Stoneywood crowned champions

Two weeks before the end of the Strathmore and Perthshire NEC, the fat lady has sung and gone home, the champagne has popped and the league title has found its home for the season.

Depending on your viewpoint, Stoneywood/Dyce tied up the league in stylish fashion in a game at Lochlands which lasted exactly half as long as scheduled.

Arbroath started well and reached 52 for one then collapsed to 60 for eight and were all back in the pavilion for a meagre 80 after 20 overs.

Jon Grant was the destroyer in chief with five for 15, closely followed by Jamie King with a devastating three for nine. It took Stoneywood Dyce 15 overs to reach the target for the loss of three wickets, Liam Lindsay there at the end with a knock of 42.

Given the speed with which S/D wrapped up the game at Arbroath, they were probably well on the road home when they heard that a weakened Gordonians side had been turned over by Dundee HSFP after batting first and reaching the hardly challenging total of 133.

Amas Ahmed had 35 but Angus Lindsay with four for 27 and Blake Newport’s four for 34 never let the home side get going and although Dundee saw five wickets fall before they got past the target, Newport completed a fine afternoon with 57 and Mike Lawson carried his bat for 44.

Thus ended any faint hopes Gordonians may have harboured about catching the leaders.

Forfarshire 2nd, even with only two games left, continue to confound and did it again with their fourth league win of the season, this time over Perth Doo’cot by 39 runs.

Shire batted first, Will Hardie slammed 53, Graeme Garden 52 and Stuart McCreanor claimed four for 40 but Perth never really got close enough to the run rate to challenge.

Curtis Taylor top scored with a half-century but Garden added to his batting success with three for 25, aided and abetted by Graham Black’s three for 34.

Strathmore leapfrogged Mannofield to take up seventh place after seeing off nine of the home batsmen for 177.

Chris Stevenson added to his three for 35 when he and Jimmy Ellis guided Strathmore to a win with more than five overs to spare.

It became a certainty that Kinloch would end up bottom of the table after a miserable season with only one win from 12, defeat No 11 coming at the hands of Meigle who had Kinloch all out for 139, Arun Trevidi claiming 41.

Lisle Halkett took three for 22 and the home side passed the target in just over 23 overs with Matt Farmer hitting a quick-fire 85. Richard Dyer took a hat-trick in figures of four for 15.