Grampian 2nd XI v Turriff CC match report...

Turriff recorded their second win of the season on Saturday at the tricky Sheddocksley venue in Aberdeen, beating Grampian by 38 runs.  Winning the toss in overcast, humid conditions Turriff skipper Steve Lings opted to bat first on damp, muddy pitch.  Turra had turned up with 10 men, including Ian Smart and Barry Donald both playing their first game of 2016.  Smart opened the batting with Lings, and both players made a strong start against the new ball, taking the total to 31 without loss after 10 overs.  Lings went on the offensive, driving two big straight sixes down the ground before bottom edging a short ball off Agidh onto his stumps for 27 in the 13th over to make the score 45-1.

The in-form Frazer Smart joined his Father at the crease and played positive cricket from the off, finding the fence twice and striking a quick fire 11.  Like Lings, he also fell attempting to pull a short of a length Agidh delivery.  This one just clipped his bail, reducing his 2016 batting average from 125 to a more realistic, but still exceptional 68.  Smart senior pressed on in partnership with Donald before being caught for 29.  He became the third batsman to get out attempting a pull shot, top edging Vinod to the keeper.  With the score at 71-3 off 19 overs, Michael Soper made a welcome return, batting in the pivotal number 5 position.

Donald was next to go, adjudged lbw for 9, having helped bring the 100 up.  Blair Balment joined Soper in the middle and looked to press the total onto the team target of one hundred and fifty.  Both batsmen played fluently, Soper scoring 28 and Balment 24.  Craig Peters made runs and supported Balment in a vital partnership of 28 after Soper departed.  Phil Wrigglesworth played aggressively in the lower order, recording his first double figure score of 11 not out to see his side to 153 all out off 43 overs.  With less than 4 an over needed Turra would be looking for wickets with the new ball.

Blair Balment opened the bowling with Lings, looking to make us of what swing would be available before the ball inevitably became wet.  Lings struck in his first over when Mridul fell to an ambitious pull shot, skying a catch that was snaffled by Donald running from behind the stumps to backward square leg.  Balment stuck again in his second over, knocking over Vinod's middle stump.  Lings removed opener Naji for 12, bowing the dumbfounded batsman around his legs with a big out swinger.  Balment made it two each and reduced the home side to 21-4 off 8 overs when he bowled Grampian number 5 Ashin for a duck.

Turriff were now racing against the impending rain to take 6 more wickets, while Grampian still saw a glimmer of hope as the ball got wet and there was no more swing for Turriff's bowlers to exploit.  Sajan and Sachin dug in for the home side.  They rotated the strike and struck the occasional boundary.  Noah Balment and Michael Soper came on in the 13th and 14th over and Turriff were reduced to 9 men as one player had to make an early departure.  Balment junior nearly made the breakthrough when his skipper shelled a difficult chance running back from extra cover.

By over 26, when Ian Smart came onto bowl the total had crept to 82-4, despite 6 tight overs each by Balment junior and Soper.  With 20 overs to go, the home team needed 72 for victory, at just 3.6 runs an over.  But Smart delivered on his fifth delivery, having Sachin caught and bowled for 30.  Victory looked on again and the skipper brought himself back into the attack.  The field came right up in an attempt to stop any singles and leave the batsmen no choice but to lash out.  Lings and Smart bowled tight lines and lengths, aiming for the blockhole and trying their best to restrict any runs whatsoever.

The plan worked as the barrage of well-aimed yorkers saw the pressure for runs get too much for the batsmen.  The final four wickets fell in close succession leaving Lings with 4-30 and Smart with 3-22.  Soper bowled 7 overs for only 9 runs.  Balment senior took 2-27 off 7 overs and Balment junior - who the batsmen targeted the most - bowled exceptionally well, his 6 overs going for only 23 runs.  A direct hit run out by Lings throwing from a short midwicket made the 10th wicket.

Next Saturday sees a local derby when Turra travel down the road to take on Methlick 2nd team in what is probably the most pleasant fixture of the season, at the idillic Lairds cricket ground.

AGSFP 3rd XI v Turriff CC match report...

Turriff went down to Aberdeen Grammar School Former Pupil’s 3^rd XI in a weather affected match played at the Haughs on Saturday.  Taking advantage of new rules allowing a reduction in the length of the game, the game was reduced to a 30 over a side contest.  AGSFP won the toss and elected to bat first on a damp wicket.  Turriff got off to a bad start, when a recurring calf strain pulled skipper Steven Lings out of the attack after one over.  Blair Balment and Immanuel Doss took the new ball, bowling to AGSFP openers Lord and Youles who looked to attack early on.  They survived the new ball, and a double bowling change saw juniors Noah Balment and William Wechsler brought into the attack.  Balment struck in his second over, having Lord caught for five as he attempted an aggressive shot.  Lee came to the crease, meaning Turriff were now bowling at two left handers. 

Lings then replaced Wechsler to try some slow bowling from around the wicket.  His plan half working when a skied catch off Youles was dropped at extra cover.  After two overs Blair Balment was brought back into the attack to try and break the partnership with his extra pace.  But the batsmen got in top of things, ticking he scoreboard along at a respectable rate before retiring out on 53 and 30.  In the final overs Noah Balment and Doss bowled well in tandem, taking a wicket each and restrict the total at 29 overs to 150.  Lings tried to find the blockhole in the last over, but strayed too short and the hard-hitting Garratt plundered 22 runs, including 3 sixes over deep midwicket to leave Turra needing 173 – almost six an over - to win.

In reply, Immanuel Doss and Phil Wrigglesworth opened the run chase.  Doss hit out at some loose stuff from right arm seamer McCaughtrie, keeping the tally on track.  Karmilla bowled a tighter line and length and disaster struck when Wrigglesworth was hit in the chin by a ball that reared up from a length off the damp wicket.  The batsmen had to retire hurt to seek medical attention on one.  Dod Duncan batted and three and immediately upped the run rate.  Next to go was Doss, caught on 28.  Frazer Smart joined Duncan at the crease and continued where he had left off last week.  The partnership was broken when Duncan was caught in double figures.  Lings limped in to bat at number 5, with still more than half the runs needed.

Smart took his tally to 18 before being dismissed for the first time this season, making his batting average exactly 100 after his heroics last week.  Blair Balment joined Lings at the crease , while AGSFP had brough junior leg spinner D’Costa and seamer MacDonald on to bowl.  Both batsmen adopted the tactic of taking on anything short of a length, despite the fielders on the boundary and it paid off for a while.  Lings took 10 off the first five balls of the 19^th over to take the total past 100.  MacDonald then had his revenge, having the Turra skipper caught at square leg attempting a pull shot.

The Turriff tail took the total to 124-7 by the 30^th over.  It was way short of the mark, but on a positive note for the home side, both juniors recorded personal best scores.  Wechsler ended 9 not out including one four and Noah Balment 7 not out.  This week Turriff hope to host Kemnay-Kintore 2^nd XI, who scratched their last visit to the Haughs earlier in the season.

Turriff CC v Methlick CC 2nd XI

Date: 4th June 2016

Venue: Haughs

Turriff beat Methlick by 77 runs

Turriff Cricket Club Innings

1. M. Evans...stumped...b. Gordon...34

2. S. Lings....................b. Fryer...33

3. C. Barclay...................b. Rice...10

4. F. Smart...................not out......82

5. C. Duncan...caught...b. Choudry...19

6. B. Woolley...not out.....................0

7. dnb

8. dnb

9. dnb

10. dnb

11. dnb

Extras: 18 (10w, 5nb, 3b, 0lb)

Total:                                              197-4

Bowler         Overs       Maidens       Runs       Wickets

Choudry         12              1              49             1

Rice                8               0              51             1

Fryer              10              2              36             1

Bowie             11              1              35             0

Gordon           5                0              32             1

Methlick Cricket Club 2nd XI Innings

1. Choudry..................b. N. Balment...41

2. Barrack.........................c&b. Lings...0

3. Fryer.............caught...b. C. Duncan...22

4. Colley-Davies...caught...b. N. Balment...7

5. Boughey.............caught...b. Duncan...0

6. Rice..................................b. Laing...27

7. Sarkawski.............caught...b. Laing...1

8. Gordon.............................b. Lings...0

9. Burnett......................not out...........0

10. Hyde..............................b. Evans...1

11. dnb

Extras: 20 (17w, 2nb, 1b, 0lb)

Total:                                                    119 all out

Bowler       Overs     Maidens     Runs     Wickets
Laing            9             1            30           2
Lings            8              3            28           2

C. Duncan     7              2           19           2

N. Balment   6              1             36          2

C. Peters       1             0             5            0

M. Evans       0.1          0             0            1

Turriff CC v Methlick CC 2nd XI - match report...

Turriff’s cricketers recorded their first win of 2016, defeating Methlick 2nd XI at the Haughs by 68 runs.  Winning the toss and choosing to bat first, Turriff skipper Steven Lings resumed his opening partnership with Malcolm Evans.  Lings made a positive start, attacking the Methlick opening bowlers and striking four sixes and two fours.   He was dismissed for 33 when opposing captain Rob Fryer bowled him out in the 10th over with a leg stump yorker.    This brought new player Chris Barclay to the crease in the 10th over.  In a partnership of 32 with Evans he struck a boundary of his own before being bowled for 10 by Rice in the 22nd over.  This brought Frazer Smart to the crease for his first outing of 2016.  

Evans was dismissed for 34 in the 32nd over, stumped off the bowling of Gordon, to leave the home side 123-3.  Callum Duncan joined Smart at the crease and looked to make use of the remaining overs.  By now Smart was playing his shots, finding the boundary and had amassed a decent tally next to his name.  Stepping up a gear, he flayed the respectable Methlick attack, finding the rope 15 times in a personal best knock of 82 not out.  Duncan made 19 runs of his own before being dismissed in the last over.  Byron Woolley, promoted to bat at number 6 after an impressive cameo in his last match, never even got to a face a delivery.  Smart had guided Turriff to 197-4.

Laing and Lings opened the bowling for Turriff.  Methlick all rounder Choudry opened the batting with Barrack.  Lings had Barrack caught and bowled in the second over to bring Fryer to the crease.  With their two best batsmen at the wicket, Methlick looked to overturn an imposing total.  Choudry attacked both bowlers and got the better of them, regularly finding the rope.  After 12 overs the score was 56-1 and Methlick were looking on course to make their run chase.  A double bowling change saw Callum Duncan and 15 year old Noah Balment come into the attack.  

Balment almost struck immediately, inducing a mistake from the aggressive Choudry, who drove a ball straight up the in the air, but unfortunately the catch was not taken.  Then three balls later, he clean bowled him for a brilliant 41 off 35 balls to take his first wicket for Turriff.  Five overs later, Duncan was next to strike, getting the price scalp of the Methlick skipper caught and bowled when another attempted drive went straight up.  Next over Balment struck again, inducing a leading edge from Methlick number 4 Colley-Davies, which Lings took running and diving at midwicket.  It wasn’t long before Duncan stuck the fatal blow, as Craig Peters took an excellent catch at mid on looking into the late afternoon sun.  At 83-5 it looked all over for Methlick.

Pinch hitter Rice, coming in at number 6 had different ideas and proceeded to dispatch both bowlers to the boundaries.  Lings brought himself and Laing back onto bowl to Rice, hoping someone would bowl a delivery that was just too good for him sooner or later.  It wasn’t long before Laing obliged, bowling his out for 27 off just 18 deliveries.  Both bowlers struck once more each, leaving all four bowlers on 2 wickets.  Playing with just 10 men, Methlick only had more wicket to lose, Lings brought Evans on to try and finish the inning and he obliged first ball, bowling Hyde for one run.

Turriff CC v Grampian CC 2nd XI scorecards...

Date: 21st May 2016

Venue: The Haughs

Grampian beat Turriff by 5 wickets

Turriff Cricket Club Innings

1. M. Evans.......caught...b. Saji...15

2. S. Lings...................b. Vinod...31

3. N. Smith...caught...b. Kannan...31

4. I. Doss............run out.............30

5. D. Duncan...caught...b. Kannan...0

6. M. Soper........................b. Ajit...5

7. P. Wrigglesworth...st...b. Kennan...3

8. B. Woolley............not out...........2

9. C. Peters..............not out...........7

10. D. Laing........dnb

11. N. Balment....dnb

Extras: 26 (15w, 7nb, 3b, 1lb)

Total:                                              150-7

Bowler         Overs       Maidens       Runs       Wickets

Antu?              9               3              14             0

Vinod              5               1              26             1

Jinto               9                0             25             0

Kannan           7               3              17             2

Saji                6               1               14            1

Charles           1               0               11            0

Azhin              3               0               19            0

Ajit 

Grampian Cricket Club 2nd XI innings

1. Ashin...caught...b. Laing...4

2. Rohin...caught...b. Smith...43

3. Rajeesh............b. Soper...14

4. Saji..................b. Laing...9

5. Mridhul.............b. Lings...45

6. Kannan....not out.............18

7. Vinodh.....not out.............1

8. dnb

9. dnb

10. dnb

11. dnb

Extras: 19 (9w, 3nb, 7b, 0lb)

Total:                                                    153-5

Bowler       Overs     Maidens     Runs     Wickets
Laing           12             3            25           2
Lings            9              1            36           1

Doss            8.5            0            32           0

Soper           2              0            14           1

N. Balment   2              0             4            0

M. Evans      2              0             7            0

N. Smith       5             0             30           1

Turriff CC v Grampian CC 2nd XI match report...

Turriff’s cricketers made a belated start to their season on Saturday, narrowly losing to Grampian Cricket Club’s 2nd XI in a home game at the Haughs. Both teams benefitted from a full turn out, fielding 11 players each. This in itself was a positive, as so far this year grade 4 of the Aberdeenshire competition has been marred by player shortages. Rules changes this season mean there are no longer any draws. League games are now a straight 45 overs a side, win, lose or tie contest. Other than this, the Turriff squad remained largely unchanged from last year, but with Steven Lings taking over the reins from Ian Smart for a stint as captain.

 Grampian won the toss and asked Turriff to bat in bright, warm, but humid conditions that perhaps looked as if they might be favourable to Turriff’s swing bowlers. Turriff’s one new signing, right-hander Malcolm Evans, opened the batting with Lings. The pair made a solid but circumspect start, looking to safely navigate the sometimes tricky new ball period. Both batsmen looked to rotate the strike, defend the danger balls and hit the freebies. Grampian rotated their bowlers regularly, mainly making use of a bewildering array of slower bowlers and spinners, looking to catch their hosts openers out and induce a mistake. At the 20 over mark the score was 47 for no loss and the Turra batsmen looked to kick up a gear.

But momentum shifted toward Grampian and Evans was the first to depart, caught off the bowling of Joseph for 15, including one six. Lings followed soon after, bowled by Jose as he attempted to straight drive a yorker-length delivery, having made 31 including 3 sixes. Turriff stalwarts Neil Smith and Immanuel Doss looked to build on solid foundations, continuing the left-hand, right-hand combination in the middle. Both players navigated the middle overs, scoring regularly and taking the home side to 121-2 by the 35th over. Sensing the chance to get a stranglehold on the game and impose an improbable total on the visitors, Lings signalled to his batsman to go on the attack.

 Again, fortune did not favour the brave. Smith was next to depart, caught off Viskrambaran and equalling his skipper’s 31 runs. Doss was run out for 30 soon after. Dod Duncan came in at five and looked to hit big but was also caught off Viskrambaran to give the bowler 2-17. Michael Soper plundered some quick runs before being bowled by Raveendran. Phil Wrigglesworth at 7 and Byron Woolley at 8 both struck out and scampered quick singles before Wrigglesworth was stumped by the visiting skipper off Raveendran who ended with 2-17 also. Woolley was joined by Craig Peters, who struck a magnificent lofted on drive for four, to end 7 not out, with Woolley also unbeaten having ably supported his partners with some athletic running and added two useful runs from well placed shots himself. Turriff’s lower order had taken the score to a par 150, leaving the game perfectly balanced.

After a typically pleasant tea, Grampian openers Valsan and R. Joseph strode out to the crease seeking 151 runs for victory. David Laing opened the bowling as usual, looking to deceive the visitors with his trademark late-inswingers. Lings took the new ball at the other end, seeking to swing the ball away from Grampians two right-handed openers. Laing made the first breakthrough, when Evans took a stunning reaction catch at short cover, diving low to his right to dismiss Valsan for 4. Lings rotated himself with the quicker Doss after three tight overs. Nandan joined his skipper Joseph at the crease, steadying the ship.

After a superb opening spell from Laing, a double bowling change saw junior Noah Balment bowl his first overs in a league match on his 15th birthday. Soper took the ball at the other end, sending down off-breaks as his skipper tried the tactic of taking pace off the ball. Balment bowled his first two overs for only four runs, and was unlucky not to claim his first wicket from a peach of a delivery that hit the seam and moved away from a befuddled Nandan. But it was Soper who made the next breakthrough, clean bowling Nandan when he a well-aimed Yorker deceived the batsman in the flight to bring S. Joseph into the middle. Lings tried some more bowling rotations, first with Evans bowling two tight overs for only 7 runs on debut. Smith hit the mark from the other end and was unfortunate not to find himself a victim.

Then Laing was brought back into the attack. As per usual he quickly delivered, bowling S. Joseph for 9, and bringing Raj to the crease to join his skipper with the visitors 67-3 and the end a long way out of sight. But not through lack of trying, Turriff could not break the partnership. Lings rotated himself with Doss at one end and Laing with Smith at the other, but the batsmen stood firm, slowly chipping away at the total. The best chance came when Raj drove at Doss, getting a leading edge into the cover region and Lings ran and dived attempting a one-handed catch with his non-throwing arm. But the ball didn’t stick and the Turra skippers spilled a hard chance. At the other end, Laing had both batsmen playing and missing regularly. When he did find leading edges, the ball landing safely between fielders.

Smith eventually picked up the wicket of the opposition skipper, with Doss taking a skied catch at point. With 11 needed, in a last hurrah, Doss and Lings tried their hand at some spin bowling, Lings eventually bowling Raj for 45 with the perfect off-break. The batsman attempting an ill-advised sweep shot to bring up his half century. But it was now too late. Grampian made their runs with four overs to spare and five wickets in hand to take a maximum 30 points. Turriff salvaged 13 points for batting and bowling.

Turriff CC v Grampian CC 2nd XI, video highlights and scorecards...