Cricket: Arbroath see off Heriot's to clinch First Division title

The home side batted first at Lochlands and recovered well from early setbacks to post 179-9.

Things had looked good for Heriot's when Sean Weeraratna and Anthony Edington removed an opening batsman each.

Andre Van Niekirk and spinner Matthew Thomas then got in on the act, but a valuable 57 not out from Benny McGill batting at number nine took Arbroath up to the reasonable total.

In reply Heriot's lost Kiwi teenager Thomas early for two but skipper Steve Knox settled things down with 44.

Former captain Gavin McIntyre then took up the mantle with a half century, but at the end he was still there on 57 not out and the team had fallen three short in their run chase.

Nevertheless, it has been a solid summer for Heriot's following last year's relegation and they have good foundations on which to build from in the restructured top flight in 2011.

New Zealand under-19 star Thomas finished the campaign with an amazing 41 wickets, while Australian Adam Lockhart- Krause was the main man with the bat with 673 runs.

In the Premier Division on Saturday Carlton's Cedric English hit 146 to see his side to a win at Aberdeenshire and a fourth-place finish.

The century came just seven days after the club stalwart hit 148 not out against Forfarshire and the latest three figure score helped them post 268 all out batting first.

The Carlton bowling attack was on fire during Aberdeenshire's reply with the seam trip of Omar Ahmad, Ally Evans and Mohammed Habib particularly impressive.

Ahmad led the way with four wickets and the other two took three apiece as the hosts were skittled out for 114 as the season ended on a high for the Grange Loan men.

Back to the First Division and Penicuik's season ended with a seven wicket loss at Stenhousemuir. It has been a tough few months for the Midlothian outfit, but Keith Morton and his young squad will have learnt a lot from the experience.

In the Second Division SMRH lost at champions Dumfries by 85 runs, while Edinburgh were beaten by Weirs.

And RH Corstorphine's season ended with a win, a half century from pro Mo Ramzan setting them up for a 68-run victory over West Lothian.