Petrie takes nothing for granted

Arbroath skipper Marc Petrie has scoffed at suggestions that his side are now hot favourites to land the Eastern Premiership honours.

He delivered his cautious verdict immediately after leading them to the top of the table with only two matches left in the campaign.

Arbroath reached 245 for eight, while hosts Heriots were bundled out for 79.

“The captain declared: “It was an excellent Saturday for us, but the job is far from being over. We have extremely tough matches to deal with against Forfarshire and Watsonians”

As Arbroath were demolishing Heriots at Goldenacre, Grange were being slapped down by capital rivals Carlton at Raeburn Place.

Forfarshire skipper Craig Wallace bounced back to prime batting form by whacking 128 against Watsonians.

But his effort wasn’t enough to stave off a high-scoring defeat at Myreside.

Matthew Parker chipped in with 60 as Shire cruised to 284 for seven before Andrew Chalmers (83 not out) and Andrew Fraser-Harris (82) stole the limelight with a stand of 148.

Elsewhere, the absence of newly-wed skipper Safyaan Sharif was barely noticed when Falkland routed StoneywoodDyce at Scroggie Park, thanks mainly to a remarkable spell of seven for 13 by Ben Strachan.

In the Eastern Championship, Alec Davies may have reached a fresh personal pinnacle on Saturday when he helped Glenrothes snuff out the challenge of chief chasers SMRH to secure the championship crown and promotion play-off.

He said: “It has been very satisfying playing with guys a lot younger than me – very different to past cricketing challenges, but ranks in the top bracket of achievements.”

SMRH made the Glens scramble at times for their success, with Chris Greaves (80 not out) guiding them to the 182 target with six wickets and more than six overs to spare.

Davies admitted he will be happy to step aside from firstteam demands in the event of promotion to the Premiership.