By Craig Black

Clackmannan continued in their quest for silverware with a comfortable 130 run victory against Dunfermline Carniegie on Saturday. The cougars made the 30 minute trip to Pitreavie on a cracking sunny day with the hopes of maintaining their position at the top of Division 4.
Clackmannan lost the toss and were put into bat by the opposition. A big reshuffle in the order saw Graeme Anderson and the destructive Tippu Sultan getting us underway. Sultan immediately set to work on Carniegie’s opening bowlers and his aggressive approach started to pay dividends as the boundaries started flowing. The first wicket to fall was that of Anderson (2) when he mistimed a lofted cover drive and was caught at mid-off off the bowling of Ross to leave Clackmannan stumbling on 19 for 1. The next man in was Keith Hefer and he did well to rotate the strike and let Sultan continue his onslaught on the opposing bowlers. The score raced to 46 off 10 overs before Sultan eventually played one shot too many and was bowled by Wauchop for a hard hitting 26. Craig Black strolled in at number 4 and continued from where he left off last week. Both batsmen looked comfortable and set for a big score as the run rate started to increase thanks to a combination of big hitting and quick singles. The accurate bowling of Wauchop was eventually rewarded when he picked up his second wicket, Hefer top edging a leg glance to gully for 32. Graham Oliver was the next man in and settled quickly, playing some truly exquisite shots off both the front and back foot whilst maintaining a stone wall defence. At the other end Black looked set for another fifty until he played around a straight delivery was adjudged LBW off the bowling of Thomas for 40 to leave Clackmannan
 on 136 for 4. Older brother Alan Oliver strode out to join his sibling at the crease. Having produced a match winning performance at the same ground last year, much was expected from the 2 batsmen, and once again they stepped up to be counted. An excellent partnership saw the score move to 190 off 37 overs before Graham was trapped in front and given LBW for a chanceless 46. Lower order maestro Paul Hooper was the next man in and he continued his rich form with the bat from ball one. Opening bowler Ross was brought back into the attack and his first over produced the goods when he bowled Alan for 22 and then had James Couper out LBW a few balls later for a duck. With the score on 205 and 7 overs remaining it was crucial that Clackmannan push on for a big total. Gordon Oliver and Hooper set about the task with ease and the runs started flowing freely. Excellent running and big aerial shots saw Clackmannan close their account on 259 for 7 with Hooper finishing unbeaten on 30, and Oliver chipping in with a valuable 27*. This was an stunning team effort from the Cougars with the majority of players getting runs but it was slightly disappointing not to see anyone go on to get a big score.
Having bowled Carniegie out last year for 53 and 18, Clackmannan were confident that their large total was defendable. The new ball was passed to Rizwan Ashraf and Matty Booth and both bowled well and were incredibly unlucky. The aggressive Wauchop took a liking to Booth so he was replaced by skipper Black who struck in his 3rd over, clean bowling Wauchop and sending him back to the changing rooms for 28. Sultan replaced Ashraf and the new pairing of bowlers caused serious discomfort to the home side on the lively wicket, leaving several ribs in need of attention. Sultan was rewarded when he picked up the wicket of the remaining opener Hunter, clean bowling him for a resolute 19. At 61 for 2 off 20 overs it was clear that Carniegie were in no mood to attempt chasing down the formidable total, instead they were happy to get a bit of batting practice in. Hefer and Alan Oliver replaced Black and Sultan and both settled into a lovely rhythm quickly, Hefer bowling with pin point accuracy and pace and Oliver flighting his deliveries beautifully. Hefer struck in his 5th over when the popular Honeyford skied a drive to Couper at backward point. A couple of overs later and Oliver had Turnball caught, enticing him into a mistimed sweep shot after a smart field adjustment. Black and Ashraf were reintroduced to the line up and bowled out their remaining overs. Black picked up the wicket of opposing skipper Lafferty with a short ball that was fended to the grateful mitts of Sultan at short leg, and Ashraf struck twice, clean bowling Lindsay and then having Ross caught behind for a solid 25. Booth also put his name in the scorebook when he came back on, Thomas middling a shot straight to the safe hands of Couper at midwicket. The innings eventually came to a end with Carniegie finishing on 129 for 8 and giving Clackmannan an easy 130 run victory. The pick of a very disciplined and successful bowling attack were Black (2 for 16) and Ashraf (2 for 20).
A superb team effort this week saw everyone chipping in and performing and as a result there was no man of the match. However there were numerous dick of the day nominations. This week the infamous accolade goes to every weatherman in Britain for telling us we would need umbrellas instead of suncream.