Siyapa CC v Turriff CC match report...

Turriff played away on Saturday at the controversial Sheddocksley ground in Aberdeen, losing to Siyapa who secured their promotion to grade 3 as a result.  David Laing captained a depleted side of 9 men, and opted to bat when he won the toss.  Hoping to get the Turriff innings off to a good start, David Chalmers and Steven Lings opened up, looking to play cautiously and make the most of all the overs.  Like Turriff, Siyapa had also had a fortnight off and new ball bowlers Nisar and Shahid started with a few looseners before settling into a rhythm and bowling an attacking line targeting the stumps just full of a good length.  Turriff rotated the strike a little until after a close lbw shout in the fifth over, Lings adopted a policy of stonewalling Nisar, taking a big stride forward and showing the full face of the bat.  This resulted in two maidens for Nisar, but it was Shahid who struck first in the 8th over, beating left-hander Chalmers with a good delivery from around the wicket to bowl him for 3.

This brought Neil Smith to the crease, who watched from the non-strikers end as Nisar got fed up of bowling dot balls and presented Lings with first an off-break, and then a leg-break which he worked fine on the leg side for an easy single.  Pleased with the way his wrist spinner had come out, Nisar then gave Smith a similar delivery, which was mis-timed to mid-on to bring the score to 14-2.  Dodd Duncan came to the crease and looked in good touch, striking a quickfire 9 before he was beaten by the tricky Sheddocksley park pitch by one that stayed low to become Nisar's second victim, leaving Turriff on 18-3.  David Laing joined Lings in the middle and Siyapa made a double bowling change.  Taveer Khan, a talented wrist spinner with a genuine 'wrongun', struggled at firs to bowl a full enough length as Lings cashed in with a boundry behind square leg.  He quickly changed to around the wicket and immediately found the right nagging length slow amateur spin bowlers need to hit, pitching the ball just a foot or two beyond then reach of the batsman taking his biggest stride forward.

Hasnan, a medium pacer, found his rhythm immediately at the other end and got himself the wicket of Laing, to reduce Turriff to 31-4.  The next over Lings blunded trying to smother a hard spun leg break, spooning a catch to the short exta cover fielder for 11, Turriff were 37-5.  Fraser Smart, William Wechsler, Byron Woolley and Noah Balment put up some late resistance, before Turra were dismiseed for just 45 runs.  Wechsler finished the not out batsman with two runs.  There was little hope for Turra with only seven fielders against the talented Siyapa batting line up.  Lings fluked the wicket of opener Khassam, who rather comically hit his own stumps sweeping a wide attempted slower off-break.  The batsman struck the ball the rope, but the momentum of his shot led to him letting go of his bat with one hand, and following through the stroke into his stumps.  Fazal, and his skipper Abdullah Khan hit the remaing runs off with ease on their home ground, both hitting maximums as they slogged their way to a win within 7 overs.  Turriff play their last game of the season against Portcullis at Duthie Park, Aberdeen on 29th August.

Siyapa CC v Turriff CC scorecards...

Date: 22nd August 2015

Venue: Sheddockley

Siyapa beat Turriff by 9 wickets

Turriff Cricket Club Innings

1. D. Chalmers............b. Shahid...3

2. S. Lings...caught...b. T. Khan...11

3. N. Smith.......caught...b. Nisar...0

4. D. Duncan.................b. Nisar...9

5. D. Laing.................b. Hasnain...0

6. F. Smart.......caught...b. Rizwt...0

7. W. Wechsler...............not out...2

8. N. Balment...caught...b. Rizwt...0

9. B. Wolley..............b. A Khan...2

10. did not play

11. did not play

Extras: 18 (15w, 0nb, 3b, 2lb)

Total:                                              46 all out

Bowler         Overs       Maidens       Runs       Wickets

A. Nisar           8                3              10              2

M. Shahid        8                2              20              1

N. Hasnain       2                0              2                1

T. Khan           2                1               5                1

R. Rizwt           2                0               3               2

A. Siddiqi         1               0               1                0 

A. Khan           1                0               3                1

Sipaya Cricket Club Innings

1. Khassam...hit wicket...b. Lings...5

2. Fazal...........................not out...25

3. A. Khan.....................not out....18

4. DNB

5. DNB

6. DNB

7. DNB

8. DNB

9. DNB

10. DNB

11. DNB

Extras: 1 (1w, 0nb, 0b, 0lb)

Total:                                                    48-1

Bowler       Overs     Maidens     Runs     Wickets
Laing           3.5            0            39           0
Lings            3              0             9            1

Methlick CC v Turriff CC scorecards...

Date: 8th August 2015
Venue: Lairds, Methlick
Methlick beat Turriff by 151 runs


Methlick Cricket Club 2nd Team Innings

1. R. Fryer.....................not out...88
2. A. Smith...ct. Wolley...b. Lings...0
3. B. Carr....................b. Peters...31
4. T. Acton..... .....lbw...b. Smart...12
5. A. Scott....................b. Lings...27
6. S. Gordon..................b. Lings...0
7. J. Allan.....................b. Smart...7
8. Deni.................lbw...b. Smart...4
9. G. Cordiner.......run out............26
10. M.Day..............not out............0
11. R. Kennedy...DNB

Extras: 37 (18w, 6nb, 3b, 10lb)
Total:                                                220-7 (45 overs)

Bowler         Overs     Maidens     Runs     Wickets
D. Laing          11           2            49           0

S. Lings          12           0             47          3
C. Peters         9            0              69          1
I. Smart          12          2             38           3
W. Wechsler    1            0             11           0

Turriff Cricket Club Innings

1. I. Smart.......................b. Acton...20
2. D. Chalmers..............b Kennedy...13

3. S. Lings.....................not out.......16
4. D. Laing........caught...b. Kennedy...0
5. C. Peters.......caught...b. Cordiner...4
6. B. Wolley.........................b. Carr...0
7. N. Balment.................b. Cordiner...0
8. W. Wechsler...caught...b. Cordiner...0

9. P. Wrigglesworth.........b. Cordiner...0
10. did not play
11. did not play

Extras:  16 (6w, 1nb, 7b, 2lb)
Total:                                         69 all out

Bowler         Overs     Maidens     Runs     Wickets
T. Acton          6             0             25          1

M. Day            5             1             20          0
G. Cordiner      6             2             11          4
P. Kennedy      4             2              5           2

B. Carr            1             0              1           1

Turriff CC v Grampian CC corecards - Johnston Rosebowl Final...

Date: 1st August 2015
Venue: Lairds, Methlick
Grampian beat Turriff

Turriff Cricket Club Innings

1. D. Chalmers.........b. Gibson...7
2. S. Lings.........lbw...b. Noby...0
3. I. Doss...............c&b...Bigil...30
4. D. Duncan................b. Seby 14
5. B. Balment................b. Bigil...0
6. D. Laing.........lbw...b. Noby...0
7. C. Swan..........lbw...b. Seby...1
8. C. Peters..................b. Seby...1
9. W. Wechsler............b. Seby...0
10. N. Balment...........run out......2
11. B. Wolley.............not out......0

 Extras: 28 (21w, 0nb, 3b, 4lb)
Total: 83 all out

Bowler      Overs      Maidens       Runs       Wickets
Noby           6                0               19              2
Seby            9                2               16              4
Sonu            3                0               12              0
Johnson        3                1               8                0
Bigil              6               2                7                2
Gibson         2                0               11              1
Vaishak       2                 1               2               1
Kannan        0.1             0                0               0


Grampian Cricket Club Innings 

1. Jeby........................lbw...b. 4
2. Rohin....................not out...28
3. Vaishak......lbw...b. Lings...15
4. Bigil......................not out...26
5. DNB
6. DNB
7. DNB
8. DNB
9. DNB
10. DNB
11. DNB

Extras: 11 (8w, 2nb, 1b, 0lb)
Total:                                      85-2

Bowler         Overs      Maidens      Runs      Wickets
D. Laing          9               1              42             1
S. Lings           5               0              25             1
B. Balment      3.1            0              16             0

Turriff CC v AGSFP 3rd XI...

Date: 25th July 2015
Venue: The Haughs, Turriff
Turriff drew with AGSFP

Turriff Cricket Club Innings

1. I. Smart.......caught...b. Hegde...22
2. D. Chalmers....caught...b. Blues...1
3. S. Lings......caught...b. Thanga...45
4. D. Duncan....caught...b. Hegde...12
5. I. Doss......................b. Hegde...8
6. D. Laing.......caught...b. Thanga...4
7. F. Smart..............lbw...b. Blues...2
8. C. Peters......caught...b. Thanga...0
9. W. Wechsler.........b. Monnapillai...0
10. P. Wrigglesworth.........not out....6
11. C. Swan......caught...b. Thanga...0

Extras:  54 (42w, 5nb, 7b, 1lb)
Total:                                         154 all out

Bowler            Overs     Maidens     Runs     Wickets
R. Monnapillai     11            4           27            1
M. Blues             12            1           30            2
R. Hegde             9             2           25            3
A. Thanga           8.5          0            39            4
L. D'Costa           6             1            25            0


AGSFP 3rd XI Innings

1. P. Norwood...............b. Laing...5
2. J. Lee.......................b. Lings...3
3. P. McDonald..............b. Doss...24
4. R. Hegde.................b. Smart...11
5. M. Garratt....caught...b. Swan...51
6. M. Blues...................b. Doss...20
7. R. Monnapillai.............not out...6
8. A. Thanga..................run out...1
9. DNB
10. DNB
11. DNB

Extras: 29 (14w, 3nb, 7b, 5lb)
Total:                                                151-7 (44 overs)

Bowler         Overs     Maidens     Runs     Wickets
D. Laing         12            1             27          1     
S. Lings          12            1            44          1
I. Doss           12            1            39          2
I. Smart          7             0            26          1
C. Swan          1             0             2            1

Match report - Single Wicket 2015...

With no fixture on Saturday, due to the withdrawal of Stonehaven second eleven from grade four, Turriff took the opportunity to catch up with their in house 'single wicket' competition.  This is a knock out tournament, where pairs of players drawn at random, play against one another in innings of a maximum of four overs.  Nine club members turned out, meaning each bowler would have the benefit of a wicket keeper and just five fielders.  The boundary was brought in about fifteen yards to make things a little more interesting.  

The draw resulted in all the stronger players ending up in the same half.  First up was, Turriffs first choice opening batsmen, David Chalmers and Ian Smart has to play an 'extra' round to decide who would play Phil Wrigglesworth.  As expected, Smart's more experienced bowling ending up coming up trumps when Lings held onto an easy catch at midwicket.  The Turra skipper then brushed aside 2015 newcomer Wrigglesworth for a place in the semi finals.  Next up, Turra's two opening bowlers, David Laing and Steven Lings went head to head.  Winning the toss, Laing opted to bat first and batted sensibly but fluently, making a largely circumspect 23, including a four and six, before missing a yorker to be bowled out in his last over.  This proved to be more than enough as Lings attacked Laing's second ball well outside his off stump and edged to Fraser Smart, keeping wicket, for a duck.

Junior William Weschler took on Craig Peters and made the first upset when he won an lbw shout in his first over.  This proved to be controversial as the batsman was convinced he had got a small nick on the ball before it hit his pad.  But without the benefit of review system the rulebook meant the umpires decision stood and Weschler took a place in the semis.  The other junior player in attendance, Finlay Gowan took on Fraser Smart and Lings volunteered for a spell with the gloves.  Finlay staged the second upset of the competition, removing Smart early in his innings to set up a semi final with Weschler.

In the first of the semis, Ian Smart bowled first and saw off David Laing, with his second 'caught midwicket' dismissal of the day early on in the swing bowlers innings, and booked his place in the final, chasing a small total.  Probably the best game of the day, Weschler verus Gowan, was they did battle to be the first junior finalist in the history of the competition.  Gowan bowled first, and struggled to find a good line at first, allowing Weschler to build up a total of 14, including a fair few wides.  Undeterred, Gowan set about chasing down the runs, just getting over the line in the last over, in the face of some accurate bowling from Weschler, setting up a final against the club skipper.

Smart batted first in the final, expecting to score easy runs against the gentle pace of the young teenage bowler.  But having made just one, off a gloved ball into the vacant slip region, Gowan found the perfect spot.  Presenting a straight seam, and with the ball pitched up on just the right length, the delivery nibbled back just enough to beat the Turriff skipper, scraping the top of middle and removing his bails.  Gowan went out to bat, found his composure, and after refusing a couple of risky singles to midwicket tucked a loose, full, leg side delivery off his pads for four through backward square leg.  Well done Finlay Gowan, the first ever Turriff junior cricketer to win the 'single wicket' tournament.  Turriff's next game is at home against Aberdeen Grammar School Former Pupils third team on Saturday 25th July.

Turriff CC v Methlick CC match report...

Scorecards here.

Turriff clinched a close game against Methlick on Saturday to secure a spot in the Johnson Rose Bowl final.  After being re-instated to the competition following the withdrawal of an under-achieving Kemnay-Kintore from grade 4, Turriff had to win a home fixture against a Methlick side that had chased 205 against impressive grades newcomers Siyapa three weeks previous.  In that game, Methlick batsmen Scott and Smith made 79 not out and 40, whilst their star seam bowler Choudry took 3-39.  Turriff held onto the fact they had prevailed against Methlick in a league game just three weeks beforehand, and were playing at home with a strong side out.  As such they went into the game brimming with enough confidence to ask Methlick to make first use of a wet wicket.

David Laing, after performances of 4-37 and 5-7 in his last two games, and probably on target for this years grade 4 bowling award, struck in just the third over of the game, clean bowling Fryer for just 3 runs.  At the other end, Lings, was struggling to find his rhythm and length after two weeks of no cricket, and conceded an uncharacteristic 6 runs off his first over including two no balls.  Capable all-rounder Grant Cordiner came to the crease and looked to navigate the tricky batting conditions and push the total along.  After two singles and a two he fell to the last ball of the tenth over.  Given just a bit of width to the off side, and attempting a Jayasuria-esque carve over point, he was caught by Dodd Duncan taking a stunning one handed catch above his head that Paul Collingwood or Jonty Rhodes would have been proud of.  Lings was now finding his rhythm, regularly hitting a good length and this wicket, to peg the visitors to 17-2, encouraged his skipper to let him bowl his ten overs back to back.  At the other end, strike bowler Blair Balment replaced David Laing who had bowled yet another outstanding, miserly, opening spell for Turra, taking 1-5 in five overs.

Methlick sent the in-form Scott in at number 4, who looked to be aggressive almost from the off, whilst Smith also began to open his shoulders and take on Balment, hitting the first boundary of the innings from his first over.  Lings was now finding his line and length, but undeterred from playing and missing the impressive Scott soon connected the middle of his bat with an away swinger sending it over cow corner for six in the 14th over.  Smart, showing its not just a name, immediately moved to a defensive leg side field, sending square leg, midwicket and mid-on into the deep.  Lings responded first with with a well disguised slow off-break, which Smith refused to try and hit over the rope.  Next up came the quicker, straighter full of length off-cutter which drew the desired response.  Smith flashed his bat, missed, and the ball clipped his leg stump.  This brought Rice to the crease, who struggle to cope Balment's extra pace and bounce, soon holing out to Dodd Duncan at midwicket for 3.  Another 'Scott' replaced Rice in the middle and was dispatched in the 19th over for one when he failed to offer a shot at one of Lings's outswingers and was bowled around his legs, the ball clipping the leg-stump bail.  All-rounder Choudry joined the dangerous-looking Smith at the crease and the Methlick counter-attack started.  Smith hit sixes from Balment and Lings before Balment produced a ripsnorter of a length ball, beating him for pace and removing his off stump for 32 before he could take the game from Turriff.

Lings bowled his ten overs, taking 3-33 and Methlick might have hoped for some respite.  Unfortunately, Turriff's fastest bowler, Immanuel Doss was about to produce a Glen McGrath-like display of accurate fast bowling in the channel outside off stump.  The Methlick batsmen weren't good enough to even find the edge of the bat, and when number 8 Jones finally did, Chalmers uncharacteristically shelled the chance for a caught behind.  Doss's breakthough came when Chalmers made up for things, managing to stump Jones, who was left standing a couple of inches out of his crease after a futile attempt to take Doss for runs.  David Laing mopped up another two Methlick batsmen, at the other end.  First removing Choudry for 12, caught at mid off by the ultra-safe hands of Callum Duncan, then Allan for 1, caught brilliantly by Fraser Smart at square leg.  Laing finished his ten overs with a haul of 3-19 to top the home side's bowling sheet yet again.  Smart turned to Callum Duncan to finish Methlick off and he delivered for his skipper in just 3 balls, removing Day for 3, caught at mid off by David Laing to wrap Methlick's innings up for just 89 runs.  Balment finished with 2-24, removing two key batsmen, while Doss, most his deliveries being almost unplayable at this level and on this pitch, went for just nine runs from eight overs.  Turriff's seamers had given the home side a chance of making the final and now as many players as possible would need to contribute with the bat on a wet pitch offering a lot of assistance to the bowlers.

Smart decided to re-jig the batting order for this win or lose 40 overs a side game, and open the batting with Lings, looking to try and score aggressively from the start and build a strong platform to the run chase before the pitch inevitably claimed ten victims.  Methlick made the surprise, and some would say attacking move, of opening the bowling with promising junior Kennedy.  With the field set back a bit catching, slow, accurate bowling can be a real handful to actually score off on such pitches.  Choudry opened at the other end, a quicker orthadox away swing bowler who would look to capitalise on the humid conditions, especially against left-hander Lings where he could attack the stumps with late inswing in the humid conditions.  In the first over the batsmen rotated the strike, hitting a single each before Smart flayed a leg side delivery for six.  Four singles off the second over meant Turriff had got the start they wanted, 13 runs off two overs.  Smart capitalised on another leg side delivery in the third over, hitting a second six over deep backward square leg.  Lings ended up facing Choudry in the fourth over, and with no scoreboard pressure, blocked and left a maiden aiming to hone his eye, get to know the bowler and think about the best way to find the rope.  Kennedy bowled one more over, finding a good line and length, full and on or just outside off stump for most of it and only conceding three runs to a defensive field.  He was replaced by Day, who's first ball Smart punched over the leg side rope for four.  In the 8th over, after watching Choudry a bit more, Lings launched into a full delivery with a straight drive back over the bowlers head for four, to move into double figures.  The breakthrough came in the ninth over.  Smart took a single off the first ball to give Lings the strike, Day then blundered with a leg side wide to the left-hander which Lings foolishly chased and tried to sweep fine, only to chip a wide ball to Kennedy at fine leg and give his wicket away for 10.  Nevertheless, with the score on 37-1, and Smart looking in good touch Turriff were on target for a win.

Dodd Duncan, promoted to three to try and keep the run rate up, joined Smart at the crease and played well, playing some fine strokes in a stand of 17 for the next wicket, before being caught off the bowling of Grant Cordiner.  At 54-2, Turriff needed just 36 with 8 wickets in hand to book a place in the final.  Blair Balment batted at number 4 and took a circumspect approach, playing immaculate front foot defence and getting to know the pitch and the bowling.  But as Smart looked to push onto his half century, Turriff suffered a setback as Grant Cordiner landed a major blow for the away team, bowling him for 39.  Usual opener, David Chalmers now joined Balment with the score on 55-3.  Cordiner and Rice bowled in tandem, giving little away.  Balment and Chalmers took their time to get set and steady the ship before trying any risky shots on the sticky wicket, before Rice found a way through Chalmers defenses to bowl the keeper-batsman for one.  With the score on 60-4, and Smart gone, Methlick were looking a lot chirpier in the field as Doss joined the watchful, but well batted-in Balment at the crease.  Then disaster struck for Turriff.  Guiding his first delivery straight to the man at deep gully, Doss took off, calling Balment through for a suicide single.  The fielder made no mistake and Balment was run out for 2.  More importantly for Methlick, they had two new batsmen at the crease as Callum Duncan strode out the middle.  Duncan, looking to get off the mark then glanced the last ball of the over to the man in an unorthadox kind of leg slip position.  With the score on 60-6, Methlick thought they had it in the bag as David Laing walked to the crease.  Turriff knew that both men, both with grade 3 half centuries to their names, were capable of seeing them home.  But on this soaking wet pitch, with some accurate and experienced seam bowling to contend with, it would not be easy.

Several nervy overs followed, where the scoreboard hardly moved and the twenty something runs Turriff needed, or just half a dozen good shots, seemed too far out of reach.  Luckily for Turriff they had two experienced cricketers at the crease, who took their time to get set, consolidated, then went for the kill quickly and cleanly.  Both players launched at the Methlick bowlers, running ones and twos, before Doss, arguably Turriff's most talented player, struck a flat six over long on off the bowling of Rice in an over yielding 12 runs.  With Turriff now 10 away from victory, they pressed onto 86-7, when Rice bowled David Laing for six.  Given the playing conditions and context of the game, it will probably turn out to be the most important and memorable six runs he will ever make.  Club veteran Craig Peters joined Doss in the middle and immediately stuck a single to move the score to 87 and keep the strike.  Doss responded, striking another single to give Peters the strike and the chance to hit the winning runs.  But Rice bowled a wide to level the scores and Peters left a dot ball to give Doss the well-deserved honours.  Doss duly dispatched the recalled Choudry's first delivery into the midwicket region to make a matching-winning 18 not out and see Turriff into the Johnston Rose Bowl final.  This will be a tough game, to be played against grade newcomers Grampian, who have beaten Turriff twice in the league this season, on 1st August at a venue to be announced.  But if Turriff field their strongest team, and play their best cricket, they could yet see some silverware this season.

Turriff CC v Methlick CC semi final scorecards...

Johnston Rose Bowl Semi-Final
Date: 11th July 2015
Venue: The Haughs, Turriff
Turriff beat Methlick 2nd team by 3 wickets.
Match Report here.

Methlick Cricket Club 2nd Team Innings

1. R. Fryer.............................b. Laing...3
2. A. Smith.......................b. Balment...32
3. G. Cordiner...c. D. Duncan...b. Lings...4
4. N. Scott.............................b. Lings...7
5. P. Rice......c. D. Duncan...b. Balment...3
6. A. Scott.............................b. Lings...1
7. S. Choudry...c. C. Duncan...b. Laing...12
8. P. Jones...........st. I. Smart...b. Doss...5
9. J. Allan............c. F. Smart...b. Laing...1
10. M. Day........c. Laing...b. C. Duncan...3
11. R. Kennedy..................not out.........1

Extras: 17 (9w, 4nb, 4b, 0lb)
Total:                                                89 all out.

Bowler         Overs     Maidens     Runs     Wickets
D. Laing          10            4           19           3
S. Lings           10            1           33           3
B. Balment       8             1           24           2
I. Doss             8             1            9            1
C. Duncan        0.3          -              0           1

Turriff Cricket Club Innings

1. I. Smart..................b. Cordiner...39
2. S. Lings......c. Kennedy...b. Day...10
3. D. Duncan...caught...b. Cordiner...3
4. B. Balment.................run out......2
5. D. Chalmers...................b. Rice...1
6. I. Doss.........................not out...18
7. C. Duncan..........caught...b. Rice...0
8. D. Laing.........................b. Rice...6
9. C. Peters..................not out........2
10. W. Wechsler.......dnb
11. F. Smart............dnb

Extras:  9 (6w, 0nb, 2b, 1lb)
Total:                                         194-4d (42 overs)

Bowler         Overs     Maidens     Runs     Wickets
R. Kennedy      3             0            18          0
S. Choudry      6.2           1            17          0
M. Day            5              0            20          1
G. Cordiner      10            5            10          2
P. Rice             9             3             16          3

Turriff CC v Grampian CC scorecards...

Date: 27th June 2015
Venue: The Haughs, Turriff
Grampian beat Turriff by 46 runs

Grampian Cricket Club Innings

1. D. Varghese...caught...b. Balment...20
2. Seby.........c. N. Balment...b. Lings...0
3. Sonu..................caught...b. Laing...0
4. Noby..................caught...b. Laing...2
5. Saju..............caught...b. Balment...26
6. Johnson..........caught...b. Balment...8
7. Seby...................caught...b. Doss...3
8. G. Gibert........not out...................20
9. Charles...........................b. Laing...3
10. Kannan.............caught...b. Laing...0
11. Zac.................c. Lings...b. Laing...0

Extras: 9 (5w, 2nb, 1b, 1lb)
Total:                                             92 all out

Bowler       Overs     Maidens     Runs     Wickets
D. Laing       9.5           7             7            5
S. Lings        11           2             28           1
B. Balment    9             0            41           3
I. Doss          7            3             16           1

Turriff Cricket Club Innings

1. I. Smart............caught...b. Saju...3
2. D. Chalmers...................b. Saju...0
3. S. Lings...caught.....b. Varghese...14
4. I. Doss.....................run out.......11
5. B. Balment.................run out.......0
6. C. Duncan.....................b. Seby...0
7. F. Smart.....caught...b. Varghese...3
8. D. Laing........................not out...3
9. C. Peters.......................b. Seby...3
10. F. Gowan.....................b. Seby...3
11. N. Balment.......caught...b.Sonu...0

Extras 10 (7w, 0nb, 1b, 2lb)
Total:                                           46 all out

Bowler       Overs     Maidens     Runs     Wickets
Noby            8             5             4            0
Saju             9             4             7            2
Johnson        3             0             7            0             
Davis            8             3             12          2
Seby            7              3             8            3 
Sonu            2.5           2             1            1
Kannan        2              1             2            0

Turriff CC v Methlick CC scorecards...

Date: 20th June 2015
Venue: The Haughs, Turriff
Turriff beat Methlick 2nd team by 68 runs

Turriff Cricket Club Innings

1. I. Smart.................lbw....b. Carr...92
2. D. Chalmers.......lbw...b. Choudry...4
3. S. Lings...........................b. Carr...4
4. N. Smith............not out................55
5. D. Duncan.......................b. Rice...23
6. B. Balment............not out...............5
7. D. Laing..........dnb
8. F. Smart..........dnb
9. C. Duncan.......dnb
10. C. Peters.......dnb
11. B. Woolley....dnb

Extras:  9 (6w, 0nb, 2b, 1lb)
Total:                                         194-4d (42 overs)

Bowler         Overs     Maidens     Runs     Wickets
S. Choudry     9               2             29           1
B. Carr          12              1             52           2
P. Rice           6                2            24           1
G. Cordiner    9               0             41           0
N. Hyde         3               0             31           0
R. Fryer         3               0            15            0

Methlick Cricket Club 2nd Team Innings

1. R Fryer...............run out (C. Duncan)...6
2. S Choudry.......c. C Duncan...b. Laing...4
3. B Carr.......c. F. Smart...b. C Duncan...63
4. S. Gordon.....c. Chalmers...b. Balment...2
5. A. Scott.............................b. Balment...1
6. G Cordiner.............................b. Laing...8
7. P. Chalmers.......c. Chalmers...b. Laing...1
8. D. Sarafimoski...c. C Duncan...b. Laing...0
9. P. Rice...............c. F. Smart...b. Lings...26
10. N. Hyde........................not out...........0
11. dnb

Extras: 15 (13w, 2nb, 0b, 0lb)
Total:                                                126 all out.

Bowler         Overs     Maidens     Runs     Wickets
D. Laing          12            2             37           4
S. Lings           12            2             38           1
B. Balment       7             0              22          2
I. Smart            3             1             3            0
N. Smith           5             1             11          0
D. Duncan        2             0              9           0
C. Duncan        0.1          -              4            1

Turriff CC v Siyapa CC scorecards...

Date: 6th June 2015
Venue: The Haughs, Turriff
Siyapa beat Turriff by 135 runs
For match report click here

Siyapa Cricket Club Innings

1. S. Haroon...................................b. Laing...4
2. Z. Khan.......................c. Lings...b. Soper...34
3. A. Siddique...c. B. Balment...b. D. Duncan...33
4. A. Khan.......................c. Laing...b. Lings...26
5. S. Memon...................................b. Lings...18
6. S. Bedaar..................................not out......26
7. Raza..................c. Smart...b. B. Balment...30
8. dnb
9. dnb
10. dnb

Extras: 22 (11w, 1nb, 9b, 1lb)
Total:                                    200-6

Bowler       Overs     Maidens     Runs     Wickets
Laing            8              2             34            1
Lings            12            3             31            2
Soper           5              0             30            1
B. Balment    8             0             52             1
D. Duncan     9             0             52             1

Turriff Cricket Club Innings

1. I. Smart...........lbw b. N. Hassan...8
2. S. Lings...................b. A. Nisar...0
3. M. Soper.............c&b. A. Nisar...0
4. D. Duncan.....caught...b. Raza... 22
5. B. Balment.....caught...T. Khan...12
6. D. Laing....................b. Bedaar...3
7. C. Swan.......caught...b. T Khan...0
8. F. Gowan.....caught...b. T Khan...4
9. B. Woolley...caught...b. A Khan...0
10. W. Welchler...caught...b. A Khan...0
11. N. Balment.......not out.............0

Extras: 18 (13w, 2nb, 3b, 0lb)
Total:                                      65 all out

Bowler      Overs      Maidens    Runs     Wickets
S. Haroon    5             3               7             0
A. Nisar       6             1               6             2
N. Hassan    5             1              11            1
Raza            4             0              24           1
T Khan        5.2          1               7             3
S Bedaar     3             3               0             1
A Khan       1             0               2             2
S. Memon   3             0               5             0

Turriff CC v Siyapa CC match report...

For scorecards click here.

After a fortnight off, Turriff continued their grade 4 campaign at home to league leaders Siyapa Cricket Club.  The pitch had taken a lot of water on board over the two weeks, but JMS had kindly loaned Turriff their heavy roller, improving matters immeasurably.  Siyapa are a new club to the grades, who describe themselves as "an Aberdeen based team comprising Pakistani oil and gas professionals".  With one win by default, and three more out of three games played, they came to the Haughs looking to defend a one hundred percent record this season.  Batting first, Siyapa had chalked up previous scores of 248 and 251, made in early season bowler-friendly weather on the tricky Sheddocksley pitch.  Their skipper, Abdullah Khan, arrived with the outstanding average of 192, having been dismissed only once.  So when skipper Ian Smart lost the toss, it was no surprise to Turriff's bowlers that he asked them to loosen up.

As usual David Laing and Steven Lings opened for Turriff.  After two maidens, Laing bowled Haroon for four from the last ball of the third over, bringing left hander Siddique to join the right handed Zafar Khan at the crease.  At the twelve over mark, Laing and Lings had conceded only 18 runs between them and Turriff were starting to wonder if the Siyapa batting line up would actually live up to its reputation.  Smart made a double bowling change to bring Michael Soper and Blair Balment into the attack.  The Siyapa batsmen immediately changed gear, ditching their forward defensives and suddenly looking to attack the change bowlers from the word go.  With some aggressive strokeplay, and a fair bit of luck as mistimed shots landed annoying just short of fielders, they plundered another 53 runs by the start of over 22.  Zafar Khan attempted to drive the second ball of Soper's fifth over, only to smack a thick leading edge straight into the hands of Lings at cover point. 

Siyapa captain Abdullah Khan strode out to the crease, and Smart had hatched a cunning plan to try and reduce his average to double figures.  Bringing a refreshed Lings back to replace Soper, hoping to starve the runs at one end, Dodd Duncan was given a licence at the other end to bowl some slower deliveries into the wind with men catching on the fence both sides.  Duncan struck first, but against left hander Amir as Blair Balment took a magnificent skied catch.  This brought another right handed strokeplayer, and centurion against Methlick seconds, Shahram Memon to the middle to join his skipper.  Lings adopted a policy of mixing up quicker straight deliveries with slower ball off-breaks, whilst having Smart move the field around in an attempt confuse the batsmen.  This provoked the batsmen to attack the Turriff opener, as they took 21 off his last 4 overs, his previous 8 having gone for only 10 runs. 

But these runs came at a price as first Memon and then Abdullah Khan were dismissed driving hard at full length balls.  Memon missing and losing his leg stump for 18 and Khan skying a leading edge, taken brilliantly by Laing in the covers for 26, and reducing the away team skipper's batting average to only 109.  Balment came back into the attack and had Raza caught for 30 off the last ball of the 41st over.  Siyapa then declared with the scoreboard reading 201-6.  No Siyapa batsman had scored over 34, and Turriff checked their progress with regular wickets, but had still been put to the sword somewhat by some classy strokeplay.  Scoring over 200 against a quality opposition, that had taken 10 wickets in all three of their games, was going to be a tall ask for the home side.

Smart and Lings opened the batting, facing Haroon and Nisar, both right arm seamers.  After three maiden overs, Smart opened his account with a single of each bowler in overs four and five.  Lings then looked to score at the short leg side boundary by pulling a shorter delivery from Nisar, missing as the ball stayed lower than he expected and losing his off stump bail for a duck.  Soper came to the crease at number 3 but soon became Nisar's second victim when he took a return catch.  Hard-hitting middle order batsman Dodd Duncan came the the crease to face the new ball at 6 for 2, and looked to start the Turriff counter attack.  Smart made it to 8 runs before the first change bowler, left arm swing bowler Hassan, surprised the Turriff skipper with a ball kiwi ace Trent Boult would have been proud of, pinning him lbw in front of middle stump.  Blair Balment joined Duncan at the crease.  Duncan struck a four and two sixes for a quickfire 22 before being caught.  Balment was more circumspect, seeing off the seamers, before becoming the first of three victims for wrist spinner Tanweer Khan for a hard fought 12.

New signing Christian Swan was unlucky to become Khan's second victim as Memon took a professional standard one-handed catch six inches off the floor at square leg.  Turriff's juniors looked to hold out for the draw against quality spin bowling from both ends, and surrounded by short fielders.  Finlay Gowan played some nice strokes to pick up four singles, but one by one the Turriff tail succumbed and the impressive Sipaya CC, who would have given any grade 3 team Turriff played last season a run for their money, won by 135 runs.  Turriff play three more home games in June, and will look to secure their first win of the season against the struggling Kemnay Kintore second team on 13th June.

On Sunday, Turriff held their annual Single Wicket competition securing an impressive turnout of 14 players.  This fun competition takes the form of a knockout tournament, where each pair of players take turns to bowl 4 overs at each other.  The winner - the one with the most runs - goes through to the next stage.  There were two first round upsets.  William Welchler held David Laing to a tie then won a sudden death bowl out, hitting the stumps on his second attempt.  While Kerry Balment, playing her first match for Turriff, knocked out wicket keeper batsman Fraser Smart.  In the second round, Steve Lings went out to Dodd Duncan, falling for the senior players carefully constructed trap and holing out to Ian Smart at deep backward square leg in the first over for four runs.  Duncan then lost a close semi-final game to semi-retired player Neil Smith, who had seen off Blair Balment, to set up a final with Ian Smart.  Smith reminded everyone of his all round ability, only narrowly losing to the Turriff skipper, who just managed to dismiss the left hander for a plausible total, before he really got going with his dangerous strokeplay and took the game too far out of Smart’s grasp.