Dons stumble in final group match

After a half an hour delay due to a lack of umpires, Aberdeenshire won the toss and had no hesitation in batting first on the flat BCP wicket. The Uddy openers making life easy for Howard and Tomlinson as 15 wides were gifted inside the first 3 overs.

The makeshift opening pair put together a solid stand before Graeme Tomlinson was trapped LBW for 25 with the score on 74. Howard was joined by Kenny Reid and the pair carefully continued to build the shire innings without ever breaking the shackles of the home attack. Reid was caught for 26 at the long on boundary trying to up the scoring rate after a further solid partnership of 72.

Cooray came and went without troubling the scorers for the first time this season and Calum Horward followed soon after for a well compiled 78, his innings the mainstay of the Shire effort.

At 164-4 the visitors looked on course for a score of around 225, however Daya Singh (50 from 31 balls) and Callum Martin (38 from 30) had other ideas as the pair plundered 99 from the final 10 overs, including 34 from the final two overs.

The last over of the Uddy innings is worth of special mention, Callum Martin slog sweeping the home pro for a 90m six over the perimeter hedge. Daya Singh was on 38* with two balls of the Uddy innings remaining, however two magnificent sixes over long on brought up the young speedster's first Aberdeenshire fifty in fine style.

The Dons went into the break buyoed by the last over heroics and confident they could defend the total, and once Daya Singh had picked up two early wickets the Dons looked to be on course.

However, the top scorer from the reverse fixture, Amir Gul was still at the crease and patiently building a solid looking innings. Callum MacLeod came and went for a reverse sweep laden 43, forming a 100 run partnership with Gul to take the hosts to 144/3.

With the overs ticking away the Dons were desperate to keep the run rate climbing however Gul began to accelerate his innings picking up boundaries at regular intervals to double his score in the last fifteen overs.

Wickets were tumbling at the other end courtesy of Tyler Buchan (2-47 from 11) Tony McKenna (1-49 from 11) and Daya Singh (3-62 from 9) however Gul couldn't be shifted and finished on 139* guiding Uddy home with 5 balls to spare.

The result had no bearing on the group positions, with Aberdeenshire progressing to the semi-finals of the cup for a meeting with Grange in Edinburgh this Sunday.