Clackmannan County Cricket Club

By Graeme Anderson

On Saturday, the first eleven travelled to Edinburgh to play against Kirk Brae, and finally managed to complete their first game of cricket for the season, after the previous few weeks of wash outs.
As captain Graeme Anderson was franticly rushing around to find a replacement wicketkeeper for Geoff Logan, who was stuck in St Andrews with a car that wouldn’t start. Vice captain Craig Black won the toss and elected to bat. Anderson arrived on time and headed straight out to bat with Ken Hutchison. The two openers rode their luck at times, but kept working hard, bringing the 50 partnership up in the 14th over. At this point in the match, Kirk Brae replaced their opening bowlers. The change bowlers kept things tight, as Kirk Brae applied some pressure, only 10 runs were scored in the next 5 over’s. Ken Hutchison move up a gear to removed the pressure with some wonderful boundaries.
The score moved quickly to 98 in the 24th over, as Hutchison brought up his 50. Sadly Anderson was bowled for 31 a couple of balls later, 2 short of the hundred partnership.
Kirk Brae then tightened things back up again, making it difficult for the batsmen to score. Hutchison managed to make his way to 64, before being bowled trying to pick the pace up in the 32nd over. Clackmannan then stumbled through the next few over’s, losing wickets regularly and not adding too many runs, as they reached 137 for 5 in the 36th over. Alan and Graham Oliver managed to stop the precession of wickets, but after 40 over’s, the score hadn’t changed. However the stabilization provided the platform for the duo to fight back, as they progressed the score to 150 in the 43rd over, with some excellent shot placement.
Graham Oliver was caught in the 44th over with the score on 155 and Alan, having hit 31 from 33 balls, was bowled in the 47th over with 173 on the board. Keith Hefer also contributed 16 from 8 balls, as the innings closed on 198 for 9.
After the tea break, Clackmannan took to the field looking to attack the opposition early. Matthew Booth opened the bowling with Craig Black, who struck with the first ball of the second over. Kirk Brae chipped away at around 3 runs per over, offering few chances, as their top order batsmen amassed a large partnership. During the 21st over the second wicket fell, followed by the third wicket in the same over, as Alan Oliver struck. Kirk Brae had amassed 80 for 3 wickets; however in the 27th over Kirk Braes opening batsmen was caught off Oliver’s bowling, having made 57. Two over’s later and a run out exposed Kirk Braes tail, with the score on 113.
The run rate for Kirk Brae then increased to around 4 an over, but wickets fell regularly as Oliver picked up 2 more wickets, to finish with figures of 5 For 45 from his 10 Over’s. Craig Black came back on to bowl as he finished off the tail, bowling out Kirk Brae for 163. Black finishing with figures of 9.4 over’s, 4 maidens, 4 wickets for only 12 runs.
It was a really good team effort, with everybody contributing in some form. On Saturday the first team plays Musselburgh at the Arns, start time 1 pm.

Match Report
Kirk Brae v Clackmannan County 1st XI
Click here to view scorecard
Date 17/5/2008	Venue Double Hedges	Result Win for CCCC	Weather Cloudy
By Graeme Anderson On Saturday, the first eleven travelled to Edinburgh to play against Kirk Brae, and finally managed to complete their first game of cricket for the season, after the previous few weeks of wash outs. As captain Graeme Anderson was franticly rushing around to find a replacement wicketkeeper for Geoff Logan, who was stuck in St Andrews with a car that wouldn’t start. Vice captain Craig Black won the toss and elected to bat. Anderson arrived on time and headed straight out to bat with Ken Hutchison. The two openers rode their luck at times, but kept working hard, bringing the 50 partnership up in the 14th over. At this point in the match, Kirk Brae replaced their opening bowlers. The change bowlers kept things tight, as Kirk Brae applied some pressure, only 10 runs were scored in the next 5 over’s. Ken Hutchison move up a gear to removed the pressure with some wonderful boundaries. The score moved quickly to 98 in the 24th over, as Hutchison brought up his 50. Sadly Anderson was bowled for 31 a couple of balls later, 2 short of the hundred partnership. Kirk Brae then tightened things back up again, making it difficult for the batsmen to score. Hutchison managed to make his way to 64, before being bowled trying to pick the pace up in the 32nd over. Clackmannan then stumbled through the next few over’s, losing wickets regularly and not adding too many runs, as they reached 137 for 5 in the 36th over. Alan and Graham Oliver managed to stop the precession of wickets, but after 40 over’s, the score hadn’t changed. However the stabilization provided the platform for the duo to fight back, as they progressed the score to 150 in the 43rd over, with some excellent shot placement. Graham Oliver was caught in the 44th over with the score on 155 and Alan, having hit 31 from 33 balls, was bowled in the 47th over with 173 on the board. Keith Hefer also contributed 16 from 8 balls, as the innings closed on 198 for 9. After the tea break, Clackmannan took to the field looking to attack the opposition early. Matthew Booth opened the bowling with Craig Black, who struck with the first ball of the second over. Kirk Brae chipped away at around 3 runs per over, offering few chances, as their top order batsmen amassed a large partnership. During the 21st over the second wicket fell, followed by the third wicket in the same over, as Alan Oliver struck. Kirk Brae had amassed 80 for 3 wickets; however in the 27th over Kirk Braes opening batsmen was caught off Oliver’s bowling, having made 57. Two over’s later and a run out exposed Kirk Braes tail, with the score on 113. The run rate for Kirk Brae then increased to around 4 an over, but wickets fell regularly as Oliver picked up 2 more wickets, to finish with figures of 5 For 45 from his 10 Over’s. Craig Black came back on to bowl as he finished off the tail, bowling out Kirk Brae for 163. Black finishing with figures of 9.4 over’s, 4 maidens, 4 wickets for only 12 runs. It was a really good team effort, with everybody contributing in some form. On Saturday the first team plays Musselburgh at the Arns, start time 1 pm.