By (I let you guess!!)

Having not played for the last two weeks, surprisingly not due to rain affected matches, Clackmannan County 1st XI trawled through the Edinburgh Bypass to reach the far foreign lands of East Lothian, where they were visitors to Haddington.  After losing the toss, Clacks skipper Craig Black decided not to conform to the rigorous warm-up routine usually associated with the 1st XI but more so to throw the ball into the keeper a few times.  This proved to be worthwhile as the muggy conditions made for hard work in the field.
On a pitch that offered so much to the bowlers, Clackmannan’s opening pair of Rizwan Ashraf & Matthew Booth did not disappoint coming so close on number of occasions. However the breakthrough did not come until the 8th over where Matty had opener Prenter (8) caught at cover by James Cox.  The experienced R Hiley joined A Clark at the crease looking to push the score on.  However, in his haste to do such a task, Hiley played and missed at a regulation ball, but the quick thinking of keeper Greig Taylor, saw him depart back to the clubhouse as he was stumped for nought. Haddington keeper, P Talbot joined Clark at the crease and both batsmen looked comfortable as the Clackmannan opening pair were tiring.  A double change was needed, so Black and Neil Ramsay came on, and this change worked to immediate effect as Clark remained out of his crease, following a ripsnorter of a ball from Black, and with his radar now in focus, keeper Taylor threw down the stumps again to send the batsman back to the shed. This wicket was a joy to the team, but more so to skipper Black as this was the first ever stumping off his bowling.   J Clark entered the fray and hopped around for a few balls, only to be run out by a combination of athletic fielding from Graham Fraser and a good clean pick up from Taylor for 0 trying to get off the strike.  Clackmannan were in euphoria as a strong Haddington side were 50 – 4 after 18 over’s, not the start home skipper Gray would have wanted after electing to bat.  Cruickshank joined Talbot at the crease, and the mind boggled as the most technically gifted batsman of the home side came in at such a late stage in the order.  With the knowledge that these two batsmen could put any attack to the sword on their day, Clacks were delighted to see Talbot depart for a battling 15, sharply caught at slip by Gordon Oliver off the bowling of Black.  The catch wasn’t so much sharp in style but more sharp in the form of time as Oliver had to use his upper body to smother the ball.  Suffice to say, the seam mark imprinted on Gordon’s chest was a battle scar he would certainly be proud of. The elegant Cruickshank didn’t occupy the crease for long as he caught at gully by David Watkins off the recalled Matty Booth for 10.  Clackmannan were in the driving seat at drinks with the home side reeling on 78 – 6.  Skipper Gray came to the crease and along with J Mitchell, steadied the partially sinking ship and reinstalled some faith in the team after his decision to bat, mind you this was probably more to the fact that they only had 7 men at 1 O’clock.  By this stage, Black had brought on Richard Passe, who was operating from one end whilst the quick bowlers were rotated at the other. Passe bowled well causing difficulty for the home side and his efforts were rewarded with the wicket of Mitchell, caught behind by Taylor for a gallant 20.   Haddington at this stage were 136 – 7 but the lower order did not score many runs as Ashraf and Ramsay finished off the innings well, both picking up a wicket each, dejecting Haddington to a below par total.  Last man out was skipper Gray for a well grafted 62 and had it not been for his innings, Haddington would have struggled to get to 150 but as is so, he took his team to a potentially defendable score of 170.
The experienced opening pair of Ken Hutchison & Richard Passe saw Clackmannan into a strong position as they advanced the score to 36 before the fall of the first wicket. Scoring wasn’t as easy with pace off the ball in addition to the challenging pitch made runs hard to come by.  Hutchison (19) was first to go, trying to up the rate, caught magnificently by R Gray at mid-wicket.  In such an instance, you just have to take your hat off to the fielder and leave the pitch certainly not disgraced. As most of our Division 3 opponents will know, at the fall of every wicket the chant of “Cougars” is exhaled in unison by the Clackmannan contingent. In a state of playful banter, Haddington decided to replicate this feat and perform their on chant of “Goats” which was duly applauded by the visiting captain, who was on his way to the crease, and the rest of the Clackmannan team.  This cunning trick of irony seemed to have worked as Passe was caught trying to go over the top for a grafted 14. Unfortunately for Haddington, the jubilation of the fall of wickets was soon to be a distant memory as Craig Black really showed why he is a wonderful asset to this club. The elegance shown in his drives, late cuts, sweeps, pulls, clips through midwicket just had every player on that pitch in awe. He was ably supported through his innings firstly by Watkins and latterly by Gordon Oliver. Watkins was stumped off the bowling of Gray via a nifty piece of work by Talbot for 13.  At 94 – 3, Haddington knew that if they got out Black and Oliver, they would expose the lower order, and really make a game of things, but as it happened Watkins wicket was to be last as an unbeaten partnership of 77 by Black and Oliver completed a comprehensive victory for the county side.  Oliver finished on 18* but the star of the show had to be Black with his innings of 95*.
Man of the match has to go to Craig for his knock but the real plaudits of the day had to go to the11 bodies during the Haddington innings.  Commitment in the field, tight & accurate bowling and with some intelligent work by Taylor thrown into the mix, proved to be the difference between the sides.