HAYES van der Berg emerged as the Aberdeenshire hero as they took another stride towards the Eastern Premiership crown with success against stubborn basement boys SMRH.
The young South African recruit compiled a superb century and, with the help of Harsha Cooray, rescued the Dons in the wake of a shaky start at Inverleith.
Having lost the toss and put in, an upset could have been on the cards when the visitors were reduced to 12 for two in the face of a potent new-ball burst by veterans Cedric English and Craig Mackellar.
But not only did van der Berg and Cooray curb the jitters, their partnership of 141 was to prove a match-winning effort.
Cooray was run out by Brad Moses for 70, made from only 74 balls. However, van der Berg maintained the momentum to reach 109, featuring 10 boundaries. Aberdeenshire's total of 287 for seven left the home troops with a lofty task, but as long as English and Moses were together at the crease they had a fighting chance.
After they perished in quick succession for 41 and 57 respectively, however, it was always going to be an uphill battle for the capital outfit.
They refused to buckle and Greg Ruthven put up further stiff resistance with a half century, but Shire eventually held out for a 35-run win.
Chief chasers Arbroath not only beat Tayside rivals Forfarshire, but also the weather at Lochlands to remain on the heels of Aberdeenshire.
The Broughty Ferry brigade had made the short jaunt up the Angus coast in confident mood, having triumphed in the first league meeting between the sides back in May.
However, in terms of the scoreboard it was the hosts who were in the right place at the right time when the curtain came down early.
Forfarshire posted a tally of 173 for five before Arbroath's 124 for two from 36 overs earned them the points under the Duckworth-Lewis method.
In a tense climax to the Edinburgh derby, Grange failed to whack the 14 runs they needed off the final over at Carlton.
And in the Eastern Championship, the elements came to the aid of promotion pacesetters Glenrothes as they were in danger of losing their 100% record at the hands of Fife neighbours Freuchie.
Glens had been shot out for only 91, with home bowler Rizwan Akbar grabbing six for 12 in a remarkable spell at Muir Road.
The hosts were 12 for one when play was abandoned.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article