Stonehaven's campaign gains momentum.

Thistle travelled to Harlaw having one of their best starts to the Grade 1 season ever, however, the buoyant team spirit was brought back down to earth with some dissappointing news;

The brand new wicket covers, recently installed at Mineralwell had been vandalised. Unaware of the blood, sweat, tears and considerable amount of money spent providing them, the cretin has hopefully left fingerprints for the ensuing Police investigation.

At Harlaw the dark clouds suggested spells of rain, although as the wicket is plastic, only a seriously heavy downpour would cancel the match.

Skipper Clive Hinchcliffe won the toss and put the home side into bat. The FP’s opening pair of Lord and Knudson(5) began very slowly, however the skipper soon had the first scalp with a certain LBW.

Lord, recognised as the grades most difficult wicket, was finding it tough to score freely. The second wicket came quickly in the 9th over when Hinchcliffe clean bowled Clelland (4) with a classic swing ball removing offstump.

 Chris van der Ruit was bowling very tightly at the other end. His spell ended on only 7 runs off 6 overs for 0. With the score on 23 for 2 the FP’s were in trouble. A rout could have been on the cards but ex-scotland international Jerry Moir was having none of it.

C. Hinchcliffe (12 runs from 6 overs for 2 wickets) replaced himself with “Pepparami” Long (known for being a bit too spicy) and his fiery pace was obviously too hot to handle.  Some “accuracy” issues brought his spell to a premature ending (25 runs from 6 overs for 0 wickets)

Alex Keith came on to replace Long and bowled well. Some lifting deliveries combined with accuracy saw the home sides run rate drop considerably. Only 13 runs came from his first 5 overs.

 Jonno van der Ruit replaced his brother however his night of indulgence meant he too found it difficult to maintain accuracy (15 from 4 for 0 wickets). Batting with patience, careful shot selection and luck, both Moir and Eagles were pinned down and getting frustrated.

 Andrew “Mushtak” Wilson led the charge with some great spinning deliveries and was rewarded in his 3rd over when Moir (22) “played on” getting a bottom edge onto his own stumps. An excellent stumping by “The Farmer” Symon Jacobsen saw the end of Eagles (10) whilst “dancing” down the wicket, he failed to connect with the ball. The FP’s moved their score onto 118 after 36 overs., mainly thanks to some very slow scoring by Lord (35).

Having showed remarkable patience he finally succumbed to the Wilson speciality, a finely flighted turning ball than clean bowled him. C. Hinchcliffe’s second spell saw Keith (21 runs from 6 overs for 0 wickets) replaced and this immediately brought reward with Fraser (0) out for a duck.

Mushtak and “Church” (on account of his bowling prowess alegedly inspring a new religion) both took wickets regularly with Wilson (30 runs from 12 overs for 5 wickets) proving the “pick of the bunch”. Clive Hinchcliffe (25runs from 11 overs for 4 wickets) was denied his “5-for” when the last man was superbly run out by his older brother Drew.

 Thistle had been set a lowly target of 144, however with heavy showers and the unfamiliar artificial wicket, it was not a foregone conclusion. An excellent tea was taken before Thistle’s now established line up saw Ali “Spender” Milroy and Thistle’s affectionately known Alex “Weapon of Mass Destruction” (WMD) Keith took the crease.

Moir opened the bowling with Stuart and both were very accurate to start with. At around 6feet 6 inches Moir’s bowling always generates a lot of extra bounce, which combined with accuracy makes him very difficult to dispatch. Both Milroy and Keith looked set for an attack, however Milroy(5) got caught at cover, smackng a ball which could easily have been a boundary.

With the score on 32 off only 4 overs another great start seemed on the cards. Brian “BCMD” Campbell strode out to the crease in confident form and, after a slightly hesitant start, settled in. Both players took the bowlers to task with some excellent shots and big hits. Keith scoring five boundaries with his first 6 scoring shots.

Moir (31 runs from 8 overs for 0 wickets) was replaced by McDonald whilst Stuart (44 runs from 7 overs for 1 wicket) was replaced by Eagles, the left handed spinner. At this point Keith’s batting was hampered by stinging leg cramps and he had to be assisted off the pitch whilst on 63. Having put Thistle in a winning position, his arrival at the pavillion was met with appreciative applause.

Andrew “Hedgey” Hinchcliffe replaced the injured Keith and had to adjust to the surface. The expectant crowd had to wait 4 balls before the first six was smashed straight over the bowlers head. Both batsmen looked comfortable as the score  raced onto 129 off 19 overs. Campbell(27) was caught “plum” in front, leaving the umpire unable to decline the LBW appeal.

This brought Jonno van der Ruit(2) to the crease with fireworks expected. Having hit 4 sixes in one over the previous week, the ball took a low bounce and also left him “high and dry” LBW.

Hinchcliffe was joined by Jacobsen (4 not out) and both pushed the score along nicely. It was the latter that hit a nice “pull” to midwicket boundary leaving only 2 runs to clinch the win. Hinchcliffe (30 not out) finished the game in style with another huge straight six.

 Both teams shook hands and retired to the pub eager to replay the days events.There is no “I” in team, and although there were some good individual performances, it was a great team peformance that again delivered and will hopefully continue to deliver results.

This was an important win for Thistle and, having not lost a game, they look to maintain their status away to Kintore next week.

 Thistle’s match ball was kindly sponsored by the Marine Hotel, Stonehaven

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