Falkland's Fine Win

Falkland 243 for 9 (50 overs)
(J Henderson 51, C Cassell 44, D May 36 not out ,E Sloan 32, S Meikle 28, G Wolmarans 3 for 34)

Stoneywood-Dyce 235 all out (50 overs)
(J Stander 111, G Wolmarans 55, G Chambers 3 for 31, L Robertson 3 for 34)

Falkland 1st XI Won by 8 runs

At long last the tide turned in Falkland's favour with a fine win in thrilling circumstances in heatwave conditions before a large crowd at Falkland on Saturday. It was a magnificent example of just what cricket should be - great weather, a large crowd, two evenly balanced teams and a very sporting contest.

At one point all seemed lost for Falkland, but the team rallied and with some fine bowling and fielding defeated Stoneywood-Dyce of Aberdeen by the narrowest of margins. It is stiil early days but this victory seems to have gone a long way towards banishing the spectre of relegation from the Eastern Premier League.

Falkland won the toss, batted first and were off to a whirlwind start with Steven Meikle and Jack Henderson putting on 65 for the first wicket. But then wickets fell quickly until Charlie Cassell and Euan Sloan came together to steady the ship, and then, crucially, the tail wagged with Cameron Nellies and Devon May making what turned out to be match winning contributions. The total of 243 looked a good, but not necessarily an unbeatable one, and a feature of the game was the excellence of the Aberdeen side's fielding with at least three great catches, and one magnificent caught and bowled.

Stoneywood-Dyce's reply looked for a while as if it were going to be successful when Stander and Wolmarans were in full flow and Falkland visibly wilted in the intense heat that prevailed all day. But these two were the only real contributions, and their tail did NOT wag, while all the time Falkland stuck manfully to the task and pulled off what seemed an unlikely victory with good bowling all round (if we ignore the 23 wides!) and the right attitude in the field. No-one can grudge Falkland their celebrations after some unlucky performances in recent weeks which have included two narrow defeats and a tie in Edinburgh. There is now considerable space between themselves and Arbroath at the bottom of the Eastern Premier League.

Next week sees a trip to Broughty Ferry to play the strong going Forfarshire.

DP