Aberdeenshire bounce back

Aberdeenshire won the toss and chose to bowl first on a wicket which had been undercover for most of Friday due to the light drizzle which had been around.

The Dons couldn't of gotten off to a better start as Tyler Buchan bowled Pilali first ball of the innings as he looked to leave one. Grange struggled from this point onwards as they were reduced to 11-7 from eight overs as Tyler Buchan claimed 5 wickets in an opening burst of 8 eights, 5 maidens, 5 for just 3 runs. Hayes van der Berg provided great support from the other end snapping up 2-14 from his opening spell also.

Visiting skipper McCallum began to rebuild the innings with Smith as the pair patiently added 21 from 81 balls before Adrian Neill induced an edge from McCallum. Maiden came in and looked to score freely, but he was tempted down the track by Harsha Coooray and tidily stumped by Kenny Reid.

At 54/9 Grange were in need of a big partnership to post a meaningful total and Smith and Routray hung around for 115 balls to add 62 vital runs to the visitors total, closing on 116 all out.

In reply, Chris Venske (39) got the Dons off to the best possible start as he raced to 33 from only 14 balls faced, smashing eight boundaries in the early overs. Unfortunately, at the other end Calum Howard and Hayes van der Beg both fell to Routray without troubling the scorers.

Harsha Cooray came and added a brisk 24 from 22 balls, but when he fell with the score on 62 the Dons suffered a case of mid innings jitters as five wickets tumbled for just 25 runs as 62-3 quickly became 87-7.

Indika Yahathugoda added a vital 17 runs to take some pressure off but when he fell to a catch at mid-off, the balance was beginning to swing back in Grange's favour.

Fraser Proud and Tyler Buchan added the 14 runs remaining to secure a nervy victory, and one few could of predicted after reducing Grange to 11-7.