Forfarshire aim to bounce back against bottom side Arbroath

Even as early in the season as going into Round 5 of the Strathmore and Perthshire NEC, the league has morphed into a top three, middle five and bottom two – but there is no guarantee that will be case after the next three weeks.

Last week’s game, erroneously named by this correspondent as ‘match of the day’, went so badly wrong that it is possible that anything can happen to turn the league positions on their head.

That match was between an unbeaten side, Stoneywood Dyce, and a side who had only lost once, Forfarshire 2nd.

Rather than match of the day however, it turned out to be rout of the day with Stoneywood coming out on top by nine wickets, so Forfarshire will have to regroup and think themselves lucky they face winless Arbroath United at home this week.

Arbroath are bottom and need some more confidence-boosting knocks like Jack Waller’s 35 last week if they are going to start picking up a win or two.

Mannofield on the other hand have to take on rampant Stoneywood at home after sliding to a five wicket defeat by Perth Doo’cot after posting a very decent target of 202 which Perth passed with five wickets remaining.

After that roasting of Forfarshire 2nd, Stoneywood will have their usual strong batting line-up as well as bowlers Jamie King and David Kidd coming into the game off five-wicket hauls last week.

At Dalnacraig, Dundee HSFP probably thought they had enough on the board to beat a winless ASI Gordonians but the Aberdeen outfit passed that with a couple of wickets to spare thanks to a rollicking 100 from Aman Arora, so they will take on Perth Doo’cot at Countesswells with renewed confidence.

Perth also chased a pretty hefty target of 202 against Mannofield to win with five wickets in hand and more than 10 overs to spare.

It will take a bit more support for Michael Shum than he got from his Strathmore team-mates when they went down by five wickets to Meigle last week if they are to take anything from this week’s encounter.

Unbeaten opponents Falkland, like Stoneywood Dyce, carry a fair bit of firepower with both bat and ball, while Meigle look to make it four wins from five when they take on Dundee HSFP at Victory Park.