Clackmannan continue charge for championship

Published 11 Aug 2010 10:26 0 Comments

The Clackmannan County first XI travelled to the capital's Roseburn Park and maintained their charge for promotion with victory over Murrayfield DAFS.

Captain Craig Black won the toss and asked the home side to bat first on a pitch that looked bowler-friendly.

Rizwan Ashraf opened the bowling with Keith Hefer and they held the Murrayfield total to 12 runs from the first eight overs.

A bowling change in the 10th over saw Black pick up the first wicket, caught behind by Greig Taylor.

Not to be outdone Tariq Mehboob also struck immediately, bowling the Murrayfield batsman.

The change bowlers strung together several maiden overs and the pressure created told, as Black manufactured a second catch for Taylor, and two overs later the skipper took his third scalp of the day, which left the home side on 40 for 4 in the 19th over.

The Black/Taylor combination struck again for the fifth dismissal as Black bowled out his 10 overs in one spell.

Taylor was in action again as he combined with bowler Alan Oliver to stump the next two batsmen leaving the home side on 83 for 7 in the 36th over.

Mehboob returned to the attack and induced a simple catch for Keith Hefer in the covers.

In the next over Oliver picked up a his third wicket, caught by Black, to leave Murrayfield on 95 for 9.

The tail wagged with some effect until a catch by Graham Oliver off Hefer brought an end to proceedings with Murrayfield finishing on 119 all out.

The Clackmannan openers Graham Oliver and Noor Jhangir got the reply off to a speedy start until in the eighth over when Jhangir perished as he attempted to launch one into the Murrayfield stadium and Clackmannan were 32 for 1.

Craig Black joined Oliver at the wicket and the pair stepped on the gas even harder, murdering anything short of a length and continuing to hit through the line of anything full.

After a crushing straight six over the bowler's head Oliver was run out at the non-striker's end as the bowler got a finger on Black's straight drive and the opening batsman's desperate throw of the bat was not enough to save his dismissal.

With the score on 99, Ken Hutchinson came to the crease with the skipper closing in on his 50.

As the runs required went into single figures Black switched stance and hit the winning runs with a reverse sweep for four to bring up his 50.

Clackmannan 122 for 2, an eight wicket win and confirmation of top of the table spot.

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