By Dave Watkins

Clackmannan made two changes to the side for the visit of Penicuik as Yasser Ali and Dan Smith replaced Noor Jhangir and Alan Oliver. David Watkins took over wicket keeping duties for the day.
The visitors won the toss and unsurprisingly chose to bat first on a very true wicket and with the temperature pushing into the mid-twenties.
The quality of the pitch was soon in evidence as the openers happily swung through the line against the bowling of Rizwan Ashraf and Keith Hefer and got their side away to a solid start.
The new ball duo were both taken off after four overs each and Craig Black and Neil Ramsay were brought on in a double change.
Ramsay struck the key breakthrough as he removed Hutt for 12 in his second over and two overs later he struck again. He bamboozled Harrison with a full in swinger two deliveries after Watkins’ epic failure to snaffle a regulation edge behind the stumps.
The third wicket partnership got Penicuik back on track, with Graeme Anderson taking a rare tonking, so Black turned to his new ball bowler Hefer and told him to send down some of the more-than-useful leg spin which has been a staple of net practices over past seasons.
He soon started to extract some prodigious turn and he was rewarded in the second over of his spell as the watchful Green propped forward and edged straight into Watkins’ gloves.
Eight balls later Hefer struck again as Liddle shuffled down the pitch and was caught out of his ground by Watkins behind the stumps. This brought the score to 110/4 in the 28th over.
Ali was brought on at the other end to take advantage of the turn and he and Hefer kept a lid on the scoring.
Black brought himself back in the 39th over and he struck immediately as a brutal delivery went through the top of the pitch, caught Juson high on the bat, and popped up for an easy return catch.
Two balls later Black’s extra pace was too much for Spearman and with a fine double-wicket maiden Penicuik were reduced to 139/6.
No further runs had been added when Black trapped McLauchlin with a fine in swinger to complete a personal run of three wickets in seven balls.
Number nine batsman Pace dug in and he and Thomson scrapped their way to a 24 run partnership when Ashraf, having switched ends, clattered his stumps. He then removed Green next ball but he would not get the hat trick chance as Black removed the number 11 with a Yorker to bowl out the visitors for 164.
Graeme Anderson and Dan Smith opened the Clackmannan reply and Anderson, after a frustrating run of low scores, feasted on the new ball bowling. The partnership reached 50 in just the sixth over.
Anderson monopolised the strike and smashed the bowling to all sides of the ground.
In the 18th over, Smith’s obdurate innings came to and end as he chipped a return catch to the left arm spinner Allen.
Black was next in and he knocked the ball around comfortably as Anderson continued on his merry way, bringing up his hundred off his 77th delivery. He departed to his very next ball as he looped a catch to Pace at midwicket to leave Clackmannan on 147/2
Hefer joined Black at the crease and the pair knocked off the remaining 18 runs with the minimum of fuss to maintain Clackmannan’s perfect start to life in Division Three.
Man if the match to Graeme Anderson for his swashbuckling hundred. Dick of the day to David Watkins for dropping a catch that even Geraint Jones would have taken."