Last gasp victory moves Dons 2nd in title chase

Aberdeenshire won the toss and decided to bowl first on a hard wicket that had plenty of grass coverage and was slightly damp. Daya Singh was the first to breakthrough as MacPherson gloved a fierce delivery to second slip with the score on 25. Adrian Neill was brought into the attack and struck to clean bowl McCann for 13 to leave Carlton 58-2 from 16 overs.

With a steep hill and a strong wind to contend with spin from the bottom end of the ground was the order of the day and Harsha Cooray clean bowled Shah just before drinks to keep Carlton under control was 86-3. Fraser Watts was proving the mainstay of the Carlton innings and looked untroubled until a Mark Assiter delivery cannoned back into the stumps after striking pad then elbow to dismiss Watts for 75.

Daya Singh returned for the powerplay and had Drummond caught 10 runs later on the edge of the cirle to leave Carlton 148-5. A further wicket apiece for Singh and Cooray reduced the hosts 163-7 and the Dons had thoughts of skittling Carlton for 180 with Singh showing some searing pace once again, however Thornton 26 and R.MacPherson 20* repelled the visitors and added some useful late order runs to hoist Carlton to 222-8 from their 50 overs.

With the Carlton tail demonstrating how good a pitch this was to bat on Aberdeenshire were confident approaching their innings, however two early run outs set the Dons chase back on its heels as Howard was run out with a direct hit from Ahmad and Tomlinson was sent back after trying to steal a quick single. This reduced Shire to 38-2 from their first ten overs, however Chris Venske was motoring along once again until he lapped an Ahmad delivery to deep fine leg with the score on 70.

This brought Kenny Reid to the crease and together with Harsha Cooray the pair began the rebuilding job. Harsha Cooray demonstrated some devastating hitting over extra cover against young Allardice, hoisting him for successive sixes as the Dons worked toward the powerplay. Reid was trapped LBW in the 32nd over for a well made 28 and when MacRae suffered the same fate 5 overs later Carlton were back in the game at 162-5.

The Dons were unable to form a meaningful partnership to support Cooray towards the end of the innings as Singh (6) Assiter (5) and Buchan (2) all found ways to get out/run-out, however with Cooray in fantastic form once again the Dons found themselves 13 runs away from victory with two wickets in hand.

Cooray (115) had smashed 8 boundaries and 4 huge sixes en route to his hundred, and with only two runs needed for victory he looked to finish the match with another lusty blow, only to sky the ball to deep extra cover and be well caught in the deep.

This brought Shire number 11 Ryan 'Red' West to the crease and together with Adrian Neill the pair had to navigate 7 balls to find the 2 runs needed for victory. A wide off the first ball of the final over brought the sides level, dot, dot, dot then followed until Ryan struck a meaty blow over mid-on to send the Dons into wild celebrations as we snuck over the line with the smallest margin to spare.

A great game of cricket which keeps us in the hunt for a shot at the league as we head to fellow title chasers Arbroath next weekend.

Thanks for Carlton for the attached photo, for match photographs see Carlton's site here