By Greig Taylor

On such a glorious day at the Arns, Clackmannan 2nd XI took on local rivals, Broomhall 2nds, in a pre-season friendly and with the first league game next week against Dunfermline Wanderers looming, it was a good chance to blow away some cobwebs and get the cricket minds working again.

New skipper, Nick Bryant-Nicholls, led the team to the field as Broomhall opted to bat after winning the toss.  He opened the bowling with Blair Campbell and Will Kay, the latter picking up the first wicket of the game, having Ian Barron caught by Richard Passe at cover; Richards’ first of three in the match. Blair not to be outdone, bowled a beauty to remove the dangerous Ward for very little.  On the rocks, Broomhall needed someone to steady the ship, but it wasn’t to be, as Neil Ramsay removed Ward Jr. caught behind by Greig Taylor. Charlie Stoddart (29) played well alongside Paul Stringer (12) to recover the innings, but Stringer wasn’t to stay for much longer as he was caught by Watkins off the bowling of Ramsay.   Mike Warren and Stoddart combined well in a sensible partnership, taking Broomhall to 84.  However, with the hard work done, both batsmen tried to up the run rate, but such impetus was to be their downfall. Warren was to depart first, soon followed by Stoddart and this occurrence of events turned the game in the home sides favour.   Broomhall’s tail did stick around,  picking up some runs and in doing so, took the score above the century mark.  However they weren’t allowed a final flourish as Neil Ramsay & Will Kay (2 for 9) cleared them up, with the former sniping out four more wickets to finish with impressive figures of 6 for 18 in his allotted overs.  A rampant Clackmannan side had bowled and fielded well to restrict Broomhall to only 111 (“Nelson” in cricketing slang) and  playing on the artificial pitch, this was such a gettable total.

Lord Nelson famously expressed, “Time is everything; five minutes make the difference between victory and defeat.” and that was the key to success today, time. Time spent in the middle. Time taken to ensure defeat was not an option on the first game of the season and so the task, to spend such time was given to Ken Hutchison & Richard Passe.  After some loose shots, some mistimed shots, the two got into their grooves.  The scything bat of Hutchison impressively punished the ever frequent short & wide ball and in combination with Passes delicate glances ensured the scoreboard kept on ticking with frequent regularity. As the target got closer, both batsmen began to play their very best cricket, dispatching anything fractionally off target.  Passe swept the ball for 4 to close the innings and with it a 10-wicket victory for the home side within 20 overs. 

Interestingly, on April 24th, 1953, Sir Winston Churchill was knighted by HM Queen Elizabeth II. He was well known as a right wing maverick, but today at the Arns, it was TWO lefties** that secured an impressive victory for the home side.  And the ICC propose to ban them, I know what my vote is on that one…

** Both Batsmen are left handers........... Nelson! Churchill! - Scyld Berry eat your heart out. As Shakespear might have said "No, its the the winter in our Disco tent" - no, I don't understand it all either. Brilliant Buna, just brilliant. Webmaster