Sponsored by
Nervy win for Banchory
BANCHORY travelled to Stonehaven last Saturday on a gloriously warm and sunny day and came home with an important victory.
Skipper Hasan again won the toss and inserted the home side to bat. The usual opening partnership of Mason and Starling was reunited and quickly bore fruit with Mason bowling perennial Grade Select batsman Alec Keith for a duck.
Some tight bowling followed but it wasn't until the 18th over when Banchory claimed their second wicket. Home skipper A. Milroy (21) trapped LBW by Starling, the bowler's tremendous efforts getting the reward they deserved.
Hasan took Mason off and brought himself on to bowl, a decision that proved inspired as he took the wicket of Garden in his second over and Kemp in his fourth.
Former Banchory skipper Tim Donald was out in the middle and had the job of steadying things for his new side.
However he could only watch on as wickets fell around him. Josh Crawley replaced the excellent Alex Starling after his allotted 12 overs had been bowled and made an immediate impact, bowling D. Long with an unplayable delivery.
Hasan then struck again in the next over, this time R. Balsillie getting a leading edge to the grateful hands of Carl Counsell at short cover.
Stonehaven were reeling on 53 for 6. Donald then stepped up a gear and attempted to give Stonehaven a total they could bowl too. He took the score to 77 before his partner B. Campbell was caught by Frost in slip for Hasan's fourth wicket. A 31-run partnership was formed with A. Wilson to take the score over the 100 mark.
The overs were running out and when Mason was brought back on to bowl, Donald (35) finally succumbed. Two boundaries were followed by a mistimed shot to mid wicket where Hasan was well placed for the catch.
Wajahat Ali got in on the act of wicket taking, C. Hinchcliffe playing on to his stumps and the last wicket to fall was the run out of Dougie Anderson, Alex Starling with the direct hit. Stonehaven bowled out for 114 in 46 overs, 26 of those runs were extras which needs to be tightened up.
Bowling figures for Banchory were: A. Starling 1 for 23 in 12 overs, C. Mason 2 for 25 in 10.1 overs, S. Hasan 4 for 22 in 12 overs, J. Crawley 1 for 20 in 4 overs and W. Ali 1 for 15 in 7 overs.
Banchory knew it wasn't going to be easy to chase down the low total on that wicket, the ball tending to keep pretty low.
Hasan and Ali opened the bowling and in the second over, after bludgeoning 10 runs off three balls, Ali was bowled round his legs. C. Counsell then failed to trouble the scorers leaving Banchory on 15 for 2.
Hasan started taking the game to Stonehaven as the home side chopped and changed their bowling line up to find some way of stemming the flow of runs.
When J. Frost (6) was harshly adjudged LBW to a ball he claimed hit his bat, Banchory started to get the jitters and lost wickets at an alarming rate. Perry (0), Starling (4), Pennington (1) and Hicks (2) were all back in the pavilion in quick succession to swing the game in Stonehaven's favour.
Mason came out to meet his captain in the middle. The score on 62 for 7, with still another 53 required. Mason stemmed the flow of wickets with a resolute defence and 20 runs were added before Hasan was caught in the deep for a vital 57.
Josh Crawley, the number 10 batsman, joined Mason at the crease and the instructions were to stay on the front foot to everything,and get whatever they could from each over without losing their wicket.
The pair did a top job by frustrating the fielders in their 10 overs together and took the score on to 97 before Mason got a skidder and was out LBW, batting 17 overs for 5 runs in a stubborn innings.
The game was now on a knife edge. Zach Crawley met his brother out in the middle with seven overs remaining, no wickets in hand and 15 runs still needed for victory.
What followed can only be described as old heads on young shoulders. Josh took the lead and despatched a couple of loose balls for boundaries. Zach defended a couple of overs resolutely and in the last over of the game, with one run required for victory, Zach played a leg glance down to fine leg, the single was taken and Banchory recorded a vital if not nerve-racking win.
Banchory 1st XI are on the road again this weekend, travelling to Rubislaw to take on Grammar.
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Banchory
Tuesday 07 February 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: -1 C to 4 C
Wind Speed: 9 mph
Wind direction: South
Tomorrow
Sunny spells
Temperature: 2 C to 4 C
Wind Speed: 15 mph
Wind direction: South
