By Dan Smith

Following last Sundays narrow defeat by Rossie Priory Clackmannan 3rd XI were keen to get back to winning ways in their home fixture with Brechin.
Captain Tippu Sultan won the toss for the second week in a row and chose to bat first. Openers Dan Smith and Alan Oliver were given the task of building a solid platform but failed miserably, both poorly executing shots to poor deliveries; departing for 1 and 2 respectively. This brought skipper Sultan and Riswan Ashraf to the crease. After a shaky start Sultan began his murderous onslaught against the Brechin bowling attack. Consecutive sixes; one straight onto the road (then into the pleasure grounds!) and the next into the farmers field adjacent to the ground were absolutely enormous hits, the biggest seen at the Arns in several years.   Ashraf was also looking comfortable at the other end and the pair took the score to 51 before Ashraf hit a full toss straight to mid on in the 9th over. Kashif Ali entered the fray and was largely a spectator to the Sultan onslaught at the other end.  The skipper was finding the boundary with ease, with the pair taking the total to over 100 when Sultan was caught at long off having compiled 68, a thrilling knock. Kashif Ali then looked to attack the bowling, striking a couple of fours before being bowled. A mini collapse then ensued as new player Hasan Javed and Alan Deacon departed without troubling the scorers. Will Kay and Mukhtar Ahmed steadied the Clacks ship before Ahmed departed with the score on 125. Confusion between Kay and new batsman Graham Fraser saw Kay run out for a well ground out four.  Last man Tariq ‘help’ Mehboob to the crease and he struck several lusty boundaries before being bowled for 15, leaving Fraser stranded on 2. Clackmannan finished up on 144 all out, an excellent total following their poor start.
Clackmannan  opened the bowling with Tippu Sultan and Alan Oliver, who both bowled very economically; with Sultan unlucky to have a chance put down by wicketkeeper Smith. Sultan did make the breakthrough in his fifth over, having Brechin opener Masterton caught very skilfully at cover by a diving Mehboob. Brechins’ number three then attempted a suicidal third run to Alan Oliver, who threw the ball straight in over the stumps, leaving the bowler Ashraf with very little to do but remove the bails. Brechin’s number four departed soon after, cleaned up by an excellent Ashraf yorker. Mehboob then trapped Brechins remaining opener LBW to leave them struggling on 32 for 4. G. Gault, the scourge of Clacks in the previous fixture then began to hit his stride, before he was bowled by an excellent swinging Mehboob delivery. In the following over Ashraf then picked up his second wicket with a sharp caught and bowled, leaving Brechin 51 for 6. Will Kay then picked up a wicket, a seaming delivery which was sharply taken by Smith behind the stumps. Kashif Ali then picked up the last two wickets, bowling Johnstone with an excellent googly and then dismissing Brechin’s final batsman with an excellent delivery which bowled him round his legs.
This excellent performance by Clackmannnan 3rds which saw them defeat Brechin by 79 runs.