Gritty Falkland Fight Hard For Win

Stoneywood-Dyce (2) : 124 all out in 48.1 overs.
(A Maclaren 50, S Sharif 4 for 33, S Boyd 3 for 35)

Falkland (10) : 126 for 8 in 48.3 overs.
(B Strachan 31, M Brown 5 for 32, J King 2 for 15)

Falkland beat Stoneywood-Dyce by 2 wkts

Falkland registered only their second League win of the season at Scroggie Park on Saturday.

The pitch was still wet after more or less a week's uninterrupted rain, but miraculously, thanks to heroic efforts by the ground staff, the match started on time.

Stoneywood-Dyce's decision to bat first on winning the toss was a surprising one, and they were soon in trouble when they lost 2 wickets for only 1 run, and at a later stage they were struggling at 60 for 5. But a stout effort by Andy Maclaren who scored a half century steadied their ship, and in spite of some tight Falkland bowling, they reached 124 all out, with Sharif the pick of the bowlers with 4 for 33.

124, however, was maybe, in these conditions, a better total than it looked, but by the time that Falkland batted, the sun had appeared and it really became a very warm day. Falkland struggled with none of the first five batsmen reaching double figures, and only a solid 49 run partnership by Ben Strachan and Brock Ditchmen turning it round. Even then Falkland were assisted by Stoneywood-Dyce conceding 28 wides, an exorbitant amount by any standards and especially so in such a low scoring game. But in the later stages, their bowling settled down, particularly that of Matt Brown when he began to bowl from the Hill end, and they were still in the game at the very end when Stuart Campbell settled the issue for the home side with a sensible 16 not out.

This result means that Falkland are now 8th in the League as we approach the half way stage next Saturday with a trip to Heriot's at Goldenacre in Edinburgh.

David Potter