Cults 179 for 6, Stonehaven 128 all out.

After Saturday’s inclement weather, the arrival of the sun on Sunday meant that at least one of Stonehaven’s weekend fixtures would be fulfilled and it was the Aberdeenshire cup game at home to Cults that benefited.

Stonehaven got off to a good start when skipper Clive Hinchcliffe won the toss and elected to bowl against the visitors. This looked like an excellent decision as, despite a steady stand of 26, the batsmen were lured into a number of falsh shots by opening bowlers Hinchcliffe and Long. The first wicket came in the 11th over and it was Hinchcliffe who claimed it taking an extremely sharp catch off his own bowler, claiming the wicket of Bedi who was the dominant batsman in the Cults opening partnership. Gill was soon to follow Bedi to the pavilion beaten all ends up by the pace of Andrew Long. Long claimed his second wicket in his next over, new batsman Barman out without troubling the scorers, another victim of accurate bowling.

Young Calum Findlay replaced Hinchcliffe and despite a couple of wayward deliveries in his opening over, he still claimed two wickets and Cults were on the ropes, the score 37 for 5 off 14 overs. The batsmen Jadav and Lagate were up against it however they both played steady innings without losing a wicket but still kept the scoreboard ticking over. The breakthrough came with Cults pushing for extra runs when Andrew Long ran out Lagate with an excellent direct hit thrown in from the boundary. However the stand had pushed Cults onto 94 and the early pressure exerted by Thistle was no longer in attendance. A number of bowling changes were made in order to break up the flow of runs, A Keith, D Crozier and B Campbell all turned their arms over but to no avail and Cults were able to push onto 179 before the end of the 40 overs, Jadav was pick of the batsmen finishing on 75 not out, an innings that turned the match in Cults favour, ably supported by Javaid on 33 not out. Long and Findlay were the pick of the Stonehaven bowlers claiming 2 wickets each.

Stonehaven’s reply started well with Keith and Milroy playing patient innings, punishing the bad ball and looking comfortable until Milroy played all round a straight one and was bowled. Keith followed shortly afterwards, a lack of footwork causing him to nick one behind to the keeper. Kemp and Crozier batted conservatively, keen not to give away wickets but picking off the loose deliveries until Kemp was undone, bowled by an inswinging yorker.

This triggered off a small middle order collapse, Crozier for 19 and Jacobsen for 0 followed in quick succession and Stonehaven were in deep trouble at 60 for 5. New batsmen James Crozier and Brian Campbell took stock of the situation, however with a lack of both overs and wickets remaining, it looked like an uphill task to score the required runs.

A big six from Campbell over midwicket signalled the doughty middle order batsman’s intent however further boundaries were difficult to come by due to Cults’ tight bowling. A string of wickets fell as Thistle valiantly pushed toward the Cults total, unfortunately the task was too big and Crozier (9), Long (6), Hinchcliffe (5) and Kerr (7) all fell trying to push for extra runs. Campbell was last to fall, the pick of the Stonehaven batsmen, was run out in the penultimate over for a well crafted 32.

Javaid with 9 for one off 7 overs and Deshpanday with 9 for 3 off 9 overs were the chief tormentors for Cults who were just too good for Stonehaven on the day.

Saturday sees a return to league duties when Thistle play host to Ellon at Mineralwells, a game which starts at one o’clock.