Thistle go to ‘Ellon back!

Ellon Gordon 173 for 8 Stonehaven Thistle 1st XI 136 for 9

After three weeks of playing away from home, Stonehaven finally found themselves at Mineralwell Park, looking to turn around their recent run of poor results. Middle of the table Ellon were the visitors and things started to look promising for the homesters after only 5 overs when Skipper Clive Hinchcliffe struck twice with the score on 10. S White and S Davies dug in for the visitors and although they found runs hard to come by, neither did they throw away their wickets. Chris Van de Ruit, Jonno Van de Ruit and Andrew Long all bowled tight spells without success and it took the introduction of Alex Keith to break up the partnership, White bowled for 31. Ellon were now 83 for 3 after 36 overs however they had wickets in hand and this enabled the middle order to hit out. Despite Drew Hinchcliffe dispatching C White for a duck, Watson and Amonarora were able to hit some lusty blows along with opener Davies who worked hard to make 64 and Ellon finally finished on 173 after 46 overs. C Hinchcliffe and C Van de Ruit were the pick of the home attack with 3 for 33 and 2 for 45.

Thistle’s response started in earnest and Alex Keith in particular looked comfortable getting on top of the opening bowlers and racing to 22 before playing a powerful drive which mid-on was able to palm up into the air before catching the ball on the way back down. This brought Denis Garden to the crease to join Ali Milroy for a period of consolidation however they found the unpredictable bounce very hard to deal with and first Milroy chopped the ball onto his stumps, then Garden followed, caught behind. D Hinchcliffe and J Van de Ruit decided that the best form of defence was attack and both joined the 6 hitters club before the former was given out lbw somewhat dubiously. Off-spinner Watson came on to bowl and in his first over he was hit for 6 by Van de Ruit but took his revenge by having him caught and followed it up by bowling Jenkins first ball. Milne and Kemp were now at the crease with the score on 81 for 6 and 19 overs remaining - a win still looked achievable but a big partnership was required. The Ellon bowlers had other ideas and kept things tight but Milne was able to push the score along with a 4 and a 6 before he was bowled on 19. C Hinchcliffe and C Van de Ruit were unable to remain at the crease for any length of time and this brought in last man A Long with 8 overs left. The win was now out of reach however the final two batsmen held their nerve and batted determinedly under pressure and for the second week in a row ensured a hard-fought draw - a share of the points which means they remain in fourth position in the league.

Pick of the batsmen, A Keith, D Hinchcliffe, J van De Ruit and A Kemp all got scores in the 20s however no-one managed to push on and this cost Thistle a chance of victory.

Next week Stonehaven travel to Kintore who are currently third in the league, a game Thistle must win if they have serious aspirations of challenging for the league title.

The match ball was sponsored by the Station Hotel.