By Craig Black

The Clackmannan 1st X1 made the 90minute trip up to Forfar to take on Strathmore in a 40 over pre-season friendly on Saturday. On a cold and overcast day, the home side were put into bat by Clackmannan on what appeared to be a very lively pitch. The usual pairing of Craig Black and Matthew Booth opened the attack for the Wee County and after the first couple of overs it became clear that it would be a tough day for the batsmen, the slow outfield and even slower wicket hampering any chance for playmaking. Clackmannan used this to their advantage and kept the pressure on the home side, being rewarded in the 13th over when Tippu Sultan removed the opener with a well-disguised slower ball which was spooned to cover. A few overs later and some sharp fielding in the outfield by Dan Smith saw both batsmen at the same end, gifting us with an easy run out with the score on 69. The remaining opener decided to take the attack to the Clackmannan Cougars the who! and go aerial in an attempt to up the run rate. Realising it was a matter of time before a mistake would be made; we kept out heads and were rewarded when Booth enticed him into a rash shot on 42, which was well pouched by Kash. Ali. At this stage Strathmore were 90 for 3 with 12 overs left, and with several of their more recognised batsmen still to come, could post a very respectable score. However wickets began to fall at regular intervals as tight bowling and good fielding began to reap rewards. The last wicket fell in the 39th over with the score on 143. The pick of the bowlers was Black with 4-15 and he was well supported by Booth and Sultan with 2 apiece.

Having restricted the much stronger Forfar team to a modest total, the chance of an upset looked to be on the cards, provided one or two of our batsmen could get in and build a decent partnership. Unfortunately this never materialised as their disciplined bowling attack gave little away, forcing our batsmen to take unnecessary risks and promptly get themselves out. The fall of wickets and mounting run rate eventually proved too much and we were bowled out for 121 in the penultimate over. A fairly decent performance with several positive aspects that can be taken into next Saturdays friendly against Stirling 2nd X1