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Catches win matches - and dropped catches, perhaps, lose titles. Aberdeenshire's fielding lapses at Mannofield against Heriot's on Saturday have, in all probability, handed the SNCL Premiership championship to West of Scotland.

Desperately needing a win to remain in contention, Aberdeenshire's slump in form continued when their batsmen could only muster a disappointing 173.

Overseas amateur Steve Gribble top-scored with 46 while Heriot's New Zealand professional paceman Chris Martin did much of the damage, taking 5 for 37.

When the visitors batted, the home fielders spurned a series of chances which allowed Steve Thomson (59) and Greg Butchart (33) to provide a platform for victory.

Gribble strove manfully to turn the tide, ripping out the middle order with his left-arm seamers to finish with five for 58, but Chris Goddard, returning from suspension, steered the visitors home by two wickets to effectively end a disgruntled Aberdeenshire's title aspirations.

Aberdeenshire had complained about the loss of skipper Neil MacRae and Colin Smith to international duty whereas their main title rivals West of Scotland had only Craig Wright on duty. Rightly, the Scottish selectors countered by saying that their duty was to field the strongest team available.

West, meanwhile, continued their all-conquering run with victory at Boghall although this time round, the West Lothian batsmen put up considerably more resistance than when the teams last met.

Indeed, Craig Light's splendid hundred and Howard Sydney-Wilmott's unbeaten 89 took them to 223 for 4 compared with the meagre total of 31 they achieved in their clash at Hamilton Crescent in June.

Douglas Lockhart led the way for the West of Scotland with a powerful 86 after the prolific Corey Richards had gone for 30. Needing 91 to win in the final 10 overs, the title favourites cruised to victory with seven balls to spare, Alan Williamson sealing it with two successive sixes.

Ayr's continuing slump gave Stoneywood Dyce a glimmer of hope that they might avoid the drop. Mark Englebrecht's 63 paved the way for a home total of 205, too many for Ayr who succumbed to Robert Lamb's 5 for 61 to be all out for 180.

Grange's revival came to a sticky end at Glenpark where home team Greenock pushed themselves to third place in the table by comfortably overhauling the Edinburgh side's modest 162 for 6 with David Brown (50) and Dene Hills (44 no) seeing them to a four wicket win.

David Harper's unbeaten 62 saw Prestwick to victory over Strathmore at the Oval, while Clydesdale's top three batsmen, each scoring half centuries, took them to a nine wicket win over Watsonians at Myreside to keep these two clubs on course for promotion.