Having finally been blessed with sunshine, Clydesdale defeated Stirling County by 8 wickets at Titwood on 2nd September.
County took first innings and Calum Drummond made the initial breakthrough in the 6th over, score 8-1. Matthew Tweedie (opening the batting and playing a captain’s innings) and Gavin Anderson then repaired the damage with a valuable partnership which took the total to 65-1 at drinks (20 overs). The second wicket stand was eventually broken in the 22nd over, having put on 60. The introduction of spin at both ends (Con De Lange and Hamid Mahmood) continued to stifle the run rate and a couple of run-outs, including Tweedie for 50, added to the pressure on the later batsmen. The final total of 148-8 (40 overs) was one which Clydesdale would have been confident of chasing. The wicket takers were Drummond (6-1-20-3), De Lange (8-1-23-2) and Mahmood (8-1-23-1) – all returning tidy figures. Basit Ali was wicketless on this occasion but his 5 overs for 16 runs helped to increase scoreboard pressure.
The home reply was in the hands of Mo Awais and Paddy Barbour and, when the 50 came up in the 7th over, the run chase was well and truly under way. Awais was finally out for a typically aggressive 61 in the 14th over (10 boundaries), the openers having put on a match-winning partnership of 103. De Lange’s dismissal for 16 brought Richie Berrington to the wicket and the match was concluded in satisfactory style for ‘Dale supporters as Barbour reached his 50 and the match was won by 8 wickets in the 24th over. Thomas Jones took both wickets at a cost of 33 runs.