Banchory beaten

Banchory won the toss and not surprisingly elected to field, which at least meant that everyone from Portcullis would get a bat. With none of Portullis' regular wicketkeepers available, Dave Forbes had bravely volunteered to keep wicket. There was also a debut for Mike Churchill.

Sajid and Grant opened the batting and made a good start, with the bowling rarely threatening. Just as both were looking set for big totals Sajid lobbed one back to the bowler, and shortly afterwards Grant played around a straight one. New boy Mike Churchill was coping well with the pressure of making his Portcullis debut and combined with Mashook to continue the good start. But once again both batsmen fell when looking well set. The same happened to Brett after making a rapid 17, and suddenly Portcullis' long tail was exposed. Despite a heroic effort to keep the tail together by Sean, the innings petered out with a sadly familiar whimper to finish all out for 120 in the 32nd over, the low point being Abdul's first ball duck to one of the slowest bowlers in G3.

After a cake-less tea, Grant and Brett set about proving that 120 was more than enough to win the game and we didn't have to wait long for the first wicket. Grant broke through in the very first over, a feat soon repeated by Brett with Bob Adie taking an excellent running catch low to his right at square leg. 3 more wickets for Grant and another for Brett, all bowled, had Banchory reeling at 17 for 6 after 11 overs. With another 47 overs still to be bowled Banchory had a long way to go for the draw. The batsmen were still making Portcullis work hard but were hindered by what can best be described as a generous LBW decision to give Brett another wicket and some sharp fielding by Sajid and Dave Forbes to claim a run out. A change of bowlers to David Bowie and Alan Dobey failed to achieve any further breakthroughs nor did a 5 over spell of withering accuracy from Sean. Sajid bowled only 2 overs, without reward and it was time for Grant to try again. The move quickly bore fruit with a wicket in his 2nd over back and when Mashook brilliantly bowled Campbell round his legs to end some stubborn resistance Banchory were all out for 48.

A commanding performance by Portcullis on a day that ended in bright sunshine once the haar had gone. Banchory were never able to deal with the accuracy and pace of the Portcullis bowling attack. Grant recorded his first 5 wicket haul of the season and Brett finished with 3 for 3.

As usual between these 2 sides, the game was played in excellent spirits. The only cross word came from Portcullis's permanently angry fast bowler when criticising his team-mates for shining the wrong side of the ball.

Dave Forbes performed admirably behind the stumps and Mike Churchill showed signs that he can be a very useful addition to the batting line-up.

Tuesday, 13 June, 2006