After a break for the cup weekend, FP’s 2nd XI returned to Grades action at Rubislaw against unbeaten league leaders Gordonians.
FP’s lined up Magesh Devendran (c), Matt Barker (vc), Bharath Manogna, Chris Clelland (wkt), Guru Thangamani, Hemalkumar Chovatiya, John Eagles, John Youles, Kieran Whyte, Rutwik Hegde and Shashank Kalluri.
The Gordonians innings proved to be FP’s best bowling and fielding performance of the season to date. An early run out by Whyte sparking a passage of play where wickets fell in rapid succession.
Manogna picked up the key wickets of Kayshap and Dyson at the top of the order. Chalkie claiming a catch behind for the former and the latter finding his middle stump uprooted by a lethal swinging delivery. Whyte also got in on the act to remove dangerman Dyson, who followed a wider delivery and was caught behind.
Chovatiya had been held in reserve whilst the openers took their chance but now chipped in with two wickets in his first over. Matlu caught at cover by Barker and the lucky-to-still-be-there Stavost caught at point.
Whyte continued to bowl well and picked up two further wickets. Perrera caught at fly slip by Hegde and Arvind caught at cover by Barker. There followed a slight rally by Jones of Gordonians who made a smart 28 from number 9 to delay the end of the innings and add some crucial runs to the score. He eventually fell LBW to the evergreen John Eagles, who also claimed the final wicket of Peerless, clean bowled.
Gordonians’ final score was 93 all out from 35 overs. Bowling figures were Whyte 3-22, Manogna 2-33, Chovatiya 2-10 and Eagles 2-5.
With such a low target to chase, FP’s were keen to get runs on the board early. Unfortunately they lost wickets regularly from the start and never looked like chasing down the total. This was in part due to Gordonians’ excellent bowling, particularly by Peerless who ended with figures of 5-16, but mostly due to a slight lack of concentration and dedication by FP’s. Only Youles (11) and Thangamani (15) made any runs worth mentioning and FP’s were all out for 51 in the 25th over.
This was a blip for FP’s who have found their form in Grade 2 and look comfortable at this level now. Taking ten wickets against the league leaders and restricting them to a sub-100 total is not a small achievement and FP’s will take some pride in this. However, their batting will have to be better this weekend against promotion chasing Academy at Duthie Park.
Man of the Match – Kieran Whyte. Three wickets, a catch and a run-out.
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