Stonehaven Thistle 1st XI vs Kintore MTM at Mineralwell Park

Saturday 26th April saw the opening matches of the season in the Aberdeenshire Cricket Association (ACA) with Stonehaven’s 1st team taking on last years 3rd place finishers Kintore. With some ominous clouds and a stiff breeze blowing across Mineralwell Park the visitors won the toss and elected to field.

Stonehaven Thistle openers Alex Keith and Ali Milroy took their time establishing themselves in the middle and both survived dropped catches early in their innings.  Progress was slow until the 10th over when the pair accelerated to 73 for no loss before the fall of Alex Keith for 31, playing on to his stumps from an inside edge.  Andrew Hinchcliffe then joined Ali Milroy until both fell within quick succession but not until the score had been pushed to 113 for 3, Milroy recording a valuable highest score of 66, including 12 fours.  Matt Jenkins and Denis Garden held their ground and pushed the score to 160 before Jenkins, and Kemp were out chasing final runs.  Stonehaven finished with a good total of 172 for 5 wickets, Denis Garden unbeaten on 29.

In reply, Kintore also started slowly on a slow wicket with runs hard to come by as opening bowlers Hinchcliffe (Capt.) and Chris Van De Ruit bowled tightly.  It was the South African who made the breakthrough with accurate bowling taking the top three wickets for just 14 runs. Middleton top scored for Kintore with 20 until Andy Wilson broke him down with a quicker ball and from that point, with Kintore languishing on 40 for 5 wickets, the visitors battened down the hatches and held for the draw. Breakthroughs were made by Wilson and Garden with a fine run out but Thistle could not get the last three wickets they deserved and Kintore finished with 85 for 7 after their 45 overs.

This was a positive season’s start for Stonehaven who have entered 2 senior teams and 2 junior teams to this years programme. Practice is every Thursday from 6.30pm in Mineralwell Park. Next weeks fixtures see the 1st XI travelling to Aberdeen to play Mannofield and the 2nd XI searching for back to back wins at home against 2nd Gordonians at Mineralwell, match starts at 1pm., all support appreciated.