Juniors
Our youngest team, the under 13s set off to the National Finals at Holy Cross School in Edinburgh on Sunday.
Coach, Phil Wood takes an exciting squad full of very enthusiastic, highly talented players. I expect these gifted youngsters to do very well as they take on the best players in their age group from the other regions of Scotland. So far, this team has comfortably defeated Gordonians, Stoneywood/Dyce and Forfarshire to reach this stage. Their reward is a place in the closing stages of this nationwide competition.
Having watched them several times this season, I am a real fan; they play with a blend of skill, enthusiasm and competitive teamwork that makes them a very potent unit. On their day, only a very good team will beat them.
Enjoy the games lads and see how it goes! Everyone at the club wishes you well!

1st XI
Last Saturday saw the weather ruin an excellent cricket match, as our first eleven and Stoneywood-Dyce were halted in the middle of an intriguing tussle. We had been invited to bat on a bouncy, green, generally well-behaved track. The Stoneywood bowlers took the initiative at the start, removing Kenny Reid, Pranav Saravanan and Lewis Munro with only 56 on the board. That was followed however, by our most productive partnership of the season to date. Our diminutive pro Harsha Vithana and the much taller Cameron Brown stayed together at the crease to put on 163 runs together. Harsha played mostly along the carpet and recorded 11 boundaries; Cameron took the aerial route from time to time and made 3 maximums. Entertaining fayre for the faithful, but then, no sooner had Harsha fallen for 82 than Cameron decided he had had enough and he departed for 89. The tail-enders then combined to hoist a total of 283 for 7, very respectable, challenging perhaps!

Nevertheless, there was just a ray of hope for the visitors and a second wicket partnership between the in-form Ewan Davidson and veteran David Lamb was looking increasingly productive until the grey skies opened up and rain ended the contest.

A frustrating day was eased to a degree by the news that our nearest challengers, Perth Doo’cot lost at Freuchie. Stoneywood/Dyce now move up to second place with only two defeats thus far. We continue to head the table, undefeated.

We now face Huntly at home on Saturday, Huntly have hurt us in the past and in Jack Mitchell, they have a highly experienced player who has often caused us problems. The fixture rearrangements of this season leave us with several awkward, away fixtures in the run-in in August. It is crucial that we remain dominant over all rivals in our current spate of home games.

2nd XI
Rain also spoiled our second team match against the dramatically named Master Blasters. Rahul used an attack, comprised entirely of young bowlers; our talented youths are gaining valuable experience, competing in Grade 1 and holding their own. Once again, Arnav Saraswat shone by taking three wickets; he is making solid progress this season, yet another prospect from the Saraswat family!
Where do they get this talent, Lokesh?

Chandu’s lads are off to Inverurie on Saturday to face a side of more advanced years. A win would set the squad up well, secure in the top half of the table.

3rd XI
On Sunday the third eleven are at home to Ellon. Again, this is an excellent chance for our players in the thirds to have the chance to play on Mannofield. We are grateful to the teams that have agreed to rearrange fixtures to make use of the excellent facility.
As a result of the growth of our successful junior section, we now find ourselves in the unexpected situation of struggling to give every playing member enough game time. The selection policy has been to provide as many matches as possible for our youths and this has made things more difficult for our mature members. We ask you for your patience over this season as we try to fit in as many fixtures as we can. It seems clear that we need to grow our set-up next season to build a fourth team. This now requires serious consideration and planning; we will require responsible leaders to take on organizational roles. We will then be able to provide more competitive cricket for all our members.