FPs were deservedly beaten at Inverurie
Inverurie were deserved winners against an under par FPs on Saturday at a very wet Kellands Park. In conditions more akin to Genesis Chapter 6, both sides battled on bravely in pouring rain for large parts which left the pitch in fairly dire straits long before the end. Despite a determined 61 from Alex Keith and 44 from Eddie Steinson, FPs total of 178 all out always looked like it was not quite enough and Chris Watson made sure of this with a splendid 92 which was the mainstay of Inverurie’s 7 wicket win, George Hadden hitting a dogged 40 in support.
FPs were without all rounder Karan Anand and drafted in Hamish Penman in his place and lined up Keith, Morrison, Steinson, Swiergon, McKinney, Mapplebeck, Penman, Clelland, Poosappadi, Knudson and Thomson. Swiergon lost the toss and Inverurie elected to put FPs in. Morrison was again out early, one ball after having broken his bat hitting a boundary, but a strong partnership of 73 between Keith and Steinson lifted FPs to 87, when Steinson edged to Murrison off Cook for 44 (7×4, 2×6). Swiergon came and went quickly for 1, Norval taking a good catch off Hadden, and Hadden also took a smart catch off his own bowling to remove McKinney for 5. When Mapplebeck edged to Stalker at slip for a duck, FPs were struggling at 110 for 5.
Keith was key and he passed 50 before a good piece of bowling by Hadden did for him for 61 (9×4). Clelland and Penman joined forces to add a careful 41, Clelland falling for 14 bowled by White, shortly before Penman edged Norval to Stalker for 23. Knudson and Thomson then fell quickly to Norval as FPs were all out 178, overall a good all round bowling effort by Inverurie.
Steinson was the surprising choice to take the new ball with Mapplebeck and he struck in his 4th over, pinning Norval LBW for 20. Watson played a couple of aerial shots to begin with but then settled into his innings, striking the ball superbly as he raced to 50, Hadden offering good sensible support. With Inverurie well ahead of the rain calculator, and the rain having fallen continually for the whole innings, the umpire took the players off at exactly 20 overs, when the the game counted, some questioning if things had markedly changed from the the 119th ball of the chase to the 120th. It was a perfectly reasonable decision to stop playing as the ground was saturated but the timing was not ideal.
Remarkably the rain did stop and the players were able to restart, although it was not long until the rain was falling heavily again, Inverurie well in charge as a home win became more and more certain by either means. However, FPs battled back bravely through the unlikely bowling source of their captain Swiergon who bowled a tight spell to push the game towards the last few overs. He removed Hadden LBW for 40 and Steinson claimed Watson caught at the wicket 8 runs short of a deserved ton. Strachan and Thom however eased Inverurie over the line to a deserved victory by 7 wickets.
Bowling figures for FPs were Mapplebeck 10-0-28-0, Steinson 9-0-43-2, Thomson 9-0-38-0. Poosappadi 2-0-16-0, Knudson 4-0-16-0 and Swiergon 9.3-0-35-1. For FPs, the batting did not not perform well enough and the correct team won, FPs battled well in the field and did well to push the game as far as they did.
Man of the Match
Chris Watson for his 92, but FPs best performer was Steinson with 44 and 2 wickets.
Champagne moment
Getting out of the rain.
