Grenades purple (rain) patch continued as they followed up a Grades victory against QX-SD last week with a Bon Accord Cup Semi-Final win against Methlick at Duthie Park 2. The victory means that the Grenades play Inverurie on the 20th August for the Cup.
FPs reached the final despite Knudson being bowled
The Grenades lined up M Barker (c), T Booth, C Clelland (w), J Eagles, S Ismail, R Knudson, P McDonald, R Monnapillai, A Senthil, J Waldron and K Whyte.
The match got underway slightly later than 1pm after the home Captain elected not to bring any stumps to the ground. A quick dash to Rubislaw saw the red faced and puffing Barker return clutching the required pegs and the game commenced in sunshine.
Not only had he forgotten the stumps, but Barker had also lost the toss, ensuring that his team would bat first. This looked to be going OK as the runs flowed from No. 3 Senthil’s bat and the run rate ran. Slow going for the batsmen at the other end though, and single figure scores proved to be the order of the day for the top/mid order, Senthil excepted. Clelland, Booth, McDonald, Barker and Waldron will all be a bit disappointed not to get a few more, but the pitch did have an unpredictable streak and timing wasn’t easy.
Fortunately, Senthil’s innings of 54, plus useful accumulations by Whyte (24) and Monnapillai (23), served to take the Grenades to a useful, if not ideal, 170 a.o. Best bowling for Methlick came from J Peat 3-55 and C Addison 2-20.
As the Grenades innings finished, the heavens opened. As both teams ate their sandwiches in the band stand this didn’t matter much and also served to remove all the bystanders (intruders) from the outfield.
Play got underway after tea on a wet but playable pitch. Barker had remembered the sawdust at least! A couple of early strikes from Whyte had the Grenades tails up, but Messrs. Anderson (41) and Murphy (30) looked to be taking the match away from them, scoring heavily to the short lakeside boundary. Fortunately a catch and a grasscutter of an LBW removed the pair, and despite some positive striking from Methlick’s left-hander and a further rain delay, Grenades were able to remove the remaining batsmen for 133. Top of the pops with ball in hand were R Knudson 4-20 and K Whyte 4-33. S Ismail also bowled very well for his wickets, especially given his lack of spikes!
This was a strong fielding performance with the bowlers coping well with wet run ups, and a distinct lack of turn. Team spirit was good and the desire to reach the final was evident.
Credit also goes to the Methlick Captain, Stuart, who was keen to continue play after the rain breaks despite some reluctance from the neutral umpire.
Man of the Match – Kieran Whyte for his all-round batting and bowling performance.
Champagne moment – We’ll have to delay for the final (hopefully).
