Sunday saw the Final of the Aberdeenshire Cup held at the Aberdeenshire home ground at Mannofield, with Bon Accord and Cults facing each other again only a week after the two had met in the Turriff Cup Final. The toss was won by the Cults skipper (K. Laghate) who elected to field on an unusually damp Mannofield track which looked to favour the bowlers and paid dividents as the Bon Accord openers (A. Meres and F. Awan) struggled to score runs, with only 39 runs off 12 overs and the quick loss of both openers, the Bon Accord collapse started with the 4 middle order batsmen (N. Mirza, A. Win, V. Reddy and R. Dhiman) being disposed of without troubling the total too much at 54, led by the bowling of M. Javaid (3 for 22) and N. Jadhav (3 for 38) with only 11 more runs added and the seventh wicket down the end of the Bon Accord innings looked imminent, with the change of bowling for Cults from A. Saxena (3 for 18) but with the Bon Accord tail wagging the Bon Accord side managed to complete a lowly 107 all out. With confidence of a win high the Cults openers suffered an early setback as Skipper K. Laghate was bowled in the 3^rd over led by the bowling of N. Mirza (2 for 23) and V. Reddy (3 for 34). S. Devadas supported by A. Gill progressed the Cults total to 35 before a Cults collapse ensued supported with first change bowler F. Awan (4 for 28) with only S. Rane who, whilst attempting a miss-timed pull shot received a blow on the side of his face, staved off the Bon Accord bowling attack, with the Cults total on 79 for 9 the end seemed imminent, but S. Rane supported by R. Meghani continued to show inspired batting as Cults edged closer to the Bon Accord total, with the pendulum now swinging very much in favour of a Cults win and only 4 runs required, S. Rane took what seemed an easy single to square leg, with only the Wicketkeeper (A. Win) giving chase (described by the Grades President – John Hitchen as “the fastest sprinter with pads I have ever seen”), it took athleticism, skill and a wee bit of luck for Skipper A. Win to hit the stumps from the square-leg umpire position to run out R. Meghani leaving S. Rane stranded on 41 not out giving Bon Accord the victory. Ironically, the win margin compared to the Turriff Cup was also 4 runs, but this time in favour of the Bon Accord Team. The man-of-the-match was awarded to S. Rane (41 not out) for his batting performance.

A truly exciting game played in good spirits marked virtually the end of the Aberdeenshire Grades Cricket season with only 3 outstanding games to be played on the coming weekend, where Bon Accord play Inverurie who will be hoping to upset the Grade 1 Champions 100 percent win record to clinch the runner-up spot from Cults. Stonehaven will entertain Mannofield and Ellon against St Ronald who will be hoping for at least one win before being relegated back to Grade 2.

The Grades Management Committee would like to pass on their sincere condolences to the Family and Friends of George Murray who sadly passed away. See details below