WHILE the Cricket Scotland League suffered a second consecutive washout on Saturday, two games in the Strathmore and Perthshire Union Premier Division beat the elements.

It wasn’t quite a case of “Tropical Tayside,” but the elements at Lochlands, Arbroath, and Forthill, Broughty Ferry, were kind enough to allow rare sightings of the summer game.

The matches that took place had a significant bearing on the league table with Arbroath cementing second place thanks to their comfortable win over Meigle while Stonyewood-Dyce climbed off the foot after their battling success at Forthill.

Arbroath were indebted to Scotland U19 batsman Ross McLean for anchoring their innings of 191-7.

McLean, normally a first eleven player, has languished on the sidelines with an ankle injury for much of this season.

Desperate to prove his fitness in time to take part in the U19 World Cup in August, the opening batsman took the first strides on the comeback trail with a confident half-century.

He shared an opening stand of 88 with Gavin Swan, who made 17, before going on to top-score with 63.

McLean was one of several batsmen who fell in quick succession in mid-innings before a further substantial stand between Greg Peal (32) and Mark Edwards (31) hoisted the home side’s tally to one of winning proportions.

In fact, Arbroath had more than enough runs as Meigle, minus the inspirational Peter Drummond, never mounted a serious run chase.

It spoke volumes that their top scorer – Dennis Christie – managed just 12 runs before the visitors collapsed to 55 all out in less than 19 overs.

Euan Small was the executioner-in-chief claiming 5-22.

Meanwhile Forthill suffered a shock defeat as bottom-of-the-table Stoneywood-Dyce returned north with a welcome haul of 25 points.

Batting first, the hosts managed a creditable 190 thanks largely to a brilliant 86 from the veteran Graeme Garden while Callum Walker contributed 31.

Garden and Walker were also to the fore with the ball with three and two wickets respectively.

However, the men from the Granite City produced a dogged run-chase with contributions throughout the order, notably from Kevin Davies (53) and Fraser Murray (31), allowing them to finally reach their target with two wickets in hand.

One game in the first division also beat the weather and joint leaders Rossie Priory cashed-in with a seven-wicket win over Couper Angus at the Priory.

Craig Robertson’s four wickets helped dismiss the visitors for just 90 before Bruce Stephen hit 33no and Derek McAlpine 29no to seal Rossie’s seventh win in as many starts.