FPs strolled to a 168 run victory in a very one sided affair at Fraserburgh to advance in the Small Clubs Cup. John Davey made 63, Mahesh Challa smashed 42 and Geoff Morrison made 34, before Sajid Hameed smashed 41 not out in 17 balls as FPs made a massive 257 for 9 on a tricky batting surface. It was always going to be way beyond their Grade 2 opponents and when Sajid Hameed clean bowled the top 4 batsman in his opening 4 overs, it was all over. FPs had the luxury to use 7 bowlers and only a stand of 40 for the last wicket saved Fraserburgh a defeat by over 200 runs.
FPs made 4 changes from the side that lost at Cults on Saturday with Mahesh Challa, Guru Thangamani, Phil Whiteley and 14 year old Rutwik Hedge replacing Swiergon, Mapplebeck, Desai and Whyte. Morrison as he always does lost the toss for the 5th time this season and FPs were asked to bat on a rough looking pitch.
Paul McDonald was promoted to open with Morrison and they smashed 29 off the opening 3 overs, Morrison and McDonald both hitting two 4s and McDonald hitting a six onto the pavilion roof. They were completely untroubled by some wayward bowling by Duthie and Lawrence, when mcDonald suddenly chipped Lawrence to O’Neil at midwicket to depart for 19. Tenneti joined Morrison and they added 34 quickly, Morrison hitting 7 fours as he raced to 34 only to miscued a drive to be caught in the gully as FPs slipped to 67 for 2 in 14 overs. Tenneti’s run drought continued as he miscued a long hop to fall for 9 and FPs were 3 down for 71.
This brought Davey and Challa together and they pressed the accelerator firmly down smashing the bowling all round the ground, adding 88 in 12 overs, Davey blasting a cut into the pavilion roof and Challa launching 2 straight sixes and then one miles over mid wicket as he hit the 1st 3 balls of an O’Neil over for 6. Unfortunately he could not add the 4th despite having a real go. Davey continued the six hitting fest, battering one over the road at mid wicket to raise his 50 and smashing another for good measure as the score started to get out of hand. Challa was dropped 2 regulation chances before eventually holing out at long off for 42 (1×4, 3×6) and Thangamani fell for a duck in the same manner a few balls later. Davey was then superbly caught one handed in the gully for 63 (3×4, 3×6) as FPs slipped to 186 for 6.
14 year old Hedge and Sam Knudson settled things down, to raise the 200, Knudson hitting a six in his 10 before being LBW to Lawrence. When Hedge was brilliantly caught for 3 again FPs looked like they may be bowled out, but no one had told Sajid Hameed. After advising the captain he should be in the top four, he launched a blistering attack on the Fraserburgh bowlers, smashing the ball everywhere as the whole Fraserburgh team were forced onto the boundary. He blasted 3 sixes and 3 fours in his 41 not out and received good support from Phil Whiteley with 13 as they added 37 for the 9th wicket in 4 overs.
Roland Knudson joined Hameed for the last few balls and those sharing a car with Hameed home were delighted that he was unable to raise his 50, but it was one of the most entertaining innings we will see this season. At 257 for 9, the game was all but up, but it was a good effort as the pitch was not great.
With 7 frontline bowlers at his disposal, FPs were confident of winning comfortably and when Sajid Hameed clean bowled P O’Neil for 3 middle stump, offering no shot, it was clear it was going to be tough for the Broch. It was the catalyst for him to take 4 in 16 balls, all clean bowled, G ONeill (2), Lawrence (7) and Bowie (6) the other men out. Sam Knudson joined in clean bowling Parkin for 2 and Fraserburgh were doomed at 25 for 5 in 10 overs.
This allowed FPs to get everyone a bowl as youngster Hedge bowled 4 good overs for 11, Whiteley’s leg spin claimed 2 wickets in his 1st over, Witt well caught at extra cover by Hedge for 2 and Duthie caught and bowled for 0. Challa was far too fast for Watson and bowled him for 11 and was removed from the attack when some vicious deliveries came close to injuring Smith and Ritchie. In fact the game had descended into a rather odd spectacle as both batsmen did their best to avoid facing Challa turning down easy runs to avoid the privilege.
They found Thangamani and Whiteley more to their liking and added 35 for the last wicket, before Morrison got fed up and recalled Challa who took 4 balls to have Ritchie LBW for 13. All in all, it was a comfortable win for FPs, who were stronger in all departments, but it is great to see Fraserburgh with a young side keen to play cricket in the correct manner. Special mention for Stuart Anderson for giving up his Sunday to umpire and he did an excellent job. Next up for FPs is reigning champions Bon Accord at Rubislaw.
