Scorecard

Match Report The second team travelled to Edinburgh to play Cask and Barrel. Clackmannan batted first the skipper Alison Ramsay deciding to open the batting with herself and young Alistair Band. By the end of the second over Band was back on the sidelines caught by D O'Gorman off Taylor for 3 and his captain had called for her helmet due to the state of the pitch. Greig Taylor joined his captain but in the sixth over of their partnership nicked a ball to his opposite number Kerr, the Cask & Barrel wicketkeeper gratefully accepted the catch,Greig Taylor gone for 4 runs. Another victim for bowler Taylor and the Clackmannan score looking shaky at 13 runs for 2 wickets off 8 overs. Ian Davies looked quietly confident and started scoring regularily from the start, Ramsay on the other hand could not find her touch and was run out for 11 in the 16th over with the score on 27. Muktar Ahmed succumed first ball to an LBW shout by Swami. Gordon McNee accompanied Davies for four overs, scoring nine runs before being bowled by Sutherland with the score on 42 for 6. Kash Ali found the conditions difficult and could only add 2 runs to his personal tally before being bowled by Swami. Ross Archibald, Dan Smith and Ronnie Stokes all came and went without scoring leaving a total of 59 for 9 wickets by the 26th over. Blair Campbell joined Davies and the under twelve player played with great maturity to bat out the 45 overs. Campbell was not out for three, his excellent effort helping Davies reach a score of 37 not out. The final pair took the Clackmannan score to 86 for 9 and ensured their team of at least one batting point. The Clackmannan score, which included two breaks for rain, was not high, but with the pitch affected by the rain they were not too despondant. Clackmannan opened the bowling with Muktar Ahmed and Alistair Band, but Band only lasted one over, not being able to come to terms with the slippy conditions underfoot. He was replaced by his captain, but Alison Ramsay also found conditions difficult for bowling and bowled well below her best. The breakthrough came in the 13th over when Ahmed, his experience allowing him to cope better with the conditions, had Hurst LBW for 8. Cask and Barell 33 for 1. Ramsay changed the bowling attack bringing on young Dan Smith who repaid her confidence by taking a wicket in his first over, S O'Gorman LBW for 19. With the score on 50 and only two wickets down, Clackmannan were in difficulties. A smart run out by Alistair Band removed D Kerr for 8 then Ahmed struck again in his 9th over, this time S Benjamin LBW for zero. Another change in the bowling saw Ross Archibald take a wicket with his first ball, Srijith caught by Gordon McNee after a rapid 16. With only two runs needed for victory the Clackmannan cause was hopeless. Cask & Barrel made the 87 required with five wickets down and their not out batsmen Prashant on 16 and Raj on 1. 20 points to Cask & Barrel 5points to Clackmannan. An experience for the young Clackmannan players. Cask and Barrel easily the better side helped show the Clackmannan youngsters how the game should be played. The Cask & Barrel attitude to the game was exemplified by the number of LBW decisions they gave when umpiring, something some of the teams in the higher divisions could emmulate.

Most ESCA players have stories about playing at "the Meadows" in Edinburgh, most of them funny, with hindsight, this was no exception. Disregarding the usual poor quality of the wicket provided by the Edinburgh parks department, the entertainment during the game included some classic Edinburgh Meadows activity. A fight at the fair across the way, a troup of Oriental performers practicing their festival show, complete with tannoy system, while walking round the boundary. The ubiquitous group of drunks stating their claim to the field with the usual "you maybe paid fur it, but its oor public grund" which the long suffering Edinburgh clubs have to put up with. The same group of drunks and "their dugs" fighting on the sidelines to the alarm of both player and spectators. All part of the rich tapestry which is Edinburgh at festival time and something for the youngsters to recount in later years when stories of the Meadows are told. Next week the 2nd team are at home in the calm, well prepared, if pavilionless surroundings of the Grazing in Doune against Crammond two's.