Scorecard

Match Report by Greig Taylor

On a glorious day in the village of Freuchie, the bottom of the table clash was on and Clackmannan desperately needed to win it. The day started off well with Clackmannan county skipper, Scott Malcolmson winning the toss and batting on a very good and flat track.
Clackmannan opened with Alan Oliver and in-form batsman, Scott Malcolmson. Unfortunately Oliver was the first to go, bowled by Trevidi for 0 runs. Malcolmson continued his run of form from midweek, hitting four consecutive boundaries to all areas of the ground. However while attempting to play another scoring shot he misjudged the length and was cleaned bowled by Trevidi for 20 runs. Thirteen year old Ross Murray had replaced Oliver at the crease and was now joined by Graeme Bayes. After a solid start Murray playing his first aggressive stroke mistimed his shot and a good low catch at silly mid-on resulted in his departure. Neil Ramsay followed two balls later scoring no runs. Not a very good start for the Clackmannan side, 4 wickets down with only 26 runs on the board. Tom King was welcomed back into the side after injury replaced Ramsay and scored freely from the start. King and Bayes, two of the teams most experienced batsmen, needed to score runs if Clackmannan were to post a score but they both fell to Christie. Bayes, bowled for two runs and King for fourteen, bowled trying to drive Christie back over his head. James Couper and Mahindra Patel batted sensibly playing each ball on its meris. However the bowling of Christiel deceived both and they were back in the pavilion for 2 and 0 respectively. Zahid Hussain batted well to amass 9 runs before falling LBW to Trevidi then last man Matthew Booth follwed after being run out for 1 run. Richard Passe remained the not out batsmen in the innings. Passe had confidently played his shots and scored 9 runs by the close of the innings. Clackmannan scraped to 67 all out in 36.5 overs, a poor total to defend and leaving the bowlers with something to ponder over the tea interval.
Matthew Booth and Mahindra Patel opened the bowling. Patel bowled very tight only allowing 5 runs to be scored off his five overs. Booth on the other hand paid the penalty and was attacked by both batsmen as was evident in his final figures.Zahid Hussain, came on for Booth and Neil Ramsay for Patel. Ramsay bowled only 1 over which was hit for 8 looking distinctly out of sorts. He was replaced by Graham Bayes and five non scoring balls in his first over was enough for Blanchfield to get frustrated and he was bowled on the last ball. At least 1 match point was guaranteed. Hussain began bowling very tightly and the two bowlers worked in tandem and built up pressure on the batsmen. McKinnie (36) who had been scoring so freely now suddenly found it difficult to score and he was back in the changing room the next over. Caught by King at gully off Bayes. Two new batsmen at the crease and Freuchie were now looking vunerable. A.Trevidi and M.Low were also soon back in the pavilion only adding 8 runs between them. Trevidi caught by Booth and Low bowled. Both wickets fell to Bayes. C.Glenn and W.Grieve added only 3 runs between them. They were both bowled by Hussain who had worked tirelessly and richly deserved the wickets. Alan Duncan and Dale Cowan were together at the crease and this was the last of Freuchies recognised batsmen. With 8 runs needed for a Freuchie win and four wickets for a Clackmannan win, times were tense. Neil Ramsay chased a ball and threw down the stumps from the boundary. A direct hit and young Cowan was out, or so it seemed to everyone at the ground apart from the player acting as square-leg umpire.Freuchie reached their target in the 26th over, 68 for 6 wickets and 20 valuable points. Clackmannan were unlucky, but were beaten by a better team. In truth they didn’t score enough runs to reach the first batting point and lack of runs gave the bowlers too much to do. However they might be somewhat agreived at their "six" wickets haul and only three bowling points rather than the 7 wickets and four points which would have been their just reward. Next week the 1st XI take on Haddington at home at the Grazings in Doune.