Dons in a spin at Heriots

Aberdeenshire lost the toss and were asked to field first on a wicket which looked hard and flat.

It was a tail of two ends at the start with Tyler Buchan looking to keep things tight from the Pavillion end and Daya Singh looking to attack from the far end of the ground. Buchan bowling his opening 8 overs for only 13 runs while Daya Singh found the breakthrough with the score on 36, removing Ross for 25.

Adrian Neill replaced Buchan and continued to keep things tight returning a spell of 6 overs 1-14, removing the dangerous Lockhart-Krause in the process.

Harsha Cooray once again struck in his first over, removing home captain Steven Knox for only 16, well caught at backward point by Callum Martin.

Cameron Farrell proved the mainstay of the Herios innings scoring 66 from 75 balls, with Aberdeenshire trying to keep the danger man off strike as much as possible. He was ably supported by both Hearn (23) and Cummine (46*) as Heriots closed on 228-5.

Aberdeenshire going into the break happy with the total given the flat wicket and fast scoring outfield.

Howard and Venske strarted brightly against the new ball adding 36 inside 8 overs before Howard misjudged a Farrell inswinger to shoulder arms for 6.

Venske (35) and Tomlinson (36) then combined well to move the Shire innings along nicely, adding 66 runs without much trouble until Venske was trapped in front with the score on 85 off the left arm spin of Watt.

The Dons then suffered a mid innings collapse in the face of some slow bowling and a packed inner ring field as Tomlinson, Reid and MacRae all fell in quick succession.

With the score on 141 the Dons suffered a decisive blow as Harsha Cooray as caught in the infield attempting to increasing the scoring as the required rate began to climb over 8 an over.

Some late order scampering from Martin (20), Singh (14), Buchan (17) and Neill (12) edged the Dons towards 2 loosing bonus points, however with 5 required from 2 balls a mix-up between Neill and Buchan saw the latter run out and the innings brought to a close on 202.

A disappointing day where the 36 extras the Dons conceded and the inability to break the shackles of the Heriots slow bowlers went along way to deciding the outcome of the match.

[Scorecard for the game available here]

Aberdeenshire close the first half of the league campaign at home to SMRH next weekend.