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Convincing win puts Banchory in fifth spot
BANCHORY 1st XI's season continued to improve last Saturday with a convincing win over Grammar at Rubislaw in Aberdeen.
Banchory skipper Sajid Hasan made it six in a row by calling the toss correctly, and inserted the home side. Alex Starling and Craig Mason opened the bowling. Starling continued his sublime combination of in-swing and out-swing bowling to bog down the Grammar batsmen and Mason, after sweating out some of the alcohol from the night before, got into a rhythm and it was he who was first to strike, trapping J Lord LBW for 2.
In his next over, Mason dismissed the other opener A McDonald for 5, the ball pitching outside off stump and cutting in to hit the middle peg.
T Malik and former Scotland International Jerry Moir then steadied the ship somewhat for Grammar, taking the score on to 41 before Mason struck again, with Moir attempting a lofty drive but misjudging the ball and getting bowled much to the delight of the bowler.
Starling then got the wicket his bowling deserved; number 5 batsman J Eagles trapped plum LBW by a ball which kept very low. Mason was taken out of the attack as home captain G Morrison joined Malik at the crease. The pair put on 29 and threatened to settle things down. The recovery was short-lived though as Mark Herbert, who had replaced Starling, took the wicket of Morrison for 19.
In his next over Herbert bowled Malik for 16 which ripped the heart out of the Grammar batting. Two balls later Herbert had another wicket - P MacDonald mis-timing one to Arun Pillai at cover. The tail failed to wag for Grammar as Wajahat Ali tidied things up; number 9, 10 and 11 batsmen guilty of trying to play on the back foot on a pitch which was keeping low, each one getting bowled.
With Grammar bowled out for just 85, the only worrying thing about the Banchory performance in the field was the amount of extras given away, especially wides - 23 extras in total which ended up as Grammar's biggest contributor of runs.
Bowling figures for Banchory were: Alex Starling 1 for 19 off 10 overs, Craig Mason 3 for 24 off 8 overs, Richard Perry 0 for 6 off 3 overs, Mark Herbert 3 for 21 off 4 overs, Wajahat Ali 3 for 7 off 3.3 overs and Sajid Hasan 0 for 2 off 1 over.
For Grammar to stand any chance of defending their low total, a good start was required. Hasan and Perry settled in well and were rarely troubled by the bowlers. An opening stand of 34 was broken in the 10th over when Hasan didn't connect properly and was caught at cover for 14 off Moir's bowling.
Itaz Virk (4) then joined Perry out in the middle and despite having an excellent technique, a rush of blood to the head saw him charge down the wicket to the slow left arm of Eagles, and Clelland had the easiest of stumpings. Ali came in number 4 and along with Perry killed off any hope Grammar had, with Ali playing some delightful late cuts on his way to 34 before being caught at mid-wicket.
Perry held his bat throughout the Banchory innings to finish on 18 not out and the target was passed for the loss of 3 wickets in the 27th over. The win sees Banchory climb to 5th spot in the table and less than half a percentage point behind Stonehaven in 4th position.
Next week, the first half of the season is wrapped up with an away trip to Inverurie.
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Weather for Banchory
Monday 21 May 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 3 C to 18 C
Wind Speed: 18 mph
Wind direction: North east
Tomorrow
Sunny spells
Temperature: 7 C to 21 C
Wind Speed: 12 mph
Wind direction: East
