By Craig Black

Clackmannan start the season in style

Clackmannan County 1st X1 played host to the newly promoted Broomhall at the Arns on Saturday in their first league game of the season. With the threat of rain being predicted all week, it was a welcome sight to the see the ground bathed in sunlight for the start of the game. The weather during the previous couple of days had left the pitch fairly damp so the decision was taken that the game would take place on the artificial wicket. Broomhall won the toss and decided to bat. Rizwan Ashraf (1-25) and Craig Black (3-22) opened the attack for the home side and were immediately into the swing of things, their pace and accuracy causing the batsmen some discomfort. The cricketing gods didn’t seem to be smiling on Clackmannan as several rash shots fell agonisingly short of fielders. A change of bowling was needed and the skipper turned to the ever resourceful Tippu Sultan (3-24) and the young South African Keith Hefer. Sultan stepped up to the occasion and bowled one of the spells of the season whilst Hefer held up the other end, keeping the run rate down. The first break through came in Sultans second over as he caught Andrews (14) LBW in front of his wicket with the score on 32. His next over produced more delight as the number 3 was cleaned bowled with the score on 40. Clackmannan were well aware of the depth and skill of the Broomhall batting line up and knew that they had to maintain a stranglehold on the match if they were to be in with a chance of victory. Broomhall’s big gun Jamie Grant was the next man in and immediately took the attack to Clackmannan with some booming cover drives and the run rate started to increase. Sultan continued his deceptive display of pace bowling and was rewarded again towards the end of his 10 over spell when he uprooted the off stump of the remaining opener, Bell (22), with the score on 65. The home side knew that the game pivoted on the wicket of Grant and this was clearly shown when his wicket fell with the score on 95-4, Alan Oliver (1-35) flighting  one back into the batsmen, who could only manage to feather it to the welcoming gloves of Paul Hooper behind the stumps. Unfortunately this excitement seemed to go the Cougars’ heads and the 2 new batsmen took full advantage by building a very useful 50 run partnership. This was finally broken in the 42nd over, with the introduction of Black back into the attack, when the ball ricocheted off Stoddart’s(26) pads and back onto the stumps. The skipper struck again in his next over when he bowled Drummond (5) and then knocked over Ali’s (0) middle stump with the very next ball. As Broomhall’s innings came to an end they made a desperate bid to up the run rate, and this played to the homeside’s advantage as they were gifted with a couple of suicidal run outs. The final wicket of the innings deservedly fell to Ashraf with the score on 153.  This was an excellent performance by the County boys to keep a strong batting line up to such a modest total. The Cougars began the run chase with the young opening pair of Dan Smith and Graham Oliver. The score board was ticking over smoothly until the 7th over when Grant nipped one back and cleaned bowled Smith (8) with the score on 15. Captain Craig Black replaced Smith and immediately settled into his stride. The new pairing are not strangers to building big partnerships and looked to stamp their mark on the game. With the score on 75 in the 16th over, Black passed his second successive 50 with a large six that almost smashed the windscreen of the opposing captain’s RangeRover. Oliver supported him well and looked in fine form as he played the perfect openers innings and the 100 partnership was finally brought up in the 25th over. Black’s innings eventually came to an abrupt end on 82, when he was forced to retire hurt after top-edging a ball into his face. Hefer replaced the injured Black but didn’t last long, departing for 2. This left it to the father and son pairing of Gordon (13no) and Graham Oliver (36no) to see the home team across the finish line for an emphatic 8 wicket victory. This was a superb start to the Clackmannan season against one of the favoured sides for promotion this year and this success will hopefully be taken forward to next week when the County play host to Dunfermline Carnegie at the Arns.

Man of the match was awarded to Craig Black for his performance with bat and ball, and the newly formed award for Dick of the Day was also awarded to Mr Black for his efforts at devouring a cricket ball.