Coetzer’s men still lead at halfway

Stoneywood-Dyce’s cricketers ended the first half of their campaign the way they would have wanted with a 33-run win against Strathmore keeping them comfortably at the top of the table.

Stoneywood-Dyce’s 203 for seven came with captain Shaun Coetzer (41), Liam Lindsay (41) and Andrew Rayer (34) making the main contributions.

Although James Ellis, with 46, and Mohamed Shoaib’s 38 kept Strathmore chasing, it was the quality of Jaques Koester’s bowling, with four for 14, which sent the visitors back to the pavilion for 170.

At Countesswells, Gordonians batted first and got to 166 in their 45 overs with Swapnil Rane’s 51 a big factor in the total.

Although Chris Knight hit 46 for visitors Mannofield, they ended up 33 runs short, ensuring Gordonians kept a firm grip on second place.

Kilnloch batted first against Forfarshire 2nds and, with a cracking 89, Pershant Wig set them on the way. With Arun Trividi hitting 39, they posted a challenging 238 for the loss of seven, James Sim was the home side’s most successful bowler with five for 50.

Shire cased the total with a vengeance and, with two balls left, smacked the winning run with five wickets down. Will Hardie claimed 66, Graham Garden 44 and Craig McConnachie an unbeaten 39.

Perth Doo’cot were unable to follow up their defeat of league leaders Stoneywood-Dyce last week, struggling to back up Curtis Taylor’s 78 not out which left Meigle facing a catchable 163.

Peter Drummond and Neil Wimberley took up the challenge and were unbeaten on 87 and 65 respectively when they collected the necessary runs for the loss of one wicket.

“Koester’s bowling sent the visitors back to the pavilion”