By Craig Black

The Clackmannan Cougars travelled to Double Hedges in Edinburgh on Saturday, realising a victory against 3rd place Kirk Brae would all but secure them guaranteed promotion, sending them to the upper echelons of Division 3 in the East League. Clackmannan skipper Craig Black lost the toss but was somewhat surprisingly asked to bat on what appeared to be a fairly lifeless pitch.

Graeme Anderson and Graham Oliver started the Counties innings and both were immediately under immense pressure from a very disciplined Kirk Brae attack. The scoreboard was remaining fairly static as a result. After 13 overs the total was only 21 when Clackmannan suffered their first blow, Anderson played over the top of a ball and was bowled for a gritty 14. Craig Black came in at 3 and was off the mark first ball. The new pairing set about building a partnership in 1’s and 2’s as few boundary balls were being offered and the aggressive running helped push the total to 88 at the half way stage. Soon after the interval Oliver departed for 38 after edging to the keeper and immediately walking, and Black followed him shortly after for 44, when a lapse of concentration saw him leave a straight delivery. Ash Rasul and James Couper continued from where the previous pair left off, building another valuable partnership at a decent pace. Rasul departed, hit wicket for 20, after demolishing his own stumps with a pull shot immediately before Couper trudged back to the pavilion for 32. With 7 overs left and 186 on the board, Clackmannan were aiming at a respectable score of about 220. Paul Hooper and Gordon Oliver took the attack to Kirk Brae and the runs started to flow freely. 220 was reached in the 47th over, shortly before Hooper skied a catch to square leg for a quick-fire 36. Tippu Sultan joined Oliver at the middle and immediately made his intentions clear, lofting his first ball straight back over the bowlers head for the maximum. The penultimate over saw Sultan caught on the boundary but the fielder had one foot on the rope so another 6 runs were credited to the batsman. Oliver was bowled off the last ball of the 49th over for 12. Going into the final over, Clackmannan were delighted at having amassed 244 and would have been more than happy with that as a final total, however, the best was yet come. Sultan played and missed the first delivery; the second ball wasn’t quite as lucky and was dispatched for 6 over long on. The third ball was a bit shorter and a classic pull shot sent that one over the ropes for consecutive 6’s. A slower ball was the next one to get the ‘boom boom’ treatment and it too soared over the long on boundary. The fifth ball of the final over gave the men of the MIR space station something to worry about as it too was launched into orbit. Everyone present was absolutely speechless and shell-shocked at this utter savagery displayed with the bat, and sheer jubilation erupted when the final ball of the over was unsurprisingly smashed out the ground for Sultan’s 5th consecutive six, to leave him on 48 not out off only 12 balls. A truly breathtaking display of power hitting to say the least!

Clackmannan took to the field confident that 274 would be a near impossible total to reach but we were well aware what the Kirk Brae batting line up was capable of after having them come uncomfortably close to chasing down 250 earlier in the season. The first breakthrough was quick in coming when, when after only 4 balls, Noor Jhangir, quickly recovered after dropping a catch, made and an accurate throw to Hooper behind the stumps which saw Snow run out without facing a ball. 2 overs later and another mix up in the calling gifted Clackmannan with another, the big wicket of Colvin, run out for 2. The endorphins were running high when Ashraf dismissed Blake 3 overs later, after dragging one on, to leave the home side almost down and out on 14 for 3. A fighting partnership of 86 between Pathania and Seditas was ended by a brilliantly judged catch in the deep by James Couper off the tight bowling of Jhangir. Graeme Anderson was supporting Jhangir excellently and the two were making scoring very difficult, this meant Kirk Brae had to take chances to keep up with the escaping run rate. Jhangir struck twice in 3 overs, having Seditas caught at point by riswan Ashraf and then clean bowling Moss for 0. When Anderson bowled the last recognised batsman Fredrick for 2, victory was secured for the Cougars. The home side realising this, opted to try and bat out the innings and gain as many batting points as possible. Ashraf struck twice after being reintroduced however Anderson put the final nail in the coffin when he bowled Rive for a valiant 15 to give Clackmannan a huge 131 run win.