By Auranzeb Alamgir

Clackmannan County thirds went head to head against St Modans on a highly unlikely day for cricket, as clouds and rain descended vigorously. St Modans won the toss and decided to field, Clackmannan opened with Noor Jhangir and Rich Passe , after playing and amazing shot straight over the bowlers head for 4, Jhangir was bowled by J.Wilson.  This brought Kash Ali to the crease but he was dismissed after just three runs and it looked like Clackmannan were in trouble. Ali was replaced by Riswan Ashraf who soon found the momentum and started playing the shots all around the ground.  Passe, who was holding one end quite well, was dismissed by Crooks for 13, this brought the Big Boom machine Auranzeb Alamgir to the wicket. It didn’t took long for him to start attacking the bowlers with both batsmen destroying the bowling attack, the frustration was rising for the fielding side as the arguments increased. R.Sangshari the visiting side captain brought himself into the attack and soon managed to dismiss Ashraf whose beautiful inning ended on 57, his first fifty for the club.  His dismissal brought the Clackmannan skipper Tippu Sultan to the crease, but not for long, caught second ball for  a duckie. This did not stop Alamgir a (nothing much ever does) he was on a charge, sending the cherry over the ropes almost every ball, his inning was eventually ended at 54. Everyone later in the inning contributed to the score with Rik Odendal scoring a quick fire 23 and Greig Taylor 24 the Clackmannan inning ended at 237 for 10 including massive 55 runs coming as extras, thanks to the pressure build by R.Ashraf and A.Alamgir.
Clackmannan opened the bowling with experienced Will Kay and talented Ross Archibald, wickets started to fall quickly as it was becoming difficult for the batsman to face Clackmannans fast and accurate bowling attack. Kay trapped J.Wilson for LBW for just 2 runs and Archibald dismissing the other opener S.Mcpake through a full stretch catch from skipper Sultan. The wickets kept tumbling R.Sangshari was the only batsman who managed to keep his wicket scoring 52, he was eventually dismissed by Riswan Ashraf. St.Modans inning ended for 164 all out.  Best of the Clackmannan bowler were Will Kay and Rizwan Ashraf both taking 3 wickets apiece with Kash Ali, Noor Jhangir and Ross Archibald getting 1 wicket. A good win and great perfomance by all the players in all aspects of the game with a direct hit run out by R.Passe a highlight of the fielding display. Clackmannan County 3rds face Dollar at home in a friendly match this Sunday.  No they don’t, it’s been cancelled due to a postponed cup game – any offers for a game against the thirds? (Webmaster) Special thanks to  Jamie McCann for Scoring and Umpiring true team support and to David Henderson who came out in rain in the morning to prepare the ground for the game.