PORTCULLIS ENJOY WELCOME VICTORY IN CUP TIE.

Saturday May 28th saw both Portcullis and St Ronald 2nd XI relieved of League duties as it was Quarter Final day of The Reid Cup.

Although the match was drawn as St Ronald’s home tie, the fixture by a bizarre set of circumstances saw the match played at Duthie Park.

The main reason was the flooding over the winter had rendered their normal home ground, Allan Park, Cults as unplayable. The fixture was then rescheduled to Castle Park Kintore. With Harlaw also becoming unavailable, there had to be a further reshuffle of pitches hence how the fixture came to be at Duthie Park.

Thankfully the weather had improved somewhat and it was a lovely sunny day at Duthie Park. The sunny weather a welcome addition to the day’s proceedings.

Portcullis skipper Dave Mitchell continued his recent good run with the toss and invited the St Ronald’s 2nds to bat first.

Mitch decided to open down the hill with himself whilst Shovon Mostofa opened up the hill. For St Ronald’s 2nd XI it would be Alastair Mudie and Doug Anderson who would open the batting for St Ronald’s 2nds.

The initial exchanges went to St Ronald’s as both openers found the boundary. The score moved rapidly onto 17 before Portcullis struck.

The breakthrough was a fortunate one that came from the bowling of Shovon Mostofa. Prior to his wicket taking delivery, his bowling had been mixed and punished. This ball was to be no better, a low full toss outside off-stump. Opener Anderson caught onto it quickly and slapped it towards the covers. Alas he had been careless with the accuracy of the shot and he only managed to guide it towards the steady hands of Owen Phillip who dived forward to take a sound catch.

St Ronald’s 21-1.

21-1 became 21-2 as Mostofa continued his seasonal happy knack of taking wickets in pairs. The new batsman N. Supekar was a trifle unfortunate as Mostafa’s next ball stayed low bowling him.

With Mitchell unusually having no luck at the top end, Mostofa struck again, grabbing his third wicket of the match bowling Jamal. St Ronald’s 26-3.

It was Mostofa again in his next over who got his and Portcullis’s 4th wicket, bowling the dangerous Desai. St Ronald’s 30-4. All four wickets to Shovon Mostofa.

The fourth wicket to fall seemed to galvanise Mitchell at the other end. In his next over, his fifth, he grabbed the prize wicket of Mudie, bowling him with another one that stayed a tad low. The ball passing six inches off the ground when it was expected to pass the thigh pad.

It was a shame for Mudie who looked a class apart. One particular off drive from a good length Mitchell delivery had the City Centre side sweating.

The following batsman Devendra went next ball trapped lbw. 30-3 soon became 30-6 and St Ronald’s were in the middle of an old-fashioned collapse.

O’Brien was joined at the crease by Singh and the pair took the score onto 35 before Singh became Mitchell’s third victim. St Ronald’s 35-7.

Nipun was next man in.

With both Mitchell and Mostofa in need of a breather, it was time for Mitchell to make his first change. Instead of going for the predictable Hussein or Steward, Mitchell decided to plump for young Chris Poolman.

Chris, an off-spinner, had a varied first over. He was smacked to the boundary by Nipun. Poolman to his credit was not perturbed with this setback and gained revenge on his aggressor bowling him for that solitary boundary. St Ronald’s 40-8.

As St Ronald’s had only ten men, J Stephen was the last man. He belied his position in the batting order, batting far more solidly than many of those above him. With O’Brien digging in at the other end the pair fought back and showed they were not to be defeated quickly.

Poolman was taken off as Mitchell tried to eke out the last wicket for Portcullis. The pairing of Stephen and O’Brien however were dogged. Mansoor Hussein and Gary Steward joined the attack but remained fruitless as neither could take the vital wicket.

With the score creeping into the fifties Mitchell brought himself and Mostafa back into the attack. O’Brien and Stephen continued to dig in, scoring slowly but steadily as they tried to take St Ronald’s to a defendable score.

Portcullis were in need of some inspiration to grab the final wicket and it came in the shape of Dave Forbes. He suggested to skipper Mitchell that he should “put the lid (helmet) on”. Mitchell nodded in agreement and Forbes scurried to the boundary to get said lid.

In the meantime St Ronald’s eased themselves to 63 when the final wicket fell. Mitchell, bowling down the hill again, got O’Brien to clip one towards mid-wicket. Forbes, positioned at silly md-on, lunged to his right. Sticking out on of his giant mitts, he clung onto an absolute corker for a quite superb catch. It was the most fitting of ways to close an innings.

St Ronald’s 2nd XI 63 all out. Alastair Mudie, not surprisingly top scored with 13 whilst G. O’Brien’s rear guard action saw him close with 12. For Portcullis, despite his slowish start, skipper Dave Mitchell finished with figures of 4-15. Innings wrecker Shovon Mostofa finished with 4-33. The other wicket went to Chris Poolman with 1-6.

One very pleasant tea later and it was time for Portcullis to post their reply. Skipper Mitchell decided to open the batting with himself and catch hero Dave Forbes. For St Ronald’s the new ball would be shared by Desai and Supekar.

It was a good pairing for the Portcullis to open the batting with. Forbes patient batting would dovetail nicely with Mitchell’s solid yet quick scoring.

And so it proved as the pair put on a solid 32 partnership for the first wicket to ease any potential butterflies. It was Mitchell who went first - bowled by a good Desai delivery for a sound 23.

Next man in was Gary Steward. The pair patiently put on 16 for the second wicket before Forbes was finally defeated. His previous delivery was pushed rather sweetly by the big fellow through mid-wicket for a classy four. Enjoying that shot so much he decided to repeat the feat next ball and was bowled for a steady 7. Portcullis 48-2.

Shovon Mostofa came in next and, along with Steward, finished off the match for Portcullis. Steward, having played himself in, soon peppered the boundary regularly as he took Portcullis past the winning score.

For Portcullis Mitch top scored with 23whilst Gary Steward made a solid 20 not out. The other scorers were Dave Forbes (7) and Shovon Mostofa (4 no). For St Ronald’s, Desai’s lively bowling saw him take 2-29.

PORTCULLIS MAN OF THE MATCH.

Skipper Dave Mitchell takes the honours. He top scored with 23 and took 4-15.

ST RONALD’S MAN OF THE MATCH.

G O’Brien takes the honours for his lower order knock of 12. He dug in whilst others lost their wickets too easily and it took the ingenuity and reflexes of Forbes to finally dismiss him.

PORTCULLIS CATCH OF THER MATCH

It had to be Dave Forbes spectacular one-handed effort to dismiss O’Brien. A wonderful catch and a contender for “Catch of the Season”.

Monday, 06 June, 2016