Tom Sole leads the way as Grange overpower Stoneywood-Dyce

Eastern Premier League leaders Grange were in record-breaking form on Saturday, racking-up 346 for 8 – the highest tally of the season – as they overpowered Stoneywood-Dyce at Portgower Place.

Celebrations for Grange en route to their win over Stoneywood-Dyce at Portgower Place. Picture: Lisa Ferguson Grange v Stoneywood-Dyce

Tom Sole led the way with a brilliant unbeaten 130 while Durham’s Tom Mackintosh made 65 and Harris Carnegie a breezy 43 as Grange’s youngsters again revealed their prodigious talent.

However, it was the experienced Gordon Goudie who made the decisive contribution with the ball to put his old Stoneywood-Dyce mates to the sword, the former Scotland seamer going through the Aberdeen side’s top order with five key wickets as the visitors crashed to 99 all out.

Carlton were also in the runs at Grange Loan where a superb second-wicket stand of 226 helped them post 325-6 in a comprehensive win over RH Corstorphine.

The Grange's Tom Mackintosh made 65 in the victory over Stoneywood-Dyce. Picture: Lisa Ferguson Grange v Stoneywood-Dyce

There was little hint of what was to follow when Arun Pillai fell to the third delivery of the match, bowled by visiting skipper Caleb Whitefoord.

However, Shujaa Khan and Tom Simpson proceeded to compile a record partnership, both players reaching three figures.

Khan led the way with 145 from 131 balls, featuring sixteen boundaries and a maximum, while Simpson contributed 103 with 13 fours.

Both players eventually succumbed to a Corstorphine attack that refused to throw in the towel but some ferocious late hitting from Ali Shah (33) and Hayden Laing (20no) took the hosts out of sight.

The visitors came out firing with Arnie Sathiy hitting a rapid 30 but wickets soon began to tumble and they were all out for 110 despite a battling 50 not out from Elliott Rousen, Pillai atoning for his earlier duck with four wickets for eight runs.

Elsewhere, an unbeaten half-century from Ross McLean helped Arbroath recover from 89-6 to surpass Stewart’s Melville’s 148 as the visitors won by three wickets at Inverleith, Craig Ramsay having earlier claimed 5-20.

Oli Hairs hammered 44 not out as Watsonians had too much firepower for Meigle at Victory Park while Forfarshire’s scheduled clash with Heriot’s at Forthill was called off on Friday due to a Covid outbreak in the home camp.

Western Premier champions Uddingston slumped to their second consecutive defeat – and in dramatic fashion – at Prestwick.

Chasing a modest 155 at Henry Thow Oval, the Bothwell side collapsed to 54 all out, having looked comfortable on 38-1.

However, Azeem Akbar claimed 5-14 and Majid Haq 4-8 to turn the match in Prestwick’s favour.

Ferguslie made light work of despatching Renfrewshire rivals Greenock at Meikleriggs where Adil Ghaffar, last week’s century hero, did the bulk of the damage with the ball, claiming four wickets as the visitors were dismissed for just 79.

Greenock fought back to claim four wickets but Ferguslie eased to their target to stay top of the table.

Clydesdale held their nerve to win a nail-biter against Dumfries at Titwood where the visitors were restricted to 143.

However, the Dale batsmen struggled to build partnerships and, at 130-8, the match was finely poised until Arun Krishna and Bahadar Esakhiel guided their team over the line.

Langside were unable to build on their historic first top-flight win, instead going down by by nine wickets at Albert Park to Stirling for whom Brandon McMullen was the hero with 3-17 and 54 not out.

West of Scotland put their first points on the board thanks to a 114-run win over Poloc at Shawholm. John Strachan top-scored with 52 in West’s 205-8 before Gavin Smith and Callum Dutia had three wickets each as the home side struggled.