Skipper George Hadden won the toss and elected to field first and was looking for an early breakthrough to assert the advantage.

Unfortunately, despite opener Johnstone clearly edging the ball to the wicket keeper early on, the batsman stood his ground refusing to walk and was given not out. The game was broken up by heavy rain which turned the pitch into something of a lottery for the bowlers as it became difficult to keep their rhythm as they risked injury on the slippery surface.

Dave Lawson was playing well for Mannofield and the opening stand reached 51 off 14 overs when Johnstone picked out Jessiman in the covers and surprised everyone by walking.

Next ball Surva was lbw to Ewen who was unable to convert the hat-trick chance. The game was to have three opportunities for a hat-trick but none were to be taken.

Inverurie quickly took advantage of the breakthrough and Coutts followed up by having Dickinson lbw then Bird caught by Bloice first ball.

At 72 for 4 the game was in the balance but the home skipper and opener Lawson played well to steer their side to a respectable total.
Hadden came on and bowled well for a good return of 4 for 22 whilst Jessiman cleaned up the tail with 2 for 16.

Set 158 to win from 49 overs, Inverurie were confident of scoring the necessary runs to secure victory. Hadden and Coutts started steadily but when Hadden fell in the seventh over there was to follow a five over spell of carnage in the Inverurie batting line up.

Norval, Dunderdale, and Bloice fell for ducks whilst Randal was undone by a bouncer which followed up a beamer by Van Oorshot. At 32 for 5 Inverurie were in disarray and all hopes rested on the shoulders of in-form batsman Coutts, but even he was undone by van Oorshot who produced a seemingly unplayable spell of 10 overs: six wickets for 19 runs.

Skevington and McGlashan steadied the quickly sinking ship as they put on a ten over partnership until Skevington had his stumps rearranged by Surva. This allowed Ian Roebuck snr to the crease who rolled back the years and showed his experience as he withstood the Mannofield bowlers.

McGlashan was given out caught behind for a bright and breezy 22 which was eye catching and enjoyable for the spectators. It was his highest score for the Garioch side and hopefully a sign of things to come.

When Ewen and Jessiman returned from the coffee shop on the promenade they were sent in to face spinner Niven in the forlorn hope of saving the game. Sadly this was not possible as they went the way of their predecessors and were soon dismissed.

Inverurie's lower order did well to extend the innings to 98 all out and in doing so secured some much needed batting points. Unfortunately, their top order was blown away by Rene van Oorshot who was bowling well and Norval will feel especially unlucky as the ball that got him out may well be the best ball he will face this season.

All in all it was a decent performance in the field but weaknesses in the batting were exposed. 14 points were accrued which kept Inverurie third in the Grade 1 table. Despite their victory Mannofield slip to fifth.

Inverurie travel to local rivals Kintore this weekend looking to start the second half of the season in style.

Mannofield 158 all out. D Lawson 38; G Johnstone 38. G Hadden 4 for 22; J Jessiman 2 for 16; G Coutts 2 for 15.
Inverurie 98 all out. D McGlashan 22; G Coutts 19. R van Oorshot 6 for 19.