By Greig Taylor

Clackmannan County 3rd XI have had a hard season this year in Division 2 of the S&PCU, languishing at the bottom of the table with six losses out of six games. The visitors to the Arns today were Arbroath, and having lost heavily to them earlier on in the season, Clackmannan knew only there best would do to beat this strong side. Clackmannan were asked to bat by the visiting skipper, simply due to only 7 Clackmannan players, however by cajoling spectators and asking players to leave their shops, at 2.50pm Clackmannan had 11 players, but were 5 wickets down for only 54 runs, with G.C.Oliver (4), R.Passe (11) and T Mehboob (0) all being caught trying to force the play. Skipper Noor Jhangir hit a quickfire 26 to up the ante, but unfortunately he was bowled by Ramsay, as was number 5 R Dow 2 balls later for 0. A partnership of some worth was needed by the home side if they wanted to post a defendable total. Rizwan Ashraf and Alan Oliver duly obliged and began to repair the earlier damage. Oliver played the supporting role well with Ashraf's expansive yet classy stroke play beginning to get the scoreboard ticking over with frequent regularirty. The partnership was broken when Ashraf was run out, shortly after bringing up his 3rd fifty for the club, a valiant knock of 58, just what the doctor ordered. Oliver was out soon after, being bowled for a gallant 16. Kash Ali and Muhktar Ahmed clubbed a few runs down the order to take Clacks total up to 147.

After a stupendous tea, sponsored by Rizwan Ashraf, the home side took to the field to aim to defend their modest score of 147. Just over 3 an over on the artificial pitch is not a hard task by any stretch of the imagination but Clacks had the belief that early inroads could make the task that little bit trickier. And man of the moment, Ashraf struck the vital blows having Smith (2) bowled, Ramsay (9) caught behind by Greig Taylor and Small (0) caught at square leg by Passe. At 26 for 3, the game was finely balanced but regular fall of wickets left Clackmannan on top with regular bowling changes seeing the away side get bogged down. Debutant Tariq Mehboob bowled very well and in doing so returned with figures of 2-9 off 4 overs, one wicket Bridges (1) being caught down legside by Taylor and the other a stunning ball that moved back in to take middle stump out of the ground. Not to be outdone, Will Kay also joined in on the action getting Carnegie caught by Tariq for 15. These wickets, in addition to a run out, left Arbroath sitting at 47 – 7, and Clackmannan knew the game was their for the taking. Complancy began to creep into the Clacks side and Arbroath moved the score on to 77, mainly due to a mature knock of 26 by Cameron which was brought to an end by Ali LBW, after Dow and Passe had failed to make the breakthorough. Oliver had Donald caught by Dow for 0 to leave Arbroath tettering on 85 for 9. However, the first ball of the next over saw Jhangir sneak through the defences of Anderson, after a stubborn knock of 9. A 62 run victory by Clackmannan, and the first of the season. A trip to Aberdeen next weekend to play unbeaten Gordonians should prove a little tougher for the county side.