Clackmannan County Cricket Club

By Craig Black

Clackmannan County Cricket Club (CCCC) 1st’s made the trip through to Edinburgh on Saturday to take on Stewarts Melville Royal High 2nd’s. With the heavens unleashing their worst the previous day and drenching the capital, it was always in doubt if the game would go ahead, however, SMRH being the fine establishment it is, the covers had been over the pitch and it looked to be a good batting wicket but with some help for the bowlers. Clackmannan skipper Craig Black won the toss and decided to put the home side into the field.
The Clackmannan Cougars opened proceedings with the experienced young pairing of Dan Smith (4) and Graham Oliver (4). The captain’s decision to bat looked to have been a mistake as CCCC soon found themselves in trouble at 16 for 2 with the openers back in the pavilion, having both edged the bowling of Crispin to slip. Craig Black and Gordon Oliver were next in and they soon began to get the scoreboard ticking over despite the tight bowling of the openers Crispin and Styles. They had taken the score along to 45 in the 13th over when Oliver (9) looked to drive a ball off Crispin but only succeeded in edging it to the productive slip fielder. The ball struck him on the shoulder and looped to his teammate in gully who gratefully took the easy ricochet catch. Keith Hefer was next in and looked to be in good form, playing some textbook shots however he departed for 7 after being trapped LBW by Styles with the score on 56 for 4. This brought Tippu Sultan (23) to the crease. Black was looking in good touch at the other end but in desperate need of a partner to support him. Sultan duly obliged and the two put on a brisk 60 run partnership with Tippu in ‘destruction mode’ as he lofted some mighty shots around the ground. He was eventually caught LBW off the bowling of Johnes for 23 in the 23rd over. At 116 for 5, the game appeared to be balanced on a knife-edge, with either team having the opportunity to stamp their mark on proceedings, and initially it seemed SMRH had done just that, when the promising young leg spinner Warnoch bowled Richard Passe for the dreaded 0. Without any recognised batsmen still to come, the Cougars sat precariously on 118 for 6 at the drinks break.
Before the restart, a remark from one of the fielders saying that wickets always fall immediately after the drinks break caused Dan Smith, who was umpiring at the time, to turn to Black and whisper ‘’I somehow doubt it’’. Whether or not Smiths mop of hair has given him psychic abilities can be argued, but how right he turned out to be! The new bat of Paul Hooper and Black quickly found their stride and began to put the SMRH bowling to the sword in what could challenge the CCCC 7th wicket record partnership, with a stand of 142. Excellent running by the pair put the fielders under immense pressure and in the 40th over Black brought up his second century for the Cougars. The remaining 10 overs yielded 86 runs for the County as they eventually closed their innings on 260 for 6, Paul Hooper unbeaten agonisingly close to his maiden half century for the club on 49* and Black carrying his bat through 45 overs to finish on 144 not out – a spectacular recovery from the adopted Alloa boys.
With adrenaline still pumping, Clackmannan took to the field to defend their formidable total. Rizwan Ashraf and Matty Booth opened the county attack and within 3 overs they had the homeside reeling on 5 for 3. The first wicket fell to Booth when the opener McGhie, who after playing and missing a ball, continued to waltz up the pitch and gifted the quick thinking wicket-keeper, Hooper, the most bizarre of stumpings. Ashraf struck twice in 2 balls in the next over with Barch skying a pull shot to the accepting mitts of Dan Smith at square-leg and then clean-bowled Warnock first ball. Five overs later and Rizwan had another 2 wickets in the same over when Coltherd edged through to Hooper behind the stumps (and very sportingly walked) before Johnes had his middle stump rattled 3 balls later. At his stage the Cougars had the scoreboard wincing on 27 for 5 and unfortunately for SMRH the pain didn’t stop there. Tippu Sultan replaced Booth and soon put his name in the scorebook when he bowled the hard-hitting Styles before Ashraf picked up another 2 quick wickets to leave SMRH on 52 for 8. Will Kay replaced Sultan in what turned out to be the final over of the game. His second ball found the edge of the bat and flew to slip where Gordon Oliver instinctively stuck out a hand. For a few brief seconds the confused Cougars where staring towards the boundary expecting to see a ball crossing the ropes before realising that they had witnessed one of the greatest catches likely to be seen in a CCCC jersey as Oliver had mysteriously managed to hold onto it. The final wicket fell 2 balls later when Craig Black held onto a missile at mid off and finished the SMRH innings on 53 all out. Will Kay ended up with impressive figures of 2 for 1 off 4 balls but Riswan Ashraf stole the show with the ball, ending impressively with 6 for 27.
A massive victory for the Clackmannan Cougars who will look to take this run of victories through to their meeting with Edinburgh Uni Staff next Saturday at the Arns.

Match Report
Clackmannan County v SMRH 2
Click here to view scorecard
Date 16/5/2009	Venue Inverleith	Result Win	Weather showery
By Craig Black Clackmannan County Cricket Club (CCCC) 1st’s made the trip through to Edinburgh on Saturday to take on Stewarts Melville Royal High 2nd’s. With the heavens unleashing their worst the previous day and drenching the capital, it was always in doubt if the game would go ahead, however, SMRH being the fine establishment it is, the covers had been over the pitch and it looked to be a good batting wicket but with some help for the bowlers. Clackmannan skipper Craig Black won the toss and decided to put the home side into the field. The Clackmannan Cougars opened proceedings with the experienced young pairing of Dan Smith (4) and Graham Oliver (4). The captain’s decision to bat looked to have been a mistake as CCCC soon found themselves in trouble at 16 for 2 with the openers back in the pavilion, having both edged the bowling of Crispin to slip. Craig Black and Gordon Oliver were next in and they soon began to get the scoreboard ticking over despite the tight bowling of the openers Crispin and Styles. They had taken the score along to 45 in the 13th over when Oliver (9) looked to drive a ball off Crispin but only succeeded in edging it to the productive slip fielder. The ball struck him on the shoulder and looped to his teammate in gully who gratefully took the easy ricochet catch. Keith Hefer was next in and looked to be in good form, playing some textbook shots however he departed for 7 after being trapped LBW by Styles with the score on 56 for 4. This brought Tippu Sultan (23) to the crease. Black was looking in good touch at the other end but in desperate need of a partner to support him. Sultan duly obliged and the two put on a brisk 60 run partnership with Tippu in ‘destruction mode’ as he lofted some mighty shots around the ground. He was eventually caught LBW off the bowling of Johnes for 23 in the 23rd over. At 116 for 5, the game appeared to be balanced on a knife-edge, with either team having the opportunity to stamp their mark on proceedings, and initially it seemed SMRH had done just that, when the promising young leg spinner Warnoch bowled Richard Passe for the dreaded 0. Without any recognised batsmen still to come, the Cougars sat precariously on 118 for 6 at the drinks break. Before the restart, a remark from one of the fielders saying that wickets always fall immediately after the drinks break caused Dan Smith, who was umpiring at the time, to turn to Black and whisper ‘’I somehow doubt it’’. Whether or not Smiths mop of hair has given him psychic abilities can be argued, but how right he turned out to be! The new bat of Paul Hooper and Black quickly found their stride and began to put the SMRH bowling to the sword in what could challenge the CCCC 7th wicket record partnership, with a stand of 142. Excellent running by the pair put the fielders under immense pressure and in the 40th over Black brought up his second century for the Cougars. The remaining 10 overs yielded 86 runs for the County as they eventually closed their innings on 260 for 6, Paul Hooper unbeaten agonisingly close to his maiden half century for the club on 49* and Black carrying his bat through 45 overs to finish on 144 not out – a spectacular recovery from the adopted Alloa boys. With adrenaline still pumping, Clackmannan took to the field to defend their formidable total. Rizwan Ashraf and Matty Booth opened the county attack and within 3 overs they had the homeside reeling on 5 for 3. The first wicket fell to Booth when the opener McGhie, who after playing and missing a ball, continued to waltz up the pitch and gifted the quick thinking wicket-keeper, Hooper, the most bizarre of stumpings. Ashraf struck twice in 2 balls in the next over with Barch skying a pull shot to the accepting mitts of Dan Smith at square-leg and then clean-bowled Warnock first ball. Five overs later and Rizwan had another 2 wickets in the same over when Coltherd edged through to Hooper behind the stumps (and very sportingly walked) before Johnes had his middle stump rattled 3 balls later. At his stage the Cougars had the scoreboard wincing on 27 for 5 and unfortunately for SMRH the pain didn’t stop there. Tippu Sultan replaced Booth and soon put his name in the scorebook when he bowled the hard-hitting Styles before Ashraf picked up another 2 quick wickets to leave SMRH on 52 for 8. Will Kay replaced Sultan in what turned out to be the final over of the game. His second ball found the edge of the bat and flew to slip where Gordon Oliver instinctively stuck out a hand. For a few brief seconds the confused Cougars where staring towards the boundary expecting to see a ball crossing the ropes before realising that they had witnessed one of the greatest catches likely to be seen in a CCCC jersey as Oliver had mysteriously managed to hold onto it. The final wicket fell 2 balls later when Craig Black held onto a missile at mid off and finished the SMRH innings on 53 all out. Will Kay ended up with impressive figures of 2 for 1 off 4 balls but Riswan Ashraf stole the show with the ball, ending impressively with 6 for 27. A massive victory for the Clackmannan Cougars who will look to take this run of victories through to their meeting with Edinburgh Uni Staff next Saturday at the Arns.