Wipeout was last thing anyone wanted

Going into the final stages of the Strathmore and Perthshire NEC, last Saturday’s weather wipeout was the last thing anyone wanted.

As things stand, top spot will be decided almost certainly when Stoneywood/Dyce meet Falkland on August 18, while bottom place would perhaps have had more clarity about it had rain not intervened last week.

Were Falkland to slip up in their Scroggie Park meeting with Perth Doo’cot, unlikely as it would seem, then the visitors could leapfrog either Forfarshire 2nd or Mannofield who are in opposition.

Unlikely seems to be the case, though, with Harsha Cooray in imperious form with the bat for Falkland, recording an extraordinary average of 310 in July.

A cracking 90 by Zahid Rascheed, which included eight fours and seven sixes, gave Dundee HSFP a glimmer of hope when they took on Stoneywood Dyce at Dalnacraig in June.

However, even after pinning the visitors to 79-4 they still couldn’t grind out a win and lost by three wickets. But with three wins on the bounce and both Rasheeds in form, they might just sense they can reverse that result.

Any challenge which ASI Gordonians may have hoped to mount for the top spot has all but vanished since they started July by inflicting the only defeat so far on Stoneywood/Dyce.

They have since slumped to defeat at the hands of Meigle and Dundee and with visitors Strathmore in second bottom spot, they could be dangerous.

Strathie have won two on the trot and having disposed of Arbroath United to open the gap between the two of them at the bottom, they then took the points in that thriller against Meigle, which they won by a single run, so they will travel to People’s Park with a serious amount of confidence.

Although they are third in the table, it would be fanciful to imagine Meigle can get any higher, particularly after that reverse at the hands of Strathmore but playing host to an Arbroath United side with a miserable two wins from 12 starts, they should at least hold on to that slot.

It was Arbroath who took the spoils when the two met at Lochlands in June, however, with Chris Robb and Ben Plomer getting among the wickets before Ryan Cameron’s splendid 70 gave the home side one of those two wins. Given that result, that one could go either way as could the clash between Forfarshire 2nd and Mannofield.

A win for Forfarshire would see them leapfrog their opponents into fifth spot.