Arbroath batsmen blown away

Arbroath United remain uncomfortably close to the foot of the table after their trip to Aberdeen on Saturday resulted in a heavy defeat by league leaders Stoneywood-Dyce.

The skies in the Granite City may have been a little less gloomy than those which caused the cancellation of three fixtures in another weatheraffected weekend but the mood in the Arbroath camp was far from sunny as they headed home after an 88-run defeat.

Chasing a target of 199 at Peoples Park, the visiting batsmen were blown away by the Stoneywood-Dyce attack.

A series of single figure scores meant that Arbroath were unable to mount a sustained challenge. Only skipper Darryl Sinclair and Ryan Cameron made it into double figures.

The former’s 35 briefly offered a glimmer of hope but when he offered a return catch to South African Liam Lindsay, the writing was on the wall.

Fellow Springbok Jacques Koster, who had earlier nipped out two of Arbroath’s top three batsmen in David Bridges and Bryce Carnegie, returned to the attack to clean up the tail.

Koster, demonstrating the value of shrewd recruitment from overseas, returned the remarkable figures of four for six from 6.3 overs.

Earlier, Lindsay anchored the Stoneywood-Dyce innings with a well-crafted 53 while Mitchell contributed 39 to a total of 198 for six.

Arbroath’s bowlers stuck to their task with Asif Naseer claiming two for 31.

In the only other match to survive, Strathmore skipper Matthew Simpson fought a near-lone battle in a losing cause as his team went down to Mannofield at Lochside Park.

Simpson hit 57 but, with support only from opener Chris Stevenson’s 22, Strathie could muster just 120 in 26.4 overs.

A second wicket partnership between Grant Jamieson and Graeme Tomlinson put the visitors firmly in control and they reached their target inside 26 overs.