|
|
Ellon Vs Banchory Report by Ian Duncan Last Saturday Ellon’s 2XI recorded an eight wicket victory against second Banchory in the Johnston Cup despite playing with only ten players. The conditions were sunny, dry and blustery with the sight screens at the top end of the Burnett Park being blown over a number of occasions until sand bags were produced to save more delays. Fortunately the blustery wind died down late afternoon when Ellon were batting and the match was concluded in a fine summer evening. Earlier, Ellon’s captain, Ian Duncan on winning the toss had no hesitation in asking Banchory to bat first in a forty over innings match. Duncan beautifully bowled the first wicket fell when the score was on forty with C Wilson for eight. It was the second wicket to fall which gave Tom Proctor the first of his two wickets and aggressive second Banchory opener G Councell being well caught by Ben Marsden in the gully for thirty two. This was a good wicket to get as any lose ball was being heavily punished with five fours and one six in his innings. Ellons opening bowler Sunni was finding the edge but no chance went to hand and after seven overs was replaced by another hopeful young cricketer in Sam Barratt.Sam was bowling with a lot of gusto and despite a number of wides, was still a handful when the ball landed in the correct spot. He too took a wicket, and in his third over, another of Banchory’s aggressive players was well caught in the covers by young Matthew Dalton. The game in total had eight juniors under the age of sixteen playing, with four from each side. The junior players in both sides knowing one another having played against one other in the junior fixtures. The Banchory junior was C Dickson and his innings of twenty six contained no fewer than two sixes and two fours . The top batsman for Banchory was M Malik with forty before he was well caught by Lawrence Meikle off the bowling of Matthew Dalton. This catch also giving Lawrence a bruised fore finger for the remainder of the match as a souvenir! After thirty two overs, Banchory had progressed on to 183 for six, and skipper Duncan brought himself back on and soon made an impact. First to go was skipper I. Pennington, brilliantly caught by wicketkeeper Steve Dalton low down to his right at a time when he was letting lose and had scored twenty eight useful runs, mainly off the younger bowlers, punishing any bad ball for four. The junior bowlers will gain useful experience playing against such players, and hopefully will learn where and where not to bowl when facing such batsman. Another senior Banchory batsman lost his wicket with a peach of a throw from the outfield by Sam Barratt to Ian Duncan at the bowling end resulted in a tight run out decision. The throw is what you see on television, and great when another young player starting off his cricket career does it. Despite another wicket falling from the bowling of Ian Duncan with Sam snapping up a gift chance, no other wicket was to fall and the last four Banchory overs saw them only add six runs. A very good fielding performance despite only ten fielders to call on, with the only disappointing feature being the number of extras conceded, with no less than forty seven in total. The bowlers being the guilty members with forty in all, a number which hopefully will start falling as they gain more experience. Weather will not be an excuse, which Ian Duncan will accept, as he rarely bowls any in a career, which spreads over many decades. All bowlers with the exception of Sunni took wickets with Ian three for nineteen off ten overs being the pick of the bunch. After a welcome break for tea, Ellon openers Kenny Hutcheson faced a daunting challenge in getting the chase off to a good solid start if they hoped for victory. This they certainly achieved and despite an second ball score when Kenny was dropped by the Banchory wicketkeeper before scoring, he went on to play his highest ever score for the club in making eighty four before he was out bowled in the twenty second over and Ellon score on 139.Along with Ian Duncan, it was Ellons highest opening partnership for quite some time and really put any chance of a Banchory victory out the window. Kenny innings included four sixes and nine fours and was a joy to watch once the early nerves disappeared. Hopefully, he will use this confidence to good effect whichever side he plays for in the future. Already one of the best fielders in the Ellon camp, this will make him hopefully a more all round player if he continues to shine with the bat. Once Kenny disappeared, Tom Proctor promoted to number three after his good batting displays over the last few weeks unfortunately didn’t last one over before he too was bowled by Councell, out with out scoring. This brought Steve Dalton to the crease and with it a lot of experience was now at the crease and with both players determined to succeed, victory was eventually succeeded in the thirty second over without any more wickets falling. The second last over to be bowled was despatched for twenty runs by Ian and brought the scores level, The last ball was a dot ball with Steve scoring the winning run in the next over and with the single finished up with nineteen and still not out in both the games he has batted along with Ian, finishing with seventy eight not out and also not out in all the games he has played so far this season .His innings was less explosive than some of his innings but steered Ellon to a n eight wicket victory. This chase of over two hundred runs was also gained in the last competitive match involving the two sides up in Banchory, and will send out a single that Ellon are the team to beat this season especially when all their senior player are available. Man of the match award for Ellon? A close call but
perhaps skipper Ian gets it with his three wickets, involved in a run
out and his seventy-eight not out just clinches it from Kenny. Bowling I Duncan 3 for 19 T Proctor 2 for 32 M Dalton 2 for 32 Ellon 202 for two K Hutcheson 84 I Duncan 78
not out S Dalton 19 not out |
 |
