Deshpande Dismantles Dunecht.

Saturday June 15th saw two welcome returns for Portcullis. One was the return to their home ground, Duthie Park, for the first time this season. The second welcome return was for T20 Cup action in the form of The Reid Cup.

Their opponents would come in the formidable form of Dunecht. As the players made their way towards the trees in anticipation of the following Cup fixture, it looked initially that Dunecht did not have their formidable all-rounder Steve Derrett, the fine wicketkeeper batsmen Matt Witz nor their flamboyant middle order batsman Tim D’Lisle.

Those Portcullis players though, who did not have the privilege of seeing the team sheets, were anticipating nothing. The previous week at Crathie had the match started without Mike Baldry, only to see him scampering down the hill following a Lewis Hamilton proportion drive from Fochabers to participate for Crathie.

This is just a report not a gripe. Far from it! All cricket clubs need players, but they also need opponents and the better the opponents the better the cricket. Aberdeenshire Cricket needs to be grateful to retain the old and welcome with open arms the new. Cricket must be inclusive – very inclusive!

Like Crathie, Gordonians and Grampian before them, Dunecht had some new faces as well as some old. Crathie in the form of experience (their latest recruitment policy of going around the local pubs asking anyone if they like cricket is brilliant [and my favourite format!]). Grampian and Gordonians are blooding talented youngsters which is always heartening to see. Dunecht did a bit of both and that too is a welcome sight.

For Portcullis there was another welcome sight as the Captains walked off. It was the sight of Skipper Thorpe indicating through body language that Portcullis would field first.

Although confirmed that Dunecht would be short of Derrett, Witz and D’Lisle (amongst others) they still had a decent line-up. Their opening batsmen, Jim Donald and Richard Liptrott have shown in the past to be talented with the willow, plundering runs from Portcullis bowling during previous match-ups.

The bowling would be opened by Ross McKenzie. The new cherry would be shared by one of two new faces to Dunecht. Presheet Deshpande would make his Grades debut. The other new face to Dunecht (but not to the Grades), Lewis Randall, may be called into the action at a later point.

McKenzie’s 1st over was reasonable for Dunecht with 4 runs coming from it. A solid start.

Coming down the hill Deshpande immediately found a comfortable line & length whilst generating good pace. His bowling troubling the talented Donald. His accuracy was rewarded fifth ball as a full length delivery breached Donald’s defences. Dunecht 4-1. Deshpande’s 1st over being a wicket maiden.

The second wicket came in Deshpande’s second over and it was a duplicate of the first wicket. A yorker length ball doing for the dangerous George. Dunecht 9-2.

An indifferent McKenzie was replaced by Shovon Mostofa. The new ruling for Grade Three that all Cup matches have five bowlers. McKenzie’s shift would be split to accommodate the remaining bowlers.

Mostofa opened with a tight over, keeping the pressure on the Dunecht side. Deshpande, still coming down the wicket, made it three wickets in the third over as he finally dislodged Liptrott. Liptrott too falling by the way of Donald and George, bowled by a full length Deshpande yorker, this time the wind assisting his inswing to beat the fine opener. Dunecht 12-3.

This had the pairing of Paul McMorris and C. Strachan at the crease and the pair, McMorris in particular, battening down the hatches to see off the potent Deshpande.

This they managed to achieve; Deshpande being relieved of his four over spell by the experienced Brian Harper.

Despite the exit of Deshpande, the pressure never let up. Mostofa continued bowling accurately, mixing good pace with well disguised off spin. Strachan found Mostofa difficult to read. He is not the first batsman to have this problem.

At the other end Harper bowled with his nagging left arm over accuracy, using the nuances of the wicket to cause no ends of bother to the Dunecht batsmen.

The Dunecht pair added 11 valuable runs before Mostofa captured his only wicket of the day. It came from a fine piece of cerebral bowling. Mixing his spin and pace, Mostofa alternated both styles. Strachan faced pace then spin, pace then spin. As he anticipated another pacey delivery, Mostofa produced another off-spinner. The ball came back and rapped Strachan on the pads. The lbw appeal stood. Dunecht 23-5.

That was the final ball of Mostofa’s excellent spell, and he was replaced by Kannan Vijayakrishnan. Vijayakrishnan, like the bowlers before him, kept things tight, stifling the runs for Dunecht.

Next man in was the dangerous L. Rahman. In the previous fixture between the two clubs, he, along with his current partner Paul McMorris, snatched victory from the jaws of defeat in a classic at Cowdray Hall. Coming in at 96-7 after 37 overs, Dunecht were chasing 142 for victory. Requiring an unlikely 45 from 8 overs, Rahman had produced a brutal spell of clean hitting, spanking all the Portcullis bowling around the ground. He scored 30 of the 45 runs in that fantastic unbeaten 8th wicket partnership. McMorris, mindful of his partners prowess, supporting him with the odd boundary of his own, some quick singles and unselfish play to give Dunecht the best chance of victory.

Amazingly Dunecht won that match with the luxury of 11 balls to spare. Rahman could not be bothered with fours, his boundary column only dealing in sixes! Being congratulated on his fine knock that day, he explained he only wanted to get home in time for the Champions League Final. Talk about adding insult to injury!

Although Portcullis had made a fantastic start to this match, they were mindful of this pairing and were taking nothing for granted. If Rahman was in the mood, Dunecht could still put on a winning score.

It was in Portcullis’s best interest to break up this partnership as quickly as possible. That they did and it was thanks to the bowling of Vijayakrishnan.

It would be the lethal Rahman who would fall to the guile of Vijayakrishnan. Vijayakrishnan, continued to bowl good length deliveries on the off stick, getting them to move away from the full off drives of Rahman. The ball blissfully going through to the excellent glovework of Dawson. As a result, frustration set in for Rahman. He chased another away seamer from Vijayakrishnan, the result being an outside edge spiralling towards point, Mostofa on hand to take a fine catch. Dunecht 27-5.

In the next over Harper managed to remove the dogged McMorris, finally beating the Aussie’s defences and bowling the spirited batsmen. Dunecht 27-6.

With those two back at the trees, Dunecht batted out the remaining overs. Portcullis kept things tight and took a further two wickets. They both went to the returning McKenzie.

First up was Moat as he was trapped lbw. The next was young M. Strachan, this wicket was one of mixed emotions. He was a young player who was beat in flight by the drift of McKenzie. The young player also drifted - out of his crease - and was stumped by Dawson. Dawson immediately put his glove to this head due to mixed emotions.

Was he right to do this?

If it had been a friendly or an R &D match the appeal would have been withdrawn. That there is no doubt.

This was a Reid Cup match though. We are in a round robin group based on Grades points. The following Tuesday’s fixture is at Countesswells. If that is rained off it goes to a bowl off. The loser of the bowl off will receive no points. This format is pretty ruthless.

The previous week Portcullis played Crathie and Portcullis debutant Paul Munro did the exact same, drifted out of the crease first ball and was stumped. Granted Paul is in his forties, but the same thing applied. Again, in a friendly against Crathie, I believe the appeal would have been withdrawn. This is Grades cricket though and Grade Three although friendly is competitive. Against Crathie nothing else was thought but bad luck to Munro.

Although it was felt it was harsh it was reasonable. As I wrote earlier Dunecht have made spectacular comebacks in the past. I believe the previous one was still fresh in Portcullis minds.

Anyway, after 20 overs Portcullis had remarkably kept Dunecht restricted to 31-8. Paul McMorris top scored for Dunecht with 8. For Portcullis Presheet Deshpande finished his Grades debut with figures of 4-2-3-3. The other wicket takers for Portcullis were Ross McKenzie (2-9). The remaining three bowlers finished with a wicket each. Brian Harper (1-5), Kannan Vijayakrishnan (1-5) and Shovon Mostofa (1-8).

With no teas there was a quick turnaround as Portcullis opened the batting with Lewis Randall and Shovon Mostofa. The Dunecht new cherry to be shared by L. Rahman and Alan Burnett.

There was early action as a corking Burnett delivery swung back and rapped Randall on the pads. A vociferous appeal was raised and sadly turned down. The ball would have gone onto hit inside of leg stump. Unfortunately, it pitched outside leg stump, and once pitched there made the remainder of the delivery null and void.

A wicket did come though, and it came from the quick bowling of that man Rahman. He bowled with an increased pace that was just not there in previous seasons. He finally got Mostofa to mistime a drive. The ball ballooning up into the mid-off area, Jim Donald in position to take a sound catch. Portcullis 16-1. Mostofa trudging his way to the trees after a good knock of 13.

Skipper Thorpe was next man in. Joining Randall, the pair put on an unbeaten partnership of 18 on their way to a welcome win. Both men produced boundaries with the willow, the final boundary coming from the bat of Randall through square leg ending the fixture.

Portcullis win by 9 wickets.

For Portcullis Lewis Randall top scored with 15 not out, (2x4). Shovon Mostofa pitched in with 13 (2x4). Skipper Thorpe was the other not out batsman (6 not out), gratefully avoiding the 3rd duck but missing out on the 2nd century.

For Dunecht, Rahman’s lively pace grabbed him a deserved and Dunecht’s only wicket and he finished with figure of 1-2 from 4 overs.

It was a strange day and a strange result. Dunecht should not be too disheartened. Two miles away down at the links, 2017 Grade One Champions and last season’s Grade One runners-up AGSFP’S were bowled out for 38 against Bon Accord. The previous week, AGSFP’s had scored over 300 against Ellon.

Cricket – bloody hell!

Next up for Portcullis is the 2nd round robin away to Gordonians on Tuesday night (25th June).

PORTCULLIS MAN OF THE MATCH.

Although there were a few excellent performances from the bowlers and the batsmen, there was one winner. PRESHEETH DESHPANDE with his bowling figures of 3-3 takes the spoils. His opening spell ripped through the dangerous Dunecht top order dismissing the top three batsmen before they had time to set in.

DUNECHT MAN OF THE MATCH.

I’ll go for the dead heat here. L. RAHMAN and PAUL McMORRIS. McMorris for his stubborn knock of 8 against lively bowling and Rahman for his lively opening spell that produced a wicket.

PORTCULLIS CATCH OF THE MATCH.

SHOVON MOSTOFA. It was Portcullis’s only catch in the match!

Sunday, 23 June, 2019