Cricket: Classy Clydesdale answer critics with big total against Carlton

May 13 2010 By Matthew Leslie

CLYDESDALE coach Colin Mitchell praised his team's maturity after a thrilling run-chase saw off Carlton.

Greig Williamson's score of 105 helped bag a five-wicket win at Titwood with his efforts being aided with strong knocks from Qasim Sheikh (68) and Kamran Sajid (60 not out).

Earlier, on a belter of a batting track, Carlton had made a daunting 273-2 off their 50 overs with a superb unbeaten 120 from Preston Mommsen being the highlight. But Dale kept their cool and duly chased down Carlton's target.

Mitchell said: "I suppose both sides will feel they could have bowled better but this was a very good pitch for this time of year.

"Greig was superb in taking the game to Carlton and putting them under pressure.

"When a player puts in a performance like that, it takes the pressure off the rest which probably explains the contributions of Qasim and Kamran who showed great maturity in backing Greig up.

"One question mark that has hung around Clydesdale has been our ability to chase down a big total - we certainly put that one to bed."

It was double-joy for Dale as they saw off Ayr in the Scottish Cup with a thrilling three-wicket win.

Majid Haq was Dale's hero as his unbeaten71 - including the winning runs with two balls left - proved decisive for the south siders.

Elsewhere, West of Scotland had a day to forget in their league fixture at Forfarshire as they lost by five wickets despite a half-century from Doug Lockhart.

However, 24 hours later in the cup, the Partick aces regained their form to thrash Stenhousemuir by 151 runs.

Lockhart hit 98 in West's 298-9 while skipper Ian Young hit an unbeaten 63 and took five wickets as Stenny crumbled to a dismal 147.

It was also a mixed weekend for Poloc as they went out of the cup to Dumfries but beat Stenhousemuir in their Division One fixture in a thrilling 13-run victory.