A tale of the season so far as second half begins

As the Strathmore and Perthshire NEC moves into the second half of the league campaign, it is interesting to look at how today’s opponents have fared since they were pitched against each other on the opening day of the season.

League leaders Stoneywood Dyce let Dundee HSFP get to within 20 runs of a win in their opener.

But the Peoples Park outfit set out their stall for the season so far with that win, having only lost one from eight outings.

Something which has also been a constant from that day is the contribution of overseas player Liam Lindsay with bat and ball, having opened his account with 73 back in April.

Dundee come into this one off a win over Arbroath United last week which looked like eluding them until Zahid Rasheed slammed 92 to dig them out of a 41-6 hole to ensure the points.

In their earlier encounter, Gordonians beat Strathmore in a lowscoring match and they now find themselves at opposite ends of the table.

The Aberdeen side consolidated second spot last week with a 33-run win over Mannofield, while Strathmore’s defeat at the hands of Stoneywood Dyce ensured that they stay in the league’s bottom two.

Third in the table Meigle rattled up a convincing win over Perth Doo’cot last week, losing only one wicket as they passed the visitors 163 with Peter Drummond and Neil Wimberley both there at the close with 87 and 65, respectively.

If they bring that firepower today, Arbroath United could be in trouble.

The Lochlands side were unable to catch a modest Meigle total of 138 in their last meeting and, having gone down to Dundee last week after seemingly having the game in the bag, will have to dig deep for this one.

Their miserable start to the season began for Forfarshire 2nds when they failed by only six runs to catch Mannofield in the season opener but they now look to have turned the corner and last week’s win in a splendid contest against Kinloch, when they passed the target with two balls to spare and 241 on the board, will have done their confidence no harm at all.

Perth Doo’cot travel to bottom side Kinloch, hoping to avenge Kinloch’s only win of the league campaign so far when they travelled to Doo’cot Park on day one and left with an 11-run win. Perth have rued that result since, as they now have a won three from five record and another win would have bounced them into third spot.