Saturday June 4 – The Grammar Grenades (FP 2nd XI) lined up against Fraserburgh in Grade II hopeful of adding another victory to their tally of 3 this season in the Grades. They lined up M Barker (c), C Clelland (w), S Ismail, Jo Lord, B Manogna, P McDonald, R Monnapillai, S Mountain, A Senthil, G Stuart, K Whyte.
Captain Barker lost the toss and the Grenades were put in to bat, not a bad outcome given the strength and depth of the line-up. Things started comfortably enough with openers Lord and Clelland adding runs without being unduly troubled. Unfortunately some accurate bowling and solid catching in the field strangled progress and a middle order failure, yet again, left FP’s with a below-par total of 144 a.o. FP’s yet again failed to bat out all the allotted overs and only P McDonald 23 and S Mountain 22 showed any real intent. Pick of the bowlers for Fraserburgh were P Chinta 4-39 and R Duthie 3-28.
Having defended lower totals this season, the Grenades felt relatively confident as they went to the field. The early wicket did come but unfortunately a series of dropped catches, some easier than others, and some slightly fortunate batting at times, got Fraserburgh over the line for the loss of 6 wickets. C Bowie did the damage for the Broch scoring 71, ably supported by his Brother L Bowie with 24. For the Grenades B Manogna continued his excellent form this season taking 2-16 and G Stuart made a welcome return to action with 2-21. With a flurry of wickets late on in the Fraserburgh innings, it looked as though an extra 20-30 runs would have really put them in trouble.
Next week Grades opponents are the high-scoring and table topping Inverurie at Kellands Park.
