Cricket: Delighted Clydesdale boss Mitchell hails side after toppling leaders Grange

Jun 10 2010 By Matthew Leslie

Kamran Sajid

'THAT was more like it' was Clydesdale boss Colin Mitchell's verdict after watching his troops destroy league leaders Grange.

The Edinburgh side had made a roaring start to the season winning six out of six to top the SNCL Premier League.

With Dale out of form recently, few gave the south siders a prayer of stopping the Comely Bank juggernaut but they did just that in a superb 55-run victory.

On a Titwood wicket that suggested elements of turn on it thanks to slight cracks opened up by the recent hot weather, Dale batted first and patiently set about their business in a controlled manner which had been lacking of late with Pakistani professional Kamran Sajid leading the way with an unbeaten knock of 61.

Zulfiqar Shahid and Qasim Sheikh backed up Sajid with scores of 34 and 31 respectively and although Dale's total of 225 for five was reacheable, the aforementioned turning pitch would soon come into play.

Clydesdale's seamers made early inroads with Sajid taking the scalp of Cammy Coles for a duck while skipper Harmanjit Singh bowling out ex-Warwickshire ace Michael Powell.

Wickets continued to fall but any hope Grange had of maintaining their 100 per cent record fell when spinner Majid Haq exploited the turning pitch to rip out the heart of the visitors' line-up taking three for 29 as Grange were dismissed for 170 to seal victory for Dale.

A delighted Mitchell said: "We know what we are capable of when we play at our best and the win over Grange showed that.

"Inconsistancy has been our failing so far this season but on our day, we can beat anybody.

"But it is up to us to kick on from this victory and win the next game, the one after that and so on.

"Sure we have lost players to Scotland duty but so have other teams so we're not using that as an excuse because we have a squad talented enough to cope.

"Special mention to Kamran for his score in setting up our total and to Majid for exploiting a turning wicket.

"However, the pace bowlers deserve credit for putting the pressure on Grange by removing batsmen before they had time to settle in at the crease."

Elsewhere, West of Scotland's miserable form continued as they crashed to 52-run defeat at home to fellow strugglers Greenock. The visitors made a useful 234 for eight before West - despite bowler Dave McNulty wagging the tail with his 48 - collpased to 182 all out.

In Division One, Poloc kept up their promotion charge as they cashed in on the Duckworth-Lewis system to win a rain-affected clash at Falkland by six wickets.

Falkland hit 220 for six with Sri Lankan Harsha Cooray hitting an unbeaten 129. But Fraser Quarterman and Dani Chaudhry's unbeaten scores of 59 and 58 respectively saw Poloc seal a deserved victory.