Neill on Cloud Nine as Watsons falter

In the search for 3 wins from 3 the Dons headed to Myreside to take on a Watsonians side who had previously caused problems for the Aberdeen men.

Buchan continued his great run of winning the toss and invited Watsonians to bat first with a little cloud cover around.

The opening pair of Tyler Buchan and Adrian Neill went in search of early wickets against the two left handers Learmonth and O'Connell and Neill got the first breakthrough with the score on 10 having Learmonth (7) caught sharply at point.

From then onwards Adrian finally got out of first gear and really caused problems for the 'Sonians top order with an exceptional spell of swing bowling.

Neill disposed of Chalmers (2) and Easton (1) both bowled and picked up top scorer O'Connell for 36 leaving the score on 4 for 50.

What followed may well go down as the most entertaining four balls ever delivered. On a hat trick from the last two deliveries of the previous over, (sending Nel and keeper Hislop back with equally ridiculous inswingers) new batsman Sands proceeded to hit the hat trick ball back over the bowlers head and into the sight screen with almost enough force to knock it over. Causing a short break in play whilst the fielders tried to stop laughing hysterically.

Delivery two was leathered towards mid off where Buchan wore one on the knee from a bobble in the outfield.

The third was hit through cover point where only a full stretch superman effort from Callum Martin stopped a certain boundary. Admittedly another short break in play as the egg on an unsuccessful Martin's head developed from his sprawling effort.

The final delivery of Sands frantic innings was caught well at slip, meaning he departed for an entertaining 6 off 4.

Whilst the bowling of Van Der Berg and George Gil from the other end was causing problems neither could find the breakthrough and getting the ball out Neills hand in search of all ten wickets was harder than getting a handful of skittles out of his pre match meal.

Neill, who is a mere 2 inches short of being classed officially as a giant (seriously, google it) maintained his accuracy to pick up wickets number eight and nine with two more catches and only the final Watsonians pairing standing in the way of making history.

With 2 deliveries of his full allocation to spare, the BFG picked up the final wicket, that of Sadler lbw (0) and proceeded to hand out some very tall high fives.

Watsonians 89 all out, Neill finishing with new Cricket Scotland League record figures of 12.4 overs, 10 wickets for 31 runs.

With a job still in hand to ensure that the day was an all round success, familiar opening pair Venske and Howard walked to the wicket hoping to add another ten wicket success.

The home team however had other ideas, dismissing both with only 8 runs on the board. Van Der Berg and Cooray took the score to 35 before Harsha was adjudged lbw off the bowling of Chalmers for 7.

At 35 for 3 with some dark clouds looming over the ground the tense dressing room looked on as early form finders VDB and Graeme Tomlinson survived tough spells from both ends whilst keeping the score ticking over.

A third attempt in 3 weeks at connecting with a free hit helped move Van Der Berg through the gears as he and Tomlinson eased any nerves with some beautiful strokeplay, the highlights being a full blooded cover drive from GT off Nel and a selection of well timed flicks from Hayes.

With VDB closing in on a swift and well deserved half century and only a few runs required Tomlinson unleashed a rarely seen slog sweep to the boundary off the bowling of left arm spinner O'Connell to finish the chase off in style.

The pair closing the innings just in time on 48no and 20no respectively after only 15.3 overs as a heavy shower passed over the ground which would have possibly finished play for the day.

With a double header weekend and a no doubt fiesty Aberdeen derby looming Shire will be hoping for another superb performance from youngster Neill and the rest of the side as they look to continue their unbeaten run in 2015.