Methlick 1st X1 (h) vs. Huntley 13.05.2023
Once again Lairds suffered from the rains of the last few weeks and was unfit for play but thanks to Inverurie who provided their ground to host visitors and fellow promotes from last season, Huntley, we had a game to look forward to.
In came returning skipper Tim Duffy and Steve Murphy, and absent were batting stalwarts Veersema and Smith to provide a strong “on-paper” side. Grant, Low and Crutchfield returned to the 2nds. The wicket looked solid on top but was expected to give some encouragement to the bowlers and when Duffy won the toss he had no hesitation in putting Huntley in to bat.
Acton and Duffy opened the bowling and gave very little away; the captain bowling three maidens in his first four overs, and with the pressure building it was the ginger right-armer first to strike, bowling Dawar for 6. With plenty of bowling available Duffy used eight bowlers in all and the first change of the bearded behemoth, Jamie Jones, and Mike Hordley gave little opportunity to the batsmen as the bowling got ever tighter.
At the half-way point Huntley were 6 down for only 44 mainly due to excellent work in the field and with the ball. It was then that Methlick took their foot off the proverbial gas and suddenly started to look sloppy. A total of 6 regulation catches went down, culminating in Reeve dropping one in the deep and then face-planting himself, possibly as a mark of shame.
The visitors managed to amass a score of 99 with the last wicket putting on 25 valuable runs. The pick of the Methlick bowling was Jones with 2 for 10 off 5 overs and Hordley, 2 for 6 off 6 overs. Surely not enough runs to trouble the strong MCC batting line up.
After tea, Woodhouse and Acton opened and 10% of the required runs came from the first over. Unfortunately, Acton played a lazy shot to McGuire’s first ball and lobbed the ball to point for only 6. After that Woodhouse and Hordley took the score to 50 and victory seemed to be on the horizon.
McGuire, the pick of the Huntley attack, was getting the ball to nibble away off the pitch and was causing some problems for the batsmen. First Hordley edged one to the keeper and was then followed with a similar shot by Reeve for a duck on a day for him to forget.
Murphy, after an imperious 6, was struck by a dubious LBW and went for 10. Woodhouse was still untroubled and had moved on to 22 when, in a moment of madness, Jamie Jones called for a quick single to point and Woodhouse had no chance to make his ground and for the second time in two games was run out.
Jones and Anderson both went to the youngster Petrie and suddenly Methlick were looking down the barrel with 7 wickets down for only 77; losing 6 wickets for 27 runs and still needing 23. The dependable Cordiner steadied the ship and a few lusty blows from Duffy left only two to win when he was bowled by one that stayed low. Benny Hill stepped up to the crease with Jay Allan looking on in nervous agitation and his first ball was smashed to the boundary for MCC to win by two wickets.
In Grade 3 Methlick 2nds played their first game coming up against early favourites for the title, 2nd Master Blasters, and lost by 93 runs with only Ross Moir (29) getting in to double figures. The high point for Methlick was a 6-figure haul for John Moore making his debut.
On Sunday, in the much-awaited local derby between Methlick and Ellon in the Bon Accord Cup, weather was the victor as the rain once again came in.
By Mark Woodhouse