A Day of Firsts in a blustery Reid Cup Quarter.......

On a day more suited to windsurfing than cricket, Portcullis took on Turriff for the second time this season. The skipper continued his fine tradition of losing the toss, and was perhaps surprisingly asked to field.

It was always going to be a tough day for bowlers, but the fact that the council had not marked stump holes meant that the ‘best guess’ approach had to be used, resulting in a somewhat smaller target than usual!! This proved not to be a problem worth addressing as the pitch proved difficult enough to hit – Grant bowling 8 wides in his first over. It was to be a recurring theme throughout the innings, with all of the bowlers finding the swirling wind toilsome. In fact Turriffs’ top scorer, A. Wide, was only 7 short of a half century.

The only successes of the opening spell were Grant injuring both openers and Ed removing the captain, leaving the oppsition reasonably well placed. With the part timers finished their spells, Dave Cox unveiled his offspin. He proved unplayable (literally) with a mix of outrageous wides and bamboozling spinners. He got his first Portcullis wicket with a smart catch from Martin at short cover. It was an impressive passage of play; the batsman’s reach was something to be marvelled at.

Tight spells from Abdul and Mohammed Bari, who also claimed a wicket, kept the pressure on. Martin Cottrell then had his first bowl for the club and promptly removed the Turra number 4’s middle stump with his first ball. No one seemed more amazed than Martin himself, who wandered around stunned with head in hands, leaving the rather confused batsman to wander off. He found himself on a hat-trick in his next over, but didn’t convert. Still, 3 for 6 from 5 overs will ensure that he gets a bowl in future, primarily to bring his average up a little……

With the middle order removed, Ed came back and mopped up the tail, to take his seasons tally into double figures. Sony’s useful spin claimed his first wicket for the club towards the end of the innings. Dave Laing showed some late resistance for the away team, which resulted in a target of 133- of which 55 were sundries! A mention of Simons keeping must be made – it must have been pretty painful with the ball flying everywhere from the bowlers hand and from the pitch.

The PCC innings got off to a slow start, with Ed and Dave E given out LBW. This brought Sony to the crease to join Simon. Their 68 partnership formed the backbone of our innings and kept pace with the run rate brilliantly. Simon was solid whilst Sony tried the riskier, bigger shots which eventually led to his downfall for 30. By this stage the turra heads were down, and Simon just needed support to bring us home. Stewart Treagus, promoted to number 5 did this more than ably, hitting his first ever boundary in any form of cricket. With the fall of Simon for a brilliant 52 and Stewart for 14, it was left to Martin to hit the winning runs, which he did with aplomb, swatting Laing to the deep midwicket boundary for 6.

Overall it was a day of firsts for many players, but primarily everyone contributed to what turned out to be a difficult and enjoyable game. Seven bowlers were used, and everyone else bar Mr Whitby got a bat (he didn’t seem too keen!!). The result never really looked in doubt with Simon and Sony at the crease, and the early season form continues with our third successive win. A semi final at Crathie awaits…….

Tuesday, 22 May, 2007