Dominant win sees Dons through to finals day

(photo courtesy of David Potter/CricketEurope)

A clinical all-round performance from Aberdeenshire allowed them to emerge victorious against Arbroath United in the Murgitroyd T20 competition on Tuesday.

It was a good start to the evening when captain Tyler Buchan won the toss and elected to bat first on what seemed like a hard, flat pitch in Arbroath. Chris Venske and Callum Howard got the innings underway, rocketing to 18 off the first 2 overs. Consistently hitting boundaries every over kept the run rate at a steady pace before Howard was caught at long on, attempting to clear his name from the "Barry Block" contenders by going over the top.

This brought Graeme Tomlinson (Barry Block Snr) to the crease and he kept the runs ticking over. But the day clearly belonged to Chris Venske as he hit 4 boundaries in an over to take him to 50. With good support from Tomlinson, the pair brought up the 100 in just the 13th over.

Venske wasn't finished yet though, effortlessly hitting boundaries to all parts of the ground. With the runs coming at ease, strike bowler Calvin Burnett came back into the attack and he immediately picked up the wicket of Chris Venske who departed for a well made 84. A late flurry of wickets in the last few overs allowed Arbroath to take the momentum into the second innings after the Dons posted 151-7, or if you're Australian, 7-151.

With the home team needing quick runs, captain Marc Petrie and Calvin Burnett opened up the innings and it didn't start well for them as Tyler Buchan got the early breakthrough for Aberdeenshire, by skittling the stumps of his opposing skipper. It got worse for Arbroath when Daya Singh got the wicket of Burnett in the following over.

The bowling pair of Singh and Buchan continued taking wickets either end, and after 5 overs, Aberdeenshire had Arbroath 22-5. This brought the ever-reliable Tony McKenna into the attack who found an extra yard of pace during his 3 week break. McKenna did the damage at the end, taking 3 wickets, with all of them being bowled.

Some lower order hitting by Matt Hurst gave the crowd some entertainment, until Adrian Neill and Neil McRae stepped up to take the last two wickets, giving the Dons the win. Aberdeenshire bowling the home side out for just 71.

A strong performance for Aberdeenshire, as the team will now travel to Poloc for the Murgitroyd T20 Final, to be played on the 18th of August. The Dons now look forward to Saturday, where they will once again play Arbroath, in a crucial League match.

By Daya Singh