edged ever nearer to a remarkable victory.

The stage was well and truly set for a moment of drama at the end the last over. With just one ball remaining, Lewis had to prevent our rivals from scoring a match-winning boundary. The deciding delivery flew off the edge of the bat down to the third man boundary, where lurked James Robb. A catch? A six? Or, a match-winning boundary? Actually, it was none of the three. James failed to hold the ball, but wisely palmed it in a forward direction and threw it in, as the batsmen completed only their second run; we had prevailed! As ever, James had something to chat about, but more importantly, we had beaten Strathmore by a single run in a high-scoring match!

Marvellous! We were in the final again!

Waiting for us in the final was this year’s league champions, Freuchie, complete with Werner Brand, who had scored over three hundred runs against us in the league, without being dismissed!

All thoughts of the wonderful Werner were of course temporarily dismissed from our lads’ minds, as we set about the task of building an imposing total! Kenny and Ewan began briskly with a useful partnership of 32 runs, before our Cricket Director snicked one off Robert Wiseman into the safe hands of Brand. At this point, we clearly needed a worthwhile partnership between Ewan and Lewis Munro, and how the two pals seized this chance to shine! “Batsman of the Day”, Ewan, carried on to score 74 runs, while his friend and partner rediscovered the explosive touch, that he had shown a few weeks past against Freuchie; Lewis scored 79 runs off just 43 deliveries, striking 6 boundaries and as many maximums! Destructive stuff, lads! After that, we reached a very competitive total of 192 for 4!

We did know however, that the afore-mentioned Werner Brand has few batting limitations in this league; his prompt removal would be the key to winning this match! Our bowling hero of that moment was Luke Bain, who found the edge of our menacing opponent’s bat, as he presented the grateful hands of Kenny Reid with a chance! The task facing the remaining Fifeshire batsmen was in fact beyond them, as one by one they capitulated. Izzy Bandara, Nathan Elliott and Clark Cameron each took wickets as Freuchie fell for just 100 runs!

For the second, successive year, Aberdeenshire Cricket Club had won the Three Counties Cup! Many congratulations, Lewis and your team!

Our third eleven holds the best league record among our sides for this season. Despite suffering the huge number of enforced, personnel changes that a third eleven faces, as is the inevitable fate of many lower elevens in a big club, our lads have maintained a remarkable level of consistency and on Sunday they had their chance to nail the Grade 3 title.

Facing Master Blasters on the wide expanse of Groats Road, our batsmen took the chance to put a challenging total – 204 runs – on the board. Riyansh Kirodian has had a wonderful season, as another emerging talent from our magnificent supply line of youngsters. His efforts led him to a debut in the Scottish under 15 side, and we will doubtless be hearing a lot more of this skilled batsman. He top-scored in this crucial tie with an important innings of 44 runs. Alex Mitchell and Joseph Scotting also batted well in the first half of the innings and then, when the scoring faltered, Adi Nagdeve and veteran, player-coach, Phil Wood dug in and built a vital partnership of 32 runs, allowing our lads to finish the innings with a profitable flourish!

Master Blasters lost early wickets in the chase; at one stage they were 91 for 6, in deep trouble! Enter Sarang Kuttykrishnan! He staged a wonderful fightback, with a powerful array of aggressive shots and his partnership of 77 runs with Santhos Kodur looked likely to put our celebrations on hold for a week, until Sarang missed a straight one from Muteeb Firdous, and the game turned on its head! Kodur was to follow soon after, as our thirds mopped up the tail-enders and duly celebrated their fine achievement this season!

Each week this side has fielded differing line-ups, but has always included a potent mix of emerging talents and wise and willing seniors. Lokesh Saraswat, Will Anderson and Phil Wood have shared the captaincy duties very effectively; the task of blooding youngsters appropriately, while retaining a winning impetus, will have been challenging, but they have done so brilliantly! We have managed this in 2025, because we have greater depths of talent in our ranks, due largely to the continual maturing of our highly promising junior lads. Long may this continue for the future does look very bright indeed!

Our successes last weekend both took place away from home; our headquarters proved less fruitful for our seconds and fourths.

Saturday was a day of success and frustration for Rizwan Tahir; a score in the nineties is a major achievement, but one which leaves every batsman wanting just a few more. So it was for Rizwan, who built an excellent, though not incident free, innings of 92 runs against Master Blasters; he was well supported by Akhlaq Bashir with a very useful half-century. Regrettably, their partnership, worth 103 runs, ended in one of cricket’s occasional, farcical scenarios, in which both batsmen gather at the same end of the pitch, clearly confused and eager to debate the next move, while fielders try to react briskly and appropriately to the chance before them. In fact, very little happened quickly, and Bashir was able to run back to near safety at the bowler’s end, only to have his hopes dashed by a wild, but successful hurl at the stumps by the bowler. We all feel let down, when run-out. On this occasion, it undoubtedly did effect on the final outcome of this match; a few more overs from this productive partnership most surely would have secured the points at the end. As it was, we finished with a respectable total of 238 all out.

Batting second on a cloudy day involves keeping a close eye on the developing weather, whilst carefully scoring at a progressive rate. Mohammadullah Sahak’s innings of 41 runs proved significant in the chase for Master Blasters, who were ahead of the required run-rate with a total of 131 for just 3 wickets when the stumps were drawn. Under Duckworth-Lewis the points went to the visitors!

Oh, that unfortunate run-out!

Our fourth eleven hosted Granite City on Sunday, but, despite a solid contribution of 36 runs by Umesh Basavaraju, we did not post a competitive score. Defending 91 runs on Mannofield in August is a massive ask. It proved to be too much for our fourths, in the face of a barrage of aggressive striking by Inam Haq, who scored 61 runs very quickly. There were wickets for Malcolm Pratt, Mahad Furdous and Aayush Nagdeve, but the points for this tie went to Granite City.

This weekend we close our competitive campaign, when Methlick play both our thirds and fourths; let’s end the season triumphantly. As always, we wish you well!