Strachan the Falkland hero as Fife outfit stay unbeaten

Only Stoneywood Dyce and Falkland are undefeated two weeks of the new Strathmore and Perthshire NEC season.

Stoneywood batted first at Countesswells and overseas recruit Liam Lindsay notched 68 as the visitors reached 199-3.

It was a target, however, way beyond ASI Gordonians, who were all back in the pavilion before 27 overs had been bowled.

At Victory Park only Raju Gayasahan showed any real resistance in the face of the Falkland attack as he collected 38 of Meigle’s 135 runs as the bowling honours fell to Harsha Cooray with 4-22 and Callum Watson with 3-31.

Ben Strachan guided Falkland to victory with an unbeaten 45 as the visitors lost only three wickets in their pursuit of a total which must have disappointed the home side after scoring considerably more the previous week for the loss of only four wickets.

At Lochlands, Arbroath United appeared to have more than doubled their score of 64 of last week but when a closer look was taken at the scorecard,

Thirty-nine of the total of 131 were wides bowled by Mannofield. Chris Robb had 25 of the remaining total, Rene van Oorschot took 4-21 and the only surprise was that Mannofield took almost 41 overs and lost six wickets before passing the target thanks mainly to Will Anderson’s 29 and Van Oorschot’s 27, while Peter Clarke managed to keep the scoring in check with an excellent 3-23.

Having scored 137 against Perth Doo’cot last week, Strathmore went 12 runs better when they batted first against Dundee HSFP at Dalnacraig with Colin Milne reaching 36 and overseas amateur Michael Schum adding 32 as Angus Lindsay took 3-36.

A total of 149 was hardly intimidating but it had Dundee struggling as they faltered to 99 all out in less than 37 overs with Shum taking 3-23 and Kris Grant 3-33, with Dundee showing all their accustomed lack of consistency and inability to string wins together.

Perth Doo’cot were unable to string two wins together either.

After beating Strathmore in the opener, they could only scrape together 87 against Forfarshire seconds at Doo’cot Park, a total the visitors passed with six wickets to spare.