Having been put in to bat by their opponents Banchory found themselves on the
back foot early, losing their first wicket after just three balls. However, this allowed
Ben Wiles to come to the crease early and gave him plenty of time to build on his
improved form of recent weeks. He showed he was in no mood to hang around
though by hitting just the second delivery he faced to the boundary for 4. This set the
tone for the early part of Wiles’ innings as he raced to a half century from just 40
balls. With that achievement secured Wiles turned his attention to scoring a hundred
and anchoring the Banchory innings. This required a more measured approach and
the big hitting boundaries that had initially been seen were replaced with well-placed
singles and twos. In truth Wiles never looked in danger of missing out on his first
century and was warmly congratulated by all of his teammates when he reached the
mark. He was eventually out for 107, including eight 4s and three 6s, as Banchory
made 205 for 6 from their 40 overs.

In response Huntly made heavy work of chasing down the target as only two of their
players offered any real resistance to the Banchory bowling attack. At times it looked
as though their batters were offering catching practice to the fielders although Wiles
made sure of his impact in both innings by first taking a catch in the slips that no-one
at this level has any right to hold before also claiming the last two Huntly wickets
from his short bowling spell as Huntly managed 122 all out.

Banchory currently sit fourth in Grade 2 with six games of the season remaining.
This week they face fifth placed Portcullis at Duthie Park in Aberdeen.