Tribute to Beghin after Forfarshire victory

Forfarshire opener Matthew Parker celebrated the Angus derby win over his old Arbroath teammates, and paid tribute to playercoach Graeme Beghin.

Parker (71 not out) and Beghin (67) were the prime performers for the hosts at Broughty Ferry, and the former said: “Graeme has had a massive impact on the club, on and off the field.

“All the way up from the lads in the under-13s to seasoned internationalists in the first XI, he has instilled a professional level of attitude which will be his legacy when he moves on to bigger and better things,” he said.

“He and captain Craig Wallace have scored the bulk of the runs.

“However, it has been a team effort throughout the season.”

Ross McLean top scored with 63 as Arbroath made 188 for six in 34 overs.

Aberdeenshire skipper Chris Venske admitted he gained little pleasure from his team’s lowscoring victory over Glenrothes at Gilvenbank.

“It was a weird game on probably the worst pitch I have ever encountered at this level,” he said.

“It was dire, with 15 wickets falling for 120-odd runs. Not great.”

Carlton stalwart Stevie Gilmour heaped praise on Arun Pillai, whose batting and bowling left Falkland in disarray.

Pillai struck a century before wiping out the Fifers’ tail to complete the rout.

Skipper Gilmour said: “Arun was fantastic, and no one deserved it more because he has worked really hard and has been threatening to come up with a really big one.”

Falkland had been set a revised target of 249.

There was little prospect of them approaching that tally as Omar Ahmad throttled the visiting batters with a wonderfully accurate stint which yielded only 12 runs from 60 balls, four of them coming in the final over.

Pillai then completed a great afternoon’s work by taking four scalps in quick succession, sending Falkland tumbling to 94 all out.

“Graeme has had a massive impact on the club…

MATTHEW PARKER