Clackmannan County Cricket Club

By Ally Band

On a very warm and humid day Clackmannan County 2nd XI travelled to Campbell Park on Saturday to play Edinburgh 3rds in good spirits after last weeks win. Today’s team had five missing players out of the 11 from last weeks win, with Scott’s brother Barry Malcolmson and Ken Hutchison’s nephew Alan Deacon playing his first game aged 13. Clackmannan turned up at Campbell Park at 12.30 to a deserted field. At 12.45 only 4 players from the opposition had turned up, by 1pm 7 players had turned up. FINALLY at 1.20 the remaining players PLUS their captain Mo arrived with the keys to the changing room and the game started at 1.30 , 30 mins later than it should have.
When play did start Clackmannan ‘lost’ the toss and Edinburgh decided to bat. Clackmannan opened the bowling with Blair Campbell and Matthew Booth and it was the latter who took the first wicket, clean bowling Razzaq for 7. Booth and Campbell were replaced after a very good opening burst, by Ally Band and Calum Ross respectively. Iqbal joined Azad at the crease and Azad was next to go caught behind by Scotty Malcolmson off the bowling of a very happy Callum Ross. The score was 42-2 in the 12th over which was a great start for Clackmannan. The next 5 overs were kept tight and with some good bowling and fielding the runs stayed down. Ross and Band were replaced by captain Nick Bryant-Nichols and Muktar Ahmed. Nichols struck 3 times in 3 consecutive overs removing Iqbal (32), Ali (16) and Afzal (0) leaving the score at 87 for 5 after 19 overs. Ahmed removed Khan for the solitary 1 and the score was 91 for 6. With the opposition not having a scoreboard, it became extremely frustrating asking for the score and when it was 91 for 6 then 2 overs later 105 for 6. section removed by webmaster
Eventually though Ahmed got Aziz LBW for 10 . Leaving the team overjoyed at only needing 2 wickets to bowl them out. Campbell and Booth were brought back on and finished the opposition innings with Edinburgh finishing on 145 all out.
After a brief tea Clackmannan opened the batting with Blair Campbell and Ken Hutchison. The two batted well consolidating and playing their shots with some ease with the 50 partnership coming up in the 13th over, sadly Campbell was then bowled for 15 by Akhtar. As with last week’s rules Muktar Ahmed had to again leave early so the captain placed him in at number 3. He was dismissed for 2, by Akhtar again. Clackmannan were 58-2. Next batsmen in was Matthew Booth who, at number 4, looked good smashing a four over mid on and playing solidly, until hesitation cost him his wicket and he was run out for 7. Alastair Band joined the impressive Hutchison who looked in the zone as always. Band hit a crunching square drive and like Booth before him looked good at the crease until he misjudged a full toss and was bowled for 6. Enter last weeks hero Bryant Nichols who with Hutchison proceeded to blast the ball to all parts with ease. Hutchison brought up an impressive 50 with a straight drive but in the next over he was bowled for 51. Big blow for Clackmannan! Morvin Ross joined Nick but was soon out caught off the bowling of Razzad for 1. Barry Malcolmson joined Nick at the crease. Nick proceeded to blast two HUGE sixes and it looked like the great escape would be on for a third straight week. Malcolmson was out for 3 but he did do well even to stick around for as long as he did. Nick crunched a huge six and when going for another one… disaster! Nick was caught on the boundary and the mood changed. Scotty Malcolmson joined Callum Ross and when Ross was bowled for 0 Clackmannan needed 14 to win. Young 13 year old Alan Deacon playing in his first game joined Scott and did extremely well even with nearly the ENTIRE opposition around, him he hung around and survived the final three balls of the over. Well done him! Unfortunately though Malcolmson was bowled in the next over by Aziz and Clackmannan lost by 10 runs.Even in defeat with only 6 recognised 2nd team players the five who deputised including Barry Malcolmson and 13 year old Alan Deacon both fielded well and combined to save around 20-30 runs for the team. In hindsight with maybe one or two more recognised players defeat could have been victory but it wasn’t to be.

Man of the match was skipper Nick Bryant Nichols but all in all was a very good performance all things considered. Clackmannan host Largo this Saturday at the Arns.

Match Report
Clackmannan County 2nd XI v Edinburgh 3
Click here to view scorecard
Date 22/5/2010	Venue Campbell Park	Result Lost	Weather Sunny
By Ally Band On a very warm and humid day Clackmannan County 2nd XI travelled to Campbell Park on Saturday to play Edinburgh 3rds in good spirits after last weeks win. Today’s team had five missing players out of the 11 from last weeks win, with Scott’s brother Barry Malcolmson and Ken Hutchison’s nephew Alan Deacon playing his first game aged 13. Clackmannan turned up at Campbell Park at 12.30 to a deserted field. At 12.45 only 4 players from the opposition had turned up, by 1pm 7 players had turned up. FINALLY at 1.20 the remaining players PLUS their captain Mo arrived with the keys to the changing room and the game started at 1.30 , 30 mins later than it should have. When play did start Clackmannan ‘lost’ the toss and Edinburgh decided to bat. Clackmannan opened the bowling with Blair Campbell and Matthew Booth and it was the latter who took the first wicket, clean bowling Razzaq for 7. Booth and Campbell were replaced after a very good opening burst, by Ally Band and Calum Ross respectively. Iqbal joined Azad at the crease and Azad was next to go caught behind by Scotty Malcolmson off the bowling of a very happy Callum Ross. The score was 42-2 in the 12th over which was a great start for Clackmannan. The next 5 overs were kept tight and with some good bowling and fielding the runs stayed down. Ross and Band were replaced by captain Nick Bryant-Nichols and Muktar Ahmed. Nichols struck 3 times in 3 consecutive overs removing Iqbal (32), Ali (16) and Afzal (0) leaving the score at 87 for 5 after 19 overs. Ahmed removed Khan for the solitary 1 and the score was 91 for 6. With the opposition not having a scoreboard, it became extremely frustrating asking for the score and when it was 91 for 6 then 2 overs later 105 for 6. section removed by webmaster Eventually though Ahmed got Aziz LBW for 10 . Leaving the team overjoyed at only needing 2 wickets to bowl them out. Campbell and Booth were brought back on and finished the opposition innings with Edinburgh finishing on 145 all out. After a brief tea Clackmannan opened the batting with Blair Campbell and Ken Hutchison. The two batted well consolidating and playing their shots with some ease with the 50 partnership coming up in the 13th over, sadly Campbell was then bowled for 15 by Akhtar. As with last week’s rules Muktar Ahmed had to again leave early so the captain placed him in at number 3. He was dismissed for 2, by Akhtar again. Clackmannan were 58-2. Next batsmen in was Matthew Booth who, at number 4, looked good smashing a four over mid on and playing solidly, until hesitation cost him his wicket and he was run out for 7. Alastair Band joined the impressive Hutchison who looked in the zone as always. Band hit a crunching square drive and like Booth before him looked good at the crease until he misjudged a full toss and was bowled for 6. Enter last weeks hero Bryant Nichols who with Hutchison proceeded to blast the ball to all parts with ease. Hutchison brought up an impressive 50 with a straight drive but in the next over he was bowled for 51. Big blow for Clackmannan! Morvin Ross joined Nick but was soon out caught off the bowling of Razzad for 1. Barry Malcolmson joined Nick at the crease. Nick proceeded to blast two HUGE sixes and it looked like the great escape would be on for a third straight week. Malcolmson was out for 3 but he did do well even to stick around for as long as he did. Nick crunched a huge six and when going for another one… disaster! Nick was caught on the boundary and the mood changed. Scotty Malcolmson joined Callum Ross and when Ross was bowled for 0 Clackmannan needed 14 to win. Young 13 year old Alan Deacon playing in his first game joined Scott and did extremely well even with nearly the ENTIRE opposition around, him he hung around and survived the final three balls of the over. Well done him! Unfortunately though Malcolmson was bowled in the next over by Aziz and Clackmannan lost by 10 runs.Even in defeat with only 6 recognised 2nd team players the five who deputised including Barry Malcolmson and 13 year old Alan Deacon both fielded well and combined to save around 20-30 runs for the team. In hindsight with maybe one or two more recognised players defeat could have been victory but it wasn’t to be. Man of the match was skipper Nick Bryant Nichols but all in all was a very good performance all things considered. Clackmannan host Largo this Saturday at the Arns.