Clackmannan County Cricket Club

By Craig Black

For the third time in as many weeks our opposition were bowled out for less than 100 as a lethal fielding performance by the Cougars, spearheaded by Rizwan Ashraf, decimated Livingston’s stalwart defence and ensured Clackmannan’s perfect start to their new season, and division continued.
Clackmannan made the trip out to a chilly and blustery Livingston on Saturday to be greeted by a somewhat two-paced/toothpaste pitch. The overnight rains had seeped between the covers leaving ¾’s of the track in a horribly soft, spongy state whilst the remainder of the wicket wouldn’t have looked out of place at The Oval. The opposition captain sent the designated coin cart wheeling excitedly into the air and onto a crash-course with the wicket, realising that the side this chosen copper landed could prove somewhat crucial to the outcome of the game. Luckily the toss coin landed in favour of the visitors (for once!!!!!) and Craig Black had no hesitation in inviting the home side to have a bat.
Rizwan Ashraf and Keith Hefer took the new ball, and the opening pairing didn’t disappoint as they sent down several overs of unplayable deliveries. The opening stand was eventually torn apart in the 9th over when Jarvis attempted a quick single to Anderson in the covers (regular readers of this blog ?? report, please! will predict the result of this foolhardy decision) and was run out for 11, with the score on 20. Ashraf deservedly got his name in the wicket column a couple overs later, trapping the remaining opener, Khalid, LBW for 15 with the score on 27 for 2. Craig Black replaced Hefer and started off by knocking Duvvuri’s (0) off stump back with a late away swinger to leave Livingston’s innings stuttering. The procession of home players back to the dressing room become a somewhat regular feature as Neil Ramsay came in to the attack and picked up 2 wickets in a good 5 over spell, clean bowling Ganesan (4) and catching Crichton (7) LBW. Another wicket fell off the bowling of Ramsay in the most bizarre of fashions when the the facing batsmen drilled a relatively straightforward caught and bowled opportunity back to him, only for Neil to flounder the chance. However the ball somewhat miraculously managed to slip through his mitts and ricochet onto the non-sticker stumps, leaving Singh inches short of his ground and unfortunately run out. The scoreboard read 41 for 6 at this stage, and after 5 excellent yet unsuccessful overs by Alan Oliver, Ashraf was brought back into the attack with immediate effect as his first ball was skied to a grateful Dave Watkins at point to dismiss Aslam for 10. Rizwan continued to steam in and was rewarded with 3 further wickets, all clean bowled, as he took it upon himself to get his first 5’er of the season, eventually finishing off with 5-21 from 8.2 overs, and leaving a dejected Livingston all out for 70.
The Cougars opted for a tactical approach to their batting line-up, with Noor Jhangir promoted in the hope of scoring a typical quick fire 20-odd and David Watkins sent in to see out the overs. However this decision looked to have backfired when Watkins (1) edged through to the keeper who took a splendid catch off the bowling of Duvvuri, with the score on 10 after 6 overs. Skipper Black strode out to the crease on the back of consecutive centuries and immediately made his intentions clear, drilling several boundaries back past the bowlers. A vital partnership quickly took the wind out of Livingston’s sails as Black and Jhangir closed quickly in on the winning target. With the score on 43 Black departed, popping an easy catch back to Mackay for 20. Graeme Anderson (1) was next in and next out when a misjudged second run saw him short of his ground and left Clackmannan on 44 for 3. Keith Hefer waltzed out to join Jhangir, who at this stage was seeing the cherry like a beach ball and audaciously sweeping their opening bowlers. Hefer (3) soon had his leg stump timbered by the accurate bowling of Wilson to bring Ramsay to the crease with 16 still needed for victory. The minor heart palpitations suffered by the captain were unnecessary as the pair settled down comfortably and picked off the runs with nearly 30 overs to spare. Jhangir finished off with a valuable 30* and Ramsay with 10* as the Cougars won their 3rd successive match of 2010, and appear to be the early pace setters in Division 3.
Man of the match undoubtedly went to Rizwan Ashraf for another well deserved 5’er. After much deliberation, Dick-of-the-Day was awarded to Graeme Anderson, for not helping his average in the slightest by running himself out.

Match Report
Clackmannan County 1st XI V Livingston
Click here to view scorecard
Date 15/5/2010	Venue Dresselrig	Result Win	Weather Blustery cold
By Craig Black For the third time in as many weeks our opposition were bowled out for less than 100 as a lethal fielding performance by the Cougars, spearheaded by Rizwan Ashraf, decimated Livingston’s stalwart defence and ensured Clackmannan’s perfect start to their new season, and division continued. Clackmannan made the trip out to a chilly and blustery Livingston on Saturday to be greeted by a somewhat two-paced/toothpaste pitch. The overnight rains had seeped between the covers leaving ¾’s of the track in a horribly soft, spongy state whilst the remainder of the wicket wouldn’t have looked out of place at The Oval. The opposition captain sent the designated coin cart wheeling excitedly into the air and onto a crash-course with the wicket, realising that the side this chosen copper landed could prove somewhat crucial to the outcome of the game. Luckily the toss coin landed in favour of the visitors (for once!!!!!) and Craig Black had no hesitation in inviting the home side to have a bat. Rizwan Ashraf and Keith Hefer took the new ball, and the opening pairing didn’t disappoint as they sent down several overs of unplayable deliveries. The opening stand was eventually torn apart in the 9th over when Jarvis attempted a quick single to Anderson in the covers (regular readers of this blog ?? report, please! will predict the result of this foolhardy decision) and was run out for 11, with the score on 20. Ashraf deservedly got his name in the wicket column a couple overs later, trapping the remaining opener, Khalid, LBW for 15 with the score on 27 for 2. Craig Black replaced Hefer and started off by knocking Duvvuri’s (0) off stump back with a late away swinger to leave Livingston’s innings stuttering. The procession of home players back to the dressing room become a somewhat regular feature as Neil Ramsay came in to the attack and picked up 2 wickets in a good 5 over spell, clean bowling Ganesan (4) and catching Crichton (7) LBW. Another wicket fell off the bowling of Ramsay in the most bizarre of fashions when the the facing batsmen drilled a relatively straightforward caught and bowled opportunity back to him, only for Neil to flounder the chance. However the ball somewhat miraculously managed to slip through his mitts and ricochet onto the non-sticker stumps, leaving Singh inches short of his ground and unfortunately run out. The scoreboard read 41 for 6 at this stage, and after 5 excellent yet unsuccessful overs by Alan Oliver, Ashraf was brought back into the attack with immediate effect as his first ball was skied to a grateful Dave Watkins at point to dismiss Aslam for 10. Rizwan continued to steam in and was rewarded with 3 further wickets, all clean bowled, as he took it upon himself to get his first 5’er of the season, eventually finishing off with 5-21 from 8.2 overs, and leaving a dejected Livingston all out for 70. The Cougars opted for a tactical approach to their batting line-up, with Noor Jhangir promoted in the hope of scoring a typical quick fire 20-odd and David Watkins sent in to see out the overs. However this decision looked to have backfired when Watkins (1) edged through to the keeper who took a splendid catch off the bowling of Duvvuri, with the score on 10 after 6 overs. Skipper Black strode out to the crease on the back of consecutive centuries and immediately made his intentions clear, drilling several boundaries back past the bowlers. A vital partnership quickly took the wind out of Livingston’s sails as Black and Jhangir closed quickly in on the winning target. With the score on 43 Black departed, popping an easy catch back to Mackay for 20. Graeme Anderson (1) was next in and next out when a misjudged second run saw him short of his ground and left Clackmannan on 44 for 3. Keith Hefer waltzed out to join Jhangir, who at this stage was seeing the cherry like a beach ball and audaciously sweeping their opening bowlers. Hefer (3) soon had his leg stump timbered by the accurate bowling of Wilson to bring Ramsay to the crease with 16 still needed for victory. The minor heart palpitations suffered by the captain were unnecessary as the pair settled down comfortably and picked off the runs with nearly 30 overs to spare. Jhangir finished off with a valuable 30* and Ramsay with 10* as the Cougars won their 3rd successive match of 2010, and appear to be the early pace setters in Division 3. Man of the match undoubtedly went to Rizwan Ashraf for another well deserved 5’er. After much deliberation, Dick-of-the-Day was awarded to Graeme Anderson, for not helping his average in the slightest by running himself out.