Clackmannan County Cricket Club

By Scott Malcolmson

Clackmannan were hosts to Preston Village 2nd team on Saturday and were looking to keep their 100% record going. After winning the toss Clackmannan inserted their hosts.
The game didn’t start very well for Clackmannan with openers Grieve and Black racing away to 33 after 6 overs. With Ali Band and Neil Ramsay not getting their usual breakthrough Clackmannan turned to Noor Jhangir and Riswan Ashraf. Both bowled well, but still no breakthrough but the runs dried up for the visitors with Jhangir finishing the spell with, 5 overs for 8 runs and Ashraf, 8 overs for 18 runs. Ashraf was particularly unlucky fining the edge with regularity but with nothing going to hand.
Nick Bryant-Nichols replaced Ashraf and the breakthrough finally came. After a few dropped catches Bryant-Nichols removed Kenny Black caught and bowled for a well batted 40. Bryant-Nichols struck again for his second wicket, with a nice catch by Ashraf at mid off. Band came back on and in his first over bowled the new batsmen Adam Smith for a golden duck.
Preston Village, although having wickets in hand, were never really able to accelerate the scoring until the last few overs, due to some big hitting by Scott McMillan. Grieve was run out with the last ball of the innings after good work by AuranzebAlamgir who fielded off his own bowling and hit the stumps. Alan Grieve batted for all of Preston’s innings for a well earned 37. Preston Village finished on 147 for 4 off their 40 overs.
After tea Clackmannan opened the batting with Neil Ramsay and Dan Smith. This opening partnership had served Clackmannan well over their first two games and again didn’t disappoint. Smith and Ramsay who were both dropped in the first two overs went on to put on a fifty partnership. Smith was the first to depart well caught and bowled by McMillan for 26.
Ramsay went shortly after, bowled by Smith for 31. This left Noor Jhangir and Nick Bryant-Nichols at the crease. With Jhangir due for work at 6.30 he wasn’t hanging about. Some big hitting including two sixes brought him a quick firing 32 before he was out. Auranzeb Alamgir was next in, but was next out after skying the ball to point going for another big shot. Clackmannan were in freefall but seemed in a good position due to the first three batsmen.
Bryant-Nichols was soon bowled playing all around a straight ball. This brought two new batsmen to the crease. It took Alison Ramsay and James Cox a few overs to get going, with Cox playing some nice shots before being dismissed for 12. Riswan Ashraf was next batsmen in and along with A Ramsay(6) saw Clackmannan over the finish line. Ashraf finishing on 19 not out.
This was another fine victory for Clackmannan. After not bowling well at the start, Clackmannan fought hard with the ball in the field and kept Preston Village under 150. Although the middle order haven’t had much batting this season, they responded when called upon and saw Clackmannan through to the 20 points required, retaining their place at the top of the league table.
On Saturday the seconds play an undefeated Edinburgh South at the Inch in Edinburgh in what should be another close game.

Match Report
Clackmannan County 2nd XI v Preston Village 2nd XI
Click here to view scorecard
Date 17/5/2008	Venue The Arns, Alloa	Result Win for CCCC	Weather dry, cold
By Scott Malcolmson Clackmannan were hosts to Preston Village 2nd team on Saturday and were looking to keep their 100% record going. After winning the toss Clackmannan inserted their hosts. The game didn’t start very well for Clackmannan with openers Grieve and Black racing away to 33 after 6 overs. With Ali Band and Neil Ramsay not getting their usual breakthrough Clackmannan turned to Noor Jhangir and Riswan Ashraf. Both bowled well, but still no breakthrough but the runs dried up for the visitors with Jhangir finishing the spell with, 5 overs for 8 runs and Ashraf, 8 overs for 18 runs. Ashraf was particularly unlucky fining the edge with regularity but with nothing going to hand. Nick Bryant-Nichols replaced Ashraf and the breakthrough finally came. After a few dropped catches Bryant-Nichols removed Kenny Black caught and bowled for a well batted 40. Bryant-Nichols struck again for his second wicket, with a nice catch by Ashraf at mid off. Band came back on and in his first over bowled the new batsmen Adam Smith for a golden duck. Preston Village, although having wickets in hand, were never really able to accelerate the scoring until the last few overs, due to some big hitting by Scott McMillan. Grieve was run out with the last ball of the innings after good work by AuranzebAlamgir who fielded off his own bowling and hit the stumps. Alan Grieve batted for all of Preston’s innings for a well earned 37. Preston Village finished on 147 for 4 off their 40 overs. After tea Clackmannan opened the batting with Neil Ramsay and Dan Smith. This opening partnership had served Clackmannan well over their first two games and again didn’t disappoint. Smith and Ramsay who were both dropped in the first two overs went on to put on a fifty partnership. Smith was the first to depart well caught and bowled by McMillan for 26. Ramsay went shortly after, bowled by Smith for 31. This left Noor Jhangir and Nick Bryant-Nichols at the crease. With Jhangir due for work at 6.30 he wasn’t hanging about. Some big hitting including two sixes brought him a quick firing 32 before he was out. Auranzeb Alamgir was next in, but was next out after skying the ball to point going for another big shot. Clackmannan were in freefall but seemed in a good position due to the first three batsmen. Bryant-Nichols was soon bowled playing all around a straight ball. This brought two new batsmen to the crease. It took Alison Ramsay and James Cox a few overs to get going, with Cox playing some nice shots before being dismissed for 12. Riswan Ashraf was next batsmen in and along with A Ramsay(6) saw Clackmannan over the finish line. Ashraf finishing on 19 not out. This was another fine victory for Clackmannan. After not bowling well at the start, Clackmannan fought hard with the ball in the field and kept Preston Village under 150. Although the middle order haven’t had much batting this season, they responded when called upon and saw Clackmannan through to the 20 points required, retaining their place at the top of the league table. On Saturday the seconds play an undefeated Edinburgh South at the Inch in Edinburgh in what should be another close game.