Scottish Cricket: Grange begin to look vulnerable (28 May 1999)

28 May 1999

Scottish Cricket: Grange begin to look vulnerable

Keith Graham

Aberdeenshire have already shown they are hot contenders for the first Scottish National Cricket League Premiership title and tomorrow they should strengthen that claim when they face Grange at Mannofield.

The Edinburgh side, having taken so many of the honours during the Nineties, look vulnerable this season. The departure of Ian Beven has left an enormous gap and so far their Sri Lankan professional, Yasas Tillikeratne, has failed to impress.

He has not found any kind of form, and, in the batting department, so much now depends upon Roddy Smith and Steve Crawley.

The bowling, too, is hardly penetrative and with home professional Jason Arnberger in such impressive form, the Raeburn Place side could find themselves toiling.

But Neil MacRae apart, the Aberdeenshire batting too has failed to provide Arnberger with adequate support. Their attack however, has performed creditably. In Kevin Thomson, David Cox and Peter Baxter they have a useful seam attack, augmented by overseas amateur Steve Gribble and a win tomorrow is on the cards.

Carlton have belied their underdog billing in a promising start to the season with Cedric English showing excellent form with both bat and ball but they will be put to the test tomorrow by a West of Scotland side in which Cory Richards with bat and Craig Wright with the ball are in fine form.

Stoneywood Dyce's first win of the season at the expense of Greenock last Saturday was marred only by a finger injury to Grant Dugmore. At Boghall tomorrow, they face a West Lothian side who have disappointed despite some excellent batting from Craig Light.

Greenock and Ferguslie meet at Glenpark with neither team having so far set the heather on fire. At least last week, professional Mark Atkinson found some form with the bat for the visitors.

The top match in division one is the clash between promotion contenders Prestwick and Clydesdale at The Oval. The continuing absence of Ian Stanger and Greig Williamson makes tomorrow's game a tough one for the visitors.

In the second division, Stirling County, after recording a mammoth total well over the 300 mark last week, will need to show that such batting dominance can be matched by their bowlers. They entertain Poloc at Williamfield while Stenhousemuir travel to SRHM.

Source :: Electronic Telegraph (https://www.telegraph.co.uk)