CLACKMANNANSHIRE CCC VS DOLLAR CRICKET CLUB

9th of June | The Arns, Alloa | Breezy, with sunny intervals | 30 Overs

Previous fixture: 192 run victory over Kinross-shire County CC

A week on from our monstrous victory over one local rival in Kinross we made the short trip into Alloa to square off against another in the shape ofClackmannanshire County Cricket Club.

Some unseasonably sunny weather persuaded Captain Cameron Glasgow to go against type and elect to have a bat.

Resident openers Adam Buchanan-Smith and Sandy Cunningham got the game under way.

The latter wasted little time to find the boundary as his personal score raced into the teens across the opening overs. Due to some late arrivals in our hosts side they were initially propped up by some of the DCC contingent. Cunningham then sent one high into the skies high above mid-wicket only for the ball to plummet into the hands of our very own Simon Wilton, stabbed in the back for 15. Rob Passe entered at 3 and after taking the time required to get ones’ eye accustomed to the ball he began to showcase his power based shot making.

Buchanan-Smith was allowing his youthful partners to take on the brunt of the scoring until he was caught from the fast paced bowling of Hakeem and returned with a disappointing 3 runs to his name.

Fresh off last weeks unbeaten half-century – and man of the match performance – Bruce Harper joined Passe to double up the dosage of potential destruction. The pair aggressively saw off the tiring Hakeem, and were stringing together the boundaries – highlighted by Harper launching a back of a length delivery clean over the deep mid-wicket boundary. Unfortunately he would leave one shot shy of the retiring mark of 30 as D. Huntfound a touch of deviation from the pitch and cut through Harper’s stumps for him to finish with a quick fire 26.

On the back of finding a patch of form (with the bat at least) at nets, Charlie Dunn was promoted up the order to 5, but would soon be in search of a new partner as in near identical fashion to Harper, Passe too would see his stumps rearranged via D. Hunts metronomic accuracy, gone for a solid 22.

James Priestley came in at 6 and summoned the arrival of a couple of quieter overs as he played with the ample time on our side. Dunn on the other hand adopted a less sensible approach as he looked to balloon Khan towards the rope, but a stifling yorker snuck between bat and pad and sent Dunn on his way for 7. Score, 68/5 from 12.Score, 68/5 from 12.

The skipper joined Priestley as the pair attempted to stop the worryingly consistent flow of wickets. They saw off the end of Khan’s and Hunt’s spells and after Glasgow found his radar to spark away a couple of crisp 4s the potential of a big score reappeared… and then quickly returned to its elusive hiding spot. Glasgow got under a shorter delivery from a rare one-bounce legal ball from N. Hunt and was caught by the backtracking man at mid-on, gone for 12.

Simon Breasley was the next man in as we began to flirt with the prospect of being all-out. Beasley summoned his birthright of Yorkshire revolve and adopted his inner Boycott to leave the incumbent Priestley with the brunt of the scoring responsibilities. He answered the call anddisplayed his sharp eye for a shot as he guided the ball calmly through the gaps.

The scoreboard ticked over into triple digits at the 19th over mark and but it would not be long until the wickets column too would be making a shift.

First Priestley was looking to retire on top as he wandered down the track to N. Hunt, but the slow paced bowling had his mind in differing places as he popped the ball back to the bowler, gone for a well played 29. Bobb Turner entered, but only a matter balls later Breasley departed as the utterance of the bowlers name, MacBeth, brought him nothing but bad luck and he was caught for 4.

Tim Dillon was the penultimate man in as the duo looked to salvage some crucial late runs. They confidently rotated the strike against Hunt, while Dillon started to play with MacBeth.

Turner then craved away a 4 but MacBeth would end his innings in tragedy as Turner would be turned around and sent back to the pavilion for 8.

Simon Wilton had completed his effective loan spell and was the last man in as we looked to push the score above 150. Dillon maintained his scoring streak until in the 27th over our innings would come to halt as the ball made subtle contact off his bat and wound up in the hands ofthe keeper off the bowling of Smith, gone for 13, Wilton left not out on 2.

DCC 158 all out from 27.3 overs

Priestley, 29 | Harper, 26 | Passe, 22

We stopped at the interval and tucked into a spread that was described by former chairman Buchanan-Smith as being an extremely satisfactory ‘good tea.’

In reply, Tim Dillon assumed his usual duties of opening our defence as he looked to make use of the variable bounce located on a fuller length. The innings raced into life when Hakeem wasted little time to get his sides fight back under way via a 4 and 6 across the first 4 balls. Dillon was undeterred as with the final delivery of the first over Hakeem swung for the deep square-leg boundary, only for Bobb Turner to initially backtrack then turn around to take a superb tumbling catch followed by a huge celebratory heave to give our reply the momentum boosting start it desired.

Fresh off his 4-for last week Harper joined Dillon from the other end. He too would find early success as he pitched one on a good length and a great line that struck Hunt clean on the padsleaving the umpire no other option but to raise his finger, D. Hunt out for 5.

The wickets continued to tumble with Dillon maintaining his fine early season form as he stacked together consecutive full deliveries on, or just perilously outside the stumps. The almost inevitable breakthrough occurred as Nick got a thick chunk of an outside edge on one off a back of a length and the ball floated into the staggering backwards Rob Passe’s up stretched right hand for our second fine catch of the innings, Nickgone for 2.

Score, 26/3 from 5.

By this stage, long time thorn in our side, Tariq was once again displaying his vast array of shotmaking capabilities. A change in the tactics from Glasgow saw Harper take over from Dillon’s end and Sandy Cunningham was brought into the attack to join him.

Cunningham started to starve the batsmen for runs through his unrelenting line and length mixed in with a few surprise slower ones and cutters. And then came the result, a straight one that landed just on the back of a good length and brought down the curtain on MacBeth’s innings as the bail the bridged his off and middle stump hurtled toward 3rd man. By this stage, Tariq had decided to take an early retirement and walked off with 22 runs to his name.

Two new batsmen in the shape of Jack and Khan entered the contest and immediately adopted contrasting styles. The former was happy to block the bulk of the balls, while the latter wound uphis bat and seemed only satisfied with 6s. The run rate increased and the game was brought into a semblance of being in the balance.

Score, 68/4 from 15.

The tension meter was creeping up, and in search of a innings altering wicket Glasgow called upon Simon Breasley to conjure up an answer and in his first over he did exactly so. Jack looked to turn one square on the leg side, but the ball caught a top edge and Glasgow scampered around the stumps to take another fine catch.

The wait for the next would not be long, as only one run from the retirement mark Khan failed to carry his bat and was caught off the bowling of Harper. Back on top. This beckoned the end of another fruitful spell from Harper and he wasreplaced by James Priestley who was debuting his leg-spinning action.

The runs dried up as tight bowling and sharp fielding had the batsmen rooted to the strikers end. The pressure paid off as first Breasley shaped the ball through Scohanger’s defence and into the stumps. Then Priestley, who was demonstrating good turn and bounce, spun the ball past Smith’s bat to snick his outside edge and make its way to Passe at 1st slip ~ a maiden DCC wicket for Priestley ~ Smith gone for 1.

Score, 100/8 from 25

With the overs dwindling and the required run rate soaring Captain Glasgow made the suggestion that we avoid the allure of wickets to ensure the potential 20-runs-an-over ability of Tariq stayed in retirement. However, Breasley’s natural magnetisation to the stumps proved too strong as he swung a ball into the vaunted corridor of uncertainty and claimed the prize of Douglas’ off stump.

Tariq rejoined the contest and immediately headed for the skies to take 11 runs of Breasley’s final deliveries. Staring down the barrel of an increasingly likely comeback, Glasgow whipped off the gloves and pads and decided to lead from the front. However, this only sent the collective blood pressures skyrocketing as Glasgow preceded to concede 13 runs from 1 legal ball (n/b 4, n/b 6, dot, wide) as heads inched towards hands. The impossible was becoming increasingly possible, until with the very next ball our skipper showed his class as he raced the ball straight through Tariq’s defence and shattered his stumps. The captain capping off an (at times) commanding DCC win – Wee County supremacy secured.

Clackmannanshire CCC 124 all out from 29.2

Breasley, 3 for 23 | Dillon, 2 for 20 | Harper, 2 for 37

We give thanks to Clackmannanshire and wish all their teams the best of luck for the rest of their season. We are back in action this Wednesday for our third rivalry game on the bounce as we face the Academy 1st XI in the Dollar Derby.

RESULT: DCC VICTORY BY 35 RUNS

The BSB MOTM: Bobb Turner