Indy fires Mannofield to another victory

Mannofield traveled to bottom of the table Ellon looking for their 3rd Grade 1 victory on the bounce.

A fantastic Century from Indika Yahathugoda his second of the season was more than enough to see off the challenge of Ellon at Gordon Park.
Having lost the toss Mannofield were invited to bat.
The skipper went early and Hiru, the hero of the Bon Accord victory followed next ball. Clark and Indy steadied the ship for a few overs and were relieved when Ellon's opening pair were replaced after just 10 overs.
Indy was slowly getting into his stride and with Clark scoring sensibly and rotating the strike a major partnership was being formed.
Indy passed his fifty with ease (so much so it went unacknowledged from the side lines) he then accelerated and soon brought up another sumptuous century including 9 x 4's and 6 x 6's.
Clark fell to the returning Wade for an invaluable 37, this allowed Rutwik Hedge to come in and play freely, demonstrating his full range of shots in a blistering 47 before falling to the impressive Wade.
A change of bowling to the previously unused Middleton proved to be the end for Indy, his incredible innings finished on 170, a career best knock that included 16 x 4's and 11 x 6's.
The Mannofield innings finished with a few unnecessary points being handed to the opposition but all in all the dressing room was a very happy place to be....

Mannofield got off to an explosive start in the field with Greg Thompson taking a great catch at square leg removing the dangerous Davies with just 8 runs on the board.
A partnership of 50 between Barrett and the Ellon Skipper Ben Webb was ended with the introduction of Hiru Doley's leg spin.
Webb fell to Hiru's first ball via a catch at slip by the skipper, Middleton was next to go in the same fashion and already things looked bleak for the home side.
The introduction of more spin proved to be the nail in the coffin for Ellon as Greg came on and quickly picked up 3 wickets for jut 8 runs.
A run out by Hiru during Greg's spell left just the one wicket which was duly taken by the returning Nathan.
Ellon's number 11 was unable to bat which left the home side all out for 113 and well beaten by 159 runs.
Spin was king with Hiru taking 3 for 33 to go with Greg's 3 for 8

It was a wonderful innings by Indy well supported by Rutwik and Clark and a very professional performance in the field, taking some good catches (not dropping any) and converting the one run out chance we had.

Its a little disappointing that the Grades reporter has to dwell on one umpiring decision instead of the positives above, especially given that it wasn't the only contentious decision on the day.
As with all games of cricket there are always decisions that both teams are not going to be happy with and it really makes it difficult when no neutral umpire is available. It is doubly difficult for teams that have a number of under 18's in their team as Mannofield do every week.