Club records tumbled and personal milestones were smashed as FPs 2nd XI destroyed 2nd Gordonians at Rubislaw.
FPs scored 380 runs in 42 overs with maiden centuries for Kieran Whyte (204) and Chris Clelland (100) before bowling Gordonians out for 42, Karthik Mohanan the pick of the bowlers with 5-15.
FPs opened the batting with Barker and Whyte, Barker taking the first ball from Dalmon. After carefully defending the first four balls of the over, a bye brought Whyte on strike. Signalling his intent he opened up his account with a thumping lofted four straight back over the bowler’s head.
Both batsmen then proceeded to get after the bowling, putting on 56 for the first wicket before Barker was bowled by the pacey Patey for 17 (3 x 4). Mantha came to the crease and hit a lovely boundary before being done by the pace of Patey for 5.
With the score 64 for 2, Chris “Chalkie” Clelland strode to the middle looking to calm the situation down in his usual composed manner, by the time he left the crease the score would be 380 for 4.
He and Whyte saw off the quickly tiring Patey before launching a ferocious attack upon the rest of the bowling line-up. Fours and sixes flowed in abundance from the bats of both players, Whyte in particular showing a fondness for clearing the straight boundary.
Giving relatively few chances the pair raced along at 10 an over, Whyte reaching his maiden century with another boundary and taking the applause from the pavilion and the handshakes of the umpires and his batting partner.
Picking up where he left off, Whyte continued to hit the bad balls to all corners at one end whilst Chalkie quietly accumulated at the other. The pace that Whyte was scoring meant that he reached the “nervous” 190’s at the same time as Chalkie entered the 90’s.
Without a hint of nervousness Whyte picked off the bowling for yet another four to take his score over 200, a staggering personal milestone for a player whose previous highest score was 79. The aggressive manner of the innings made it a joy to watch, with the shot of the day being a juicy thwack over long on which ended up on the roof of the changing rooms, the ball never to be seen again.
Unfortunately Whyte was unable to see Chalkie through to his 100, as a tired looking heave-ho left a gate wide enough to fit the Titanic through, the ball from Harper duly obliging and taking out his middle stump.
Fortunately the unflappable Chalkie didn’t need many more balls to complete his maiden century, nudging a single to put the icing on a truly awesome FPs batting performance. His innings featured the usual clever backfoot flicks and nudges as well as some more ‘agricultural’ biffs from time to time. Pick of the shots was a controlled downward flick from a wide bouncer which ran all the way to the third man boundary. With his century in the bag, Chalkie took pity on Gordonians and gifted Harper an LBW, walking off the pitch to much applause.
With FPs set to declare on 42 overs, there was just time for Khan (3) and Shetty (7) to add the last few runs, taking FPs to a mammoth score of 380 for 4.
Whyte’s 204 featured 22 fours and 9 sixes, whilst Chalkie took 11 fours home on his scorecard. Their partnership of 308 is a club record, as is the individual total of Whyte. Both players were hoisted aloft by their ecstatic teammates at the end of their innings on a day which will live long in the memory.
With such a mammoth total being set by FPs, it was almost inevitable that Gordonians would struggle to remain focussed whilst chasing. This allied with a strong display of bowling from FPs led to them being all out for 42.
Some lovely pitched up bowling from Mohanan saw him collect 5 wickets for just 15 runs as he cleaned up the entire top order, bowling Harper, Airey and Mundin, having Sinha caught behind and with Dalmon caught at cover, Whyte taking a lovely catch just to cap off his performance.
Surprise bowling package Arun also brought some firepower to the party, picking up 3 for 13 including two caught and bowled, in a fine display of pace and swing.
Gopal also picked up a wicket with his first ball, a looping peach of a delivery, whilst Shetty was very unlucky not to contribute as he bowled a spell of immaculate swing bowling only to see his Vice-Captain put down a chance at 1st slip.
All in all it was a fantastic display of cricket and one which will give FPs much confidence as the season heads into the home straight. Much credit must go to Gordonians who were very sportsmanlike and played with good spirit despite being on the end of a bit of a hiding.
The evening finished with the entire team frequenting the FP club house and more than one jug of beer was polished off courtesy of the centurions. This correspondent can testify personally that a good time was had by all and with one or two of the celebrants seeing the night through to closing time there was more than one headache the following day.
Men of the Match: Kieran Whyte and Chris Clelland, with special mention for Karthik Mohanan.
Champagne Moment: Kieran’s 31st boundary to bring up his 200.
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