Portcullis Cricket Club

Saturday saw Portcullis take on newly merged Kemnay Kintore 1sts in what could be described as a league title eliminator. Win and and chances of Grade Three tile glory would go down to the wire. Lose, well this means dreams of Grade Two participation would have to be shelved for another season at least.

Saturday saw Portcullis participate in only their second Grade Three match since 2007. After the previous week's excellent victory against against a dangerous Turriff side, Portcullis went on their travels to play 2nd Mannofield at Sheddocksley One. It was a familiar ground to the Portcullis posse as it had been their home ground the previous season whilst Duthie Park was off limits for the 2012 season.

Full report and scorecard here.

After what has been a tough and long winter, the cricket season comes back with a bang on Saturday.

Portcullis Cricket Club begin their 2013 campaign on Saturday April 20th with a friendly at Gordon Park against the Grade Four champions Ellon 2nds.

Congratulations once again go to Portcullis Cricket Club as they received another award.

Hot on the heels of gaining promotion to Grade 3 as well as winning the much coveted Johnston RoseBowl, Portcullis were recognised as the 2012 Grade Four Fair Play Trophy Winners.

This was a flattering award to receive as, by and large, all the Grade Four matches we participated in last season were played fairly, and in good spirit.

Congratulations go to Portcullis member Gary Steward. In a debut season where Gary won the MVP Award along with the Man of the Match Award in the 2012 Johnston Rose Bowl Final, Gary added to this by being awarded the prestigious Cope Cup. The Cope Cup is awarded to the Top Grade Four Batsman each season. Gary finished his season with a fantastic yield of 373 runs at an incredible average of 124.33!!

A beautiful sunny afternoon at Kellands Park Inverurie was the setting for the 2012 Johnston Rose Bowl Final. The Trophy was to be contested by Kintore CC and Portcullis CC. For both teams it would be their last chance of winning a prize in the 2012 season.

Heavy rainfall the day before left a damp, but in the hot weather, a rapidly drying wicket. The Groundstaff however did a grand job in getting the wicket playable, especially in a season which had far, far too much rainfall already.

The toss, decided by Captains Kannan Vijayakrishnan and Jon Tanner, could prove to be crucial. The playing conditions would indicate that batting last would prove to be advantageous.

To read the rest of the match report please click on the link below:

 http://www.portculliscc.co.uk/portcullis/game/264

Saturday saw Portcullis entertain grade leaders Ellon 2nds in their second last, and for Ellon 2nds, their last Grade Four match of the season.

It was still mathematically possible, though highly unlikely, for Portcullis to win the grade. They would have to win the last two matches of the season. In this match they would have to bowl out Ellon 2nds for a low score then knock off the winning runs without losing any wickets. The realistic target was to reach 20 points that would confirm third place (at least) and promotion.

For the full match report please click on the link below:

http://www.portculliscc.co.uk/portcullis/game/258

Saturday saw Portcullis make the trip to picturesque Banchory where they were to play the much-respected Banchory 2nds.

With regular Captain Kannan Vijayakrishnan unavailable and the Captain of the Day Dave Mitchell, running late as he had just flown into Aberdeen from overseas work duties, the responsibility for the coin toss went to rotund Secretary Ronnie Falconer. He duly lost the toss, therefore immediately sacked from any future coin tossing, but was relieved to find that Banchory wanted to bat first anyway.

[see full report and scorecard]

Sunday saw the second part of Portcullis’s weekend double-header, as they took on Grade Four rivals Gordonians 3rds in their numerous rearranged Johnston Rose Bowl Semi Final match.The match, called off twice and abandoned once, was played at Sheddocksley Upper despite it being Gordonians home fixture.

[full report and score card]

Our first two game double header of the season saw us take on Mannofield for the first time this season at a damp Sheddocksley. It saw the welcome return of club stalwarts Howard Smith and Ranjan Sahoo and a new one off captain as Dave Elrick took the reigns as we managed our resources to cover cup committments on the Sunday.