Grampian Grind Down City Slickers.

Week Nine of the 2016 Grades Season saw Portcullis face fellow promotion rivals and Grade Three Winners Grampian CC.

The fixture, the second of three matches against the top three teams of Grade Three at Duthie Park in successive weeks, would be the biggest test to date of Portcullis’s newly found “joie de vivre”.

After a disappointing start to the season, Portcullis had found a recent upturn in fortunes. Their Reid Cup Quarter Final win v Cult St Ronald’s 2nds was followed by a narrow defeat to Stonehaven in a cracker of a match that they could have easily won. This culminated in an excellent victory over promotion fancied Siyapa the previous Saturday.

Grampian would be a different matter altogether. As well as being top of the league, Grampian also possessed a 100% win record with six wins out of six. If Portcullis were to win this they would have to be at the very top of their game to stand any chance.

Portcullis Skipper Dave Mitchell won the toss against his counterpart Noby Jacob and put the away team into bat. Skipper Dave Mitchell would open the bowling with himself and five wicket hero from the previous week Ross McKenzie. For Grampian the batting would be opened by Jeby George and Bijil Jacob.

As well as being the best team in Grade Three, Grampian proved themselves to be the most entertaining to boot. They bat with a certain aggression more akin to T20 than Grade Three. Sometimes they can be quite breathtaking!

George and Jacob immediately took charge against Mitchell and McKenzie, clubbing the pair to all parts of the ground. After four overs they had raced to 29 without loss and it looked as if Portcullis were in for a long, long afternoon. Although Bijil Jacob was by no means a slouch on the scoring front, his partner Jeby George, was flying by the seat of his pants!

Mitchell eventually settled into a good line and length and soon found he was beating the outside edge of the bat on regular occasions. With this glimmer of hope, Mitch soon changed his field to having a second slip, Kannan Vijayakrishnan, joining first slip, Ronnie Falconer in an act of aggression of his own.

It brought about the first wicket of the afternoon.

It was the high flying Jeby George who would be first to go and it would be to a piece of fielding brilliance.

Mitch managed to get another delivery to drift away from the bat of George. George flashed hard and the ball flew from the outside edge of the bat towards the slip area. The ball shot between first and second slip. Falconer, with a keen eye and unbeknown agility, threw himself to his right. He thrust his right hand out to take an absolute pearler of a slip catch that simply startled opponent and team mate alike. George back to the trees for a splendid 29. Grampian 55-1 after 9 overs.

Falconer’s catch was one of those legendary “I didn’t know that fat bloke could do that!” type of catch. He had being doing this for many a year. When he first joined Portcullis Falconer was involved in a few wickets through run outs and catches. An opponent would clip one to the side of the Ginger Maestro and sprint off, safe in the knowledge that the portly opener would have no chance of stopping him. Falconer may not be the quickest but he is a trier and will dive for anything near him. Many an opponent has suffered as a result.

He is not the only one though, even at Portcullis, with this ability. His companion at the top of the batting order, deemed “42 stone of brute strength”, Dave Forbes is another of those who’ll pull out the odd cracker. A specialist fearless short leg, Forbes, 6’3 and big-boned (shall we say) is capable of the odd burst of fielding brilliance which also has opponent and team mate alike left bemused.

Anyway it isn’t over till the fat laddie sings (I thank you!) and we had a long way to go yet!!

It was the turn of Vaisakh Sasidharan to join Jacob at the crease.

The pair took the score onto 82, seeing off Mitchell and McKenzie from their first spells without further damage. Shovon Mostofa replaced McKenzie at the gates end whilst Mansoor Hussein replaced Mitch at the trees end.

Hussein and Mostofa had contrasting starts. Mostofa immediately settled into a tight line whilst Hussein, maybe due to a lack of match practice, sprayed the ball a little and was initially punished. With this in mind it came as a surprise that it was to be Hussein who made the breakthrough.

It was George who would be done. He did not go with a whimper however. He took a shine to Hussein’s bowling, clubbing him through mid-on for two cracking sixes. The experienced Hussein showed the value of a cool head however. He battled to get the ball pitching on a good length on off stump and was rewarded for his efforts when he got Jacob to play onto his stumps. Grampian 82-2.

Next man in was Johnson Varghese Snr to join Sasidharan out in the middle. Varghese Snr opened his innings with a six and a four, further proving Grampian’s exciting brand of cricket. Saisidharan took the role of anchor letting all of those around him play their shots.

The score went onto 100 for Grampian when the next victim fell. Perhaps the over exuberance of Varghese Snr did for him. The nagging accuracy of Mostofa finally broke through Varghese’s stroke play and he edged one behind, Winstanley on hand to take a sound catch.

Sasidharan was joined at the crease by Saju Konchuveetil next. The score went onto 109 before a flaw in Saisdharan’s batting brought about his downfall. As often as not Saisdharan would not get his front foot forward to a full length delivery. The returning Mitchell cottoned onto this. He finally got the Grampian batsman trapped on his crease in front of the stumps leaving the umpire no option but to raise his finger to give him out lbw. Grampian 109-4.

Noby Jacob joined Konchuveetil next at the crease. The pair added 31 runs for the fifth wicket before Jacob glanced a McKenzie lifter, Winstanley on hand to take his second catch of the match. Grampian 140-5.

It was a welcome wicket for McKenzie. His second spell a lot more controlled than his ragged first. His bowling got some rough treatment during his first stint but he showed strength of character to rise above that. He may be young and inexperienced but he showed he was learning fast!

The score moved onto 149 before Konchuveetil went next. Mitchell capturing his third wicket of the afternoon. Mitchell’s nagging perseverance finally breaching Konchuveetil’s defences and bowling the Grampian batsman. Grampian 149-6.

The wickets then fell at regular intervals as Grampian continued to climb into the Portcullis bowling.

The seventh wicket fell on 187. Johnson Jnr was smacking the ball around the park for fun whilst making a quick-fire 17. He went for it once too many and McKenzie bowled him for his audacity.

The score passed 200 when Naji Ittera was the next man to go, he too the victim of McKenzie’s new found accuracy as he spread-eagled the Grampian batsman’s stumps.

The last two wickets fell in quick succession from the bowling of Shovon Mostofa. First up was the powerful and dangerous Sonu Charley. He entertained the watching masses at Duthie Park, cutting loose on the way to a tasty 28 which included five fine fours. It took a rising away swinger from Mostofa, a carefree swing of the bat at that ball and some wonderful athleticism and agility from Mitchell to turn a four ball into a quite brilliant catch and a welcome wicket. Grampian 201-9.

Grampian’s innings finally closed on 204. Mostofa capturing his third wicket, bowling Vinodh Jose.

So Grampian finished their innings on 204. Bijil Jacob top scored with 31 whilst Saju Kochuveetil made 31. In all seven of Grampian’s eleven batsmen got into double figures showing the strength in depth of their batting line-up. For Portcullis three bowlers finished with three wickets apiece. Shovon Mostofa finished with 3-40, Dave Mitchell with 3-50 and Ross McKenzie with 3-57. The other wicket fell to an out of sorts Mannie Hussein 1-28.

Tea was taken and consumed and then it was the turn of Portcullis to chase down the daunting total of 205 to win the match (Betfair was trading at 16/1 for a Portcullis win during the interval!).

Portcullis would open the batting with the new partnership of Ronnie Falconer and Mannie Hussein whilst Grampian would open their bowling with Noby Jacob and Saju Kochuveetil.

First blood went to Grampian in the most bizarre of circumstances. Saju rapped Hussein on the pads and the Grampian team went up as one for an lbw which was turned down. During the melee Hussein lost concentration and wandered out of the crease, one of the Grampian fielders was alert enough to spot this and throw down the stumps. The appeal went up. The square leg umpire had also been distracted by all of the appealing and missed the run out attempt so could not give it out

This left Mansoor Hussein as the decider of his own fate. To his credit he accepted he was out and reluctantly walked back to the trees frustrated at the way he gone. A marvellous sporting gesture and one that is expected from all of the members of Portcullis CC.

Portcullis 1-1.

Dave Mitchell soon joined Falconer at the crease but not for long. Falconer opened his account by cutting one through point for a boundary off of Jacob. The last ball in the same over saw Jacob push one a little wider. Falconer showed poor foot movement and judgement, swishing at a wide one. The ball caught the bottom edge of his bat and Wicketkeeper Jeby George diving low to his right to take quite a scintillating catch. Portcullis 5-2.

It was the rare situation of both openers contributing to each other’s downfall with a pair of fantastic catches.

Shovon Mostofa, fresh from his match winning half century the week before, was next man in. Portcullis would need more of the same if they were to have any chance of winning this game.

Alas it was not to be as Mostofa, looking out of sorts got himself in a muddle and fell to fine ball from Noby Jacob, the stumps broken as he got past Mostofa’s guard.

Portcullis 11-3 and drifting out to 160’s on Betfair with few takers!

Next man in to join Mitchell was the ex-skipper Kannan Vijayakrishnan. Kannan showed he was in no mood to be bullied in this match, his first three scoring shots being fine boundaries indeed.

Mitchell too was back to his dogged best with the bat. A combination of defiant defence was complemented by some fine pulls and drives at loose balls. The pair showed that despite the high quality bowling on show that they were enjoying themselves. The pair put on a fine partnership of 60 for the fourth wicket.

In the meantime Grampian changed their bowling attack. Bijil Jacob and Johnson Varghese relieving Noby Jacob and Saju Kochuveetil.

Bijil Jacob had little luck. His bowling was attacked by both batsmen whilst a rampant drive by Vijayakrishnan produced an injury to his bowling hand and he had to come out of the attack shortly afterwards.

Johnson Varghese Snr had more joy however. His right arm fast medium slinging action was reminiscent of the 1990’s West Indian bowler Ezra Moseley. Although maybe not quite as quick as that fine West Indian fast bowler (thank goodness!) it was, on this field of play very potent.

It was he who broke the Mitchell – Vijayakrishnan partnership, fooling Vijayakrishnan into edging one behind for George to take his second catch of the match. Portcullis 71-4.

Varghese Snr had got himself into a fine settled groove with his bowling. Coming from wide of the crease and jagging the ball across the batsmen, it was very difficult to give lbw’s He did not need them though. His nagging line and length from such an angle made it very difficult to settle into.

Jayaraj Raj was first. He struggled with Varghese’s pace and movement and was next to go as he played onto his stumps. Portcullis 75-5.

Wicket keeper Simon Winstanley was next. He fared no better as Varghese grabbed his third wicket of the afternoon, Winstanley edging one to the gloves of Jeby George for his third wicket of the afternoon. Portcullis 77-6.

77-6 became 77-7 as Andy Philip came and went. Varghese making it a four-fer with a ball that jagged back breaching the Danny Baker lookalike’s Philip’s defensive foil and bowling the luckless Portcullis batsman.

Bob “Whispering Death” Adie was next. A cheeky nudge for a single between point and gully brought some relief but that was short lived as he became Varghese’s fifth wicket as the match was heading for a rapid end. Portcullis 81-8.

It was Chris Poolman next and he was victim to a poor piece of umpiring. A nudge off his hip appeared to have glanced off the bat and the noise of the ball hitting the thigh guard and a raucous convincing appeal saw the umpire raise his finger too quickly. Portcullis 81-9.

Ross McKenzie was last man in. He did enjoy a last wicket partnership of 15 with Mitchell, Portcullis’s second highest of the match, but was bowled by a superb Yorker from the returning Saju Koncheveetil. Portcullis 96 all out. Skipper Dave Mitchell left agonisingly on 47 not out.

Of course Mitchell was Portcullis’s top scorer with 47 not out. Kannan Vijayakrishnan made a swashbuckling 28 and that was about that for Portcullis.

For Grampian the bowling plaudits went to Johnson Varghese. His spell of 9 overs yielded five maidens and five wickets for a measly six runs. Noby Jacob finished with 2-42 whilst Saju Kochuveetil took 1-18.

A big defeat for Portcullis but not a shameful one. Grampian showed exactly why they are top of Grade Three with a 100% record. They will not only go onto become Grade Three Champions this season (the bookies closed their books on that weeks ago!) but they will go onto challenge for the Grade Two title the following season. A strong team last season they seem to have got stronger this season.

Next up for Portcullis is their eagerly anticipated Semi Final match against Stonehaven at Duthie Park.

PORTCULLIS MAN OF THE MATCH.

Skipper DAVE MITCHELL takes the plaudits this week. He was the outstanding Portcullis batsman remaining defiant on 47 not out. He also took 3-50 with the cherry and a superb run, leap and one-handed clutch catch to boot. A worthy winner of this week’s Jeroboam of Veuve Clicquot Yellow Label Brut NV Champagne*.

PORTCULLIS CATCH OF THE MATCH.

Having had dead heats in the Man of the Match Awards in previous weeks, it seems fitting that this week’s catch of the match is a dead heat. The wonderful catch already mentioned by DAVE MITCHELL and RONNIE “Dwayne Leverock” FALCONER’s “how did that fat bloke get to that?” right handed reaction slip catch share the award. A toss of the coin then to see who gets the bottle of Buckfast and who gets the tin of Brasso*.

GRAMPIAN MAN OF THE MATCH.

JOHNSON VARGHESE SNR takes the award for Grampian. His fantastic spell of 9 overs – 5 maidens – 5 runs - 6 wickets means he was the only candidate with a wonderful spell of bowling. An extra-large Remy Martin VSOP Hamper was winging it’s way to Mister Varghese but was intercepted at Portcullis customs and confiscated for “further investigation”*

*The ‘prizes’ – I wish!!

Saturday, 02 July, 2016