Forfarshire in with great title chance

SPORTS

THE fo u r t h a n d final round of the E aste r n P re m ie r Div ision C r ic ket fixtures resulted in ve r y e nte r ta i n i ng matches and a couple of big wins for both title contenders.

Leaders Forfarshire showed why they are top against Stoneywood Dyce, their win leaving them with a great chance of the title.

Batting first, the Dundee side lost Craig Wallace, however Rory Johnston chipped in with 43.

When he was out, Michael Leask came to the crease to join Chris Greaves and the pair put on a formidable partnership which took the game away from the home side.

Leask made a composed 72. However, Greaves was the star of the show with a spectacular 180 in which he was out with eight overs to go.

Scott Cameron made a quickfire 39 and skipper Umair Mohammed made 21 not out to bring his side to a mammoth 394-6.

Mike Lowe took 2-34 and David Kidd finished with 2-79.

In reply, Stoneywood Dyce openers Liam Lindsay and Andrew McLaren struggled against Scott Cameron and Bryce Alchin and were only on 14 after the first 10 overs which more or less meant the game was over.

Only Gareth Wolmarans offered resistance on what was a turning pitch with 51 not out.

Dyce were bowled out for 133 thanks to Brock Ditchmen going further ahead in the wicket charts with 5-52.

Grange also put in a good performance to beat Arbroath United by 130 runs.

Batting first, Oli Hairs continued his impressive form with a swashbuckling 66 off 26 balls to get the Edinburgh side off to a flyer.

The Lichties professional, Whian Lubbe, then came on and stemmed the flow of runs with a great spell of 4-20.

A few others chipped in to get the Edinburgh side to 226-8.

The Arbroath boys would’ve been confident of beating that total, however they struggled the whole way through the innings to be bowled out for 96.

Youngster Jamie Cairns was the pick of the bowlers with 3-23 and John Blain took 2-18.

Heriot’s got the better of Stewart’s-Melville in quick time at Goldenacre. The visitors batted first and Micheal Shean produced a magnificent spell of 5-17 supported by Derbyshire bowler Mark Watt, who took 3-16 to bowl them out for 77.

The home side didn’t chase it down easily, losing five wickets in the process. Greg Ruthven took 2-20 and Sam Tait took 2-27.

Aberdeenshire’s woes continued as they were again skittled for a low total and beaten by eight wickets by Royal High Corstorphine.

The bottom of the league side batted first and were out for 73 in a must-win game for them.

Mohammed Saad and Majid Haq took 3-7 and 3-15 respectively.

Calum Whiteford also took three wickets for 17.

The Edinburgh side made light work of the chase getting the runs two wickets down inside 21 overs.

At Myreside, Carlton got the better of Watsonians by 38 runs.

The visitors batted first and made 238-8 off their 50 overs with Tom Simpson making 41 and Ali Shah making 40.

The Myreside men’s professional, Malusi Siboto was the pick of the bowlers with 3-35.

Siboto continued his form with the bat to make 56.

However, they lost wickets at regular intervals and were 200 all out.