Perth Doo’cot bid to get season up and running

The vagaries of the weather have resulted in a fragmented and unbalanced season for some, and nowhere is this more apparent than when Perth Doo’cot take on league leaders Stoneywood Dyce today.

Stoneywood/Dyce have fulfilled six out of seven fixtures while Perth have completed only three.

There is no doubt the greater continuity gives S/D the advantage.

In addition, their overseas players have made meaningful contribution with bat and ball, as last week’s performance when beating Arbroath United by 88 runs showed.

Liam Lindsay scored a half century and took a couple of wickets, and Jaques Koster turned in an impressive bowling performance with 4-6.

In the unlikely event of Stoneywood Dyce losing, the outcome of the match of the day between second-placed Gordonians and third-placed Meigle throws up intriguing possibilities.

The winner of this one would stay second if it were Gordonians, move to second if it was Meigle and whoever wins would close the gap if S/D went down at Perth.

Dundee HSFP have had their share of bad luck with the weather too, having completed only four games but they will be hoping for a clear run at Forfarshire at Dalnacraig this week.

With both sides having fallen foul of the elements last week, and with Forfarshire having posted a couple of good scores despite having achieved no league success, Dundee will no doubt have their usual battle against inconsistency.

At Lochlands, Arbroath United will host Strathmore with virtually nothing between them in seventh and eighth spot in the table.

They will have to crank up the action from last week when Arbroath hit 110 and Strathmore 120 in losing by 88 runs and eight wickets respectively.

Mannofield clinched their second league win of the season when they thumped Strathmore by eight wickets last week, and that will have given them a big boost for their clash with Kinloch. CHAMPIONS TROPHY

Pakistan are out to change the course of cricket history by shocking their great rivals India in a Champions Trophy final which they believe is “bigger than the Ashes”.

More than a billion viewers are expected to tune into the action at the Oval tomorrow to see whether India retain their title or unheralded Pakistan can sneak the silverware, having begun the tournament as apparent also-rans ranked number eight in the world.

Their bowling coach Azhar Mahmood, returning to what he describes as his “second home” after several seasons as a Surrey favourite on the pitch, has great belief in a Pakistan team who have already knocked England out of their own tournament at the semi-final stage.

“We’ve got nothing to lose – the pressure is more on them,” he said.

“They are ranked higher than us – so everyone is talking about India, India.