Chris Venske and Calum Howard proceeded to take the game to Carlton and complied an excellent 101 run stand for the first wicket. Venske rode his luck early on, offering a couple of chances which Carlton failed to hang onto. After some very positive play against spin, Calum Howard mistimed the medium paced Ahmad to mid off and was on his way for 35.

Hayes van der Berg, making his competitive Aberdeenshire debut, joined Venske at the crease and showed the strokeplay and class which was rewarded with a South Africa U-19 cap last season.

The pair began to move through the gears as both struck lusty blows down the ground to clear the Carlton ropes. A further 102 was added by the pair before Hayes fell trying to clear long on to take him to fifty, falling for a well complied 45.

All the while, Venske had moved through fifty effortlessly and was motoring towards a maiden century for Aberdeenshire. A pair of pull shots ensured there was no time for a jitter in the nineties and Chris recorded the first century by a local batsman since Colin Smith's 122 vs Ayr in May 2000!

Chris (137*) and Harsha (30) continued to pile on the late innings runs to propel Aberdeenshire to 264-3 at the close.

Carlton's reply got off to a slow start as Buchan and McKenna put together a meagerly opening spell, claiming the wicket of R.MacPherson in the process.

The introduction of Adrian Neill from the pavilion end continued the good spell for the Dons as he removed Rajendran, Aslan and Kerr to leave Carlton reeling at 51-4 from 20 overs.

Kyle MacPherson was patiently building an innings as wickets tumbled at the other end and when joined by captain Gordon Drummond the pair began to try to wrestle the game back Carlton's way. 96 runs were added for the fifth wicket as a combination of lusty blows (Drummond) and singles chipped over the infield (MacPherson) began to give Carlton some hope. However when Drummond was brilliantly run out at the bowlers end by a direct hit from keeper Kenny Reid the Dons had a vital breakthrough.

Tyler Buchan (4-43) returned and in combination with Harsha Cooray (2-50) the Carlton innings was brought to and end in the 48th over on 208, the Dons winning by fifty six runs on the opening day of the season.

(Photos courtesy of www.carltoncc.co.uk)