The Joy of R&D Cricket!

It is now the second season of R&D cricket for Portcullis Cricket Club. On Sunday June 3rd Portcullis made the short journey to play Mannofied Development XI at the glorious setting of Mannofield itself.

So what is R &D cricket I hear you ask? Well to start with R & D is short for recreational and development. Mannofield, Portcullis along with Banchory, Gordonians, and Aberdeen Grammar School Former Pupils (under the moniker of Rubislaw XI) form the R&D North League. The purpose of the league is to encourage participation in cricket. Whether it is lapsed cricketers coming back into the game, new cricketers introduced to the game or encouraging the development of youngsters to make the step in the more competitive senior leagues, R&D cricket is all about development and basically the joy of cricket! Participation to encourage development and to be enjoyed.

The other four clubs are in the league primarily to bring on youngsters as well as bring on the odd fringe player. Portcullis do not have a ground of their own as well as the wherewithal to have a junior section specifically for youngsters so their approach has to be a bit different. Instead of youngsters we look for oldsters! It is not an ageist approach, more that all ages and stages are welcome!

The format is simple for our Sunday side. The bowling is selected from those who want a bowl – regardless of ability. The batting – well we mix experienced players with those not so experienced so we can bring players on. It is not strange to see someone who bats at 11 on a Saturday open the batting on a Sunday. There is no set order in the batting it is all about giving opportunities to all. With our squad if you have opened the batting on a Saturday you are quite happy to bat down the order on a Sunday!

The captaincy is shared as well. We use the R&D League as an opportunity to try out numerous players in the role of Captain each week. This has worked well for us in the past. It allows the Captain of the day to see what it is like for our Captain and Vice-Captains week in week out. It allows us to monitor the potential of individuals in the role and gives them experience and build confidence should they wish to Captain in the future. Don’t worry though – we ask you first if you would like to Captain on the Sunday.

Anyway back to the match.

The pitch once again was beautifully prepared by groundsman Ken McCurdie – once again proving the fact the preparation of a cricket pitch and outfield really is a work of art!

It was negotiated that Mannofield would bat first. In 40 overs they made 165 runs. Top scorer was Findlay Anderson with a cracking knock of 60. Apparently this was his first ever 50 which came as a surprise. Having witnessed that knock it won’t be his last! Rahul Chandu weighed in with a splendid 50 whilst B. Lynas (17) and Stuart Horne (11) were the others to make double figures. Young B. Horne also scored his first runs for Mannofield as well!

On the bowling front for Portcullis Andy Phillip returned figures of 3-7 whilst Ronnie Falconer took 2-9. Brian Harper bowled well for 2-18. The other wicket takers were Toby Williams, Shovon Mostofa, Jake Dawson, Nathan Thangaraj and Prabhu Paliniswamy (there were rolling wickets).

After a most splendid tea it was the turn of Portcullis. In reply the City Centre Baggy Greens made 125 – 9. Top scorer was Nathan Thangaraj – guesting from Crescent with a fine knock of 31. Nathan opened the batting whilst we allowed less experienced players to bat with him in order to aid their development. Andy Philip shored up the middle order with a knock of 24. Jake Dawson made a season’s highest score of 18 whilst Shovon Mostofa made 13.

As I mentioned earlier our oldsters recruitment policy was mentioned to the opposition Captain as dragging people from the pub and bookies to play cricket as well. In today’s match that was literally the case!

John White, barman at The Bridge Bar on Bridge Street, scored his first ever runs for the club as well as taking his first ever catches (two of them!). Scott Harley – manager of Paddy Power Bookmakers on Union Street, played his first game of cricket ever. He made a fine knock of 9 mainly through a solid block peppered with some pulls through midwicket. Once he learns to play other shots he will be a hell of a player! Scott also made valiant efforts to take two skiers and was unlucky not to get one to stick.

For Mannofield Findlay Anderson took two wickets for two runs. Young B. Horne took 2 -11 – his first wickets to go along with his first runs to cap a special day for him! S.Alawattage alos took two wickets (2-23) whilst there were wickets for P. Lynas, S. Horne and J.Horne.

Congratulations go to Mannofield on a fine win. The result was irrelevant though. It was all about participation and development.

All 22 players got to bat whilst 18 players got to bowl. It was a beautiful sunny day, the venue, the wicket and outfield were perfect.

If you love cricket it really does not get better than this!

Saturday, 09 June, 2018