Scorecard

Match Report On a somewhat miserable day, Clackmannan County first eleven travelled to the other side of Edinburgh to play Haddington CC. They arrived at the ground in an optimistic mood as ex-professional, Graham Grace, had flown up from London to play for his ex-club in a one-off game. Ash Rasul also made an appearance for the club for the first time since last year. With Clackmannan lacking some batting form in the last couple of weeks, could these two influential batsmen give the first team their first victory of the season?
On a blustery day, CCCC skipper, Scott Malcolmson won the toss and elected to field. The two opening bowlers for the county were Matthew Booth and Neil Ramsay. The two openers did well, bowling a decent line and length. The opening batsmen, Cruickshank and Talbot found their feet very well, resisting the pair’s accurate attack. First to go was Paul Talbot(6) bowled by Neil Ramsay, yorked by a ball that hit middle stump. Talbot’s early wicket brought John Hiley to the crease. Haddington were 15 for one wicket in 6 overs. Ramsay’s first spell was excellent, 1 wicket for 5 in six overs, Booth, however, seemed to find the pitch conditions difficult and had little initial success. A change in the bowling brought on Zahid Hussain and Tipu Sultan. Haddington’s batsmen seemed to find scoring quite easy off these two bowlers, however and it wasn’t until Sultan struck in his seventh over, removing Cruickshank for 26 runs, that the partnership was broken. Rory Gray was next in to bat but he was bowled by Ramsay at the beginning of his second spell for 7 runs. John Hiley who had batted sensibly throughout was joined at the crease by his son, Robin. The father and son partnership prospered until John clipped a ball down the leg-side from Rasul, however the leading edge was caught at slip by Scott Malcolmson. Hiley had made 33 valuable runs in his side innings and Haddington were 102 runs for 4 wickets after 33 overs. The Haddington skipper, R Bell (6), joined Robin Hiley at the crease but found it difficult to score runs. Sultan claimed Bells wicket as he uprooted middle stump to send the skipper back to the dressing room for 6 runs. Sultan had bowled the last nine overs of his allotted fifteen for only ten runs. Ash Kumar joined young Hiley at the crease but Hiley was next to go, bowled by Booth, for ten runs. Haddington were now 121 runs for 6 wickets in 41 overs. S Taylor joined Kumar at the crease and the two kept the scoreboard ticking over. Next to leave was Taylor, bowled Booth by a daisy-cutter of a ball for nought. He was replaced by his son, Greig Taylor. In the next over, Booth bowled a bowl that reared up at the youngster; he fended it off, only to be caught, a superb diving catch by Rasul at short cover. Steve Grandison came to the wicket and played well, supporting Kumar, before misreading a second run to Zahid Hussain. Hussain picked the ball up cleanly and Jeff Thomas removed the bails. Grandison run out for one, David Chalmers joined Kumar and the two played out the fifty overs. Haddington finishing with 150 for 9 wickets. The disappointing thing for Clackmannan was that they had given Haddington 37 extras. Twenty-nine of these were from wides and no balls.
Clackmannan started off with Rickard Passe and Zahid Hussain. The two opened well, but a misunderstanding between the two batsmen, saw Passe (1) controversially run out when probably his partner should have been the one to go. Alan Oliver joined Zahid and the two played defensively, keeping the scoreboard ticking over. Hussain (8) was next to exit also being run out. Not the best of starts for the side, to lose both openers in this way. A steadying influence was required to build a partnership. Ash Rasul joined Oliver but the partnership was over a minute later as Oliver (11) was caught and bowled by Bell. Tipu Sultan joined Rasul but a couple of overs later, Rasul(4) was drawn into an ill advised shot by Kumar, after playing an on-drive for four runs the shot previously. A disappointing innings from Rasul who would have hoped to scored more than four runs. Graham Grace joined Sultan, the hopes of the Clackmannan side buoyant with Grace at the crease. However it was Sultan had had decided that the scoreboard needed to return to the required rate. He hit Kumar for 18 runs in one over, hitting two big sixes, one landing in the neighbouring tennis courts. Disaster struck for the young Clackmannan players, however, when their hero Graham Grace was caught and bowled off John Hiley for four. With Clackmannan at least twenty behind on the run rate and wickets falling fast the run race was going to be difficult. Skipper, Malcomson joined Sultan at the crease and he played solidly before Sultan was out for 29 runs. Jeff Thomas joined Malcomson and immediately upped the tempo, running quick singles and turned certain two’s into risky three’s. A glimmer of hope began to re-emerge for the Clackmannan side as there were still 16 overs to play and the side had time to get the ??? runs required. Unfortunately, Thomas was next to leave for 4 runs and soon after, Malcolmson, gone for 7 runs, both bowled by John Hiley. Hiley senior bowled well throughout the game, showing the way to bowl on an un-even pitch. Booth and the injured Ramsay were at the crease but the later was bowled by a shooter off medium pacer, Gray for 0. This brought Kashif Ali to the crease but he was not to stay long, caught by Talbot, bowled by Taylor for 0. Clackmannan’s total score, 88 all out in 36.5 overs. A disappointing result in a game which Clackmannan could have won. Another lacklustre team batting display, short on discipline and patience. Notably the top scorer in this game was Clackmannan County’s extras with 37, without which the run gap between the two teams dropped to 25 and the game could have been very different. The problems for the bowlers this year of having no proper practice facilities this season are becoming very apparent. The youngsters to their credit keep on plugging away but at the moment the fates do not seem to be on their side. Yet another player, young Ramsay, looks to be destined for the sidelines through injury, leaving another hole which must be filled in the first team. The search for experienced players is beginning to look like a search for survival in the second division.