ARBROATH were last night crowned Scottish league champions following a comprehensive Cricket Scotland League Grand Final victory over Uddingston at Hamilton Crescent, writes William Dick.
With the match having been held over from Saturday following heavy rain on Friday, ball dominated bat from start to finish as Arbroath chased down their target of 82 runs in 14.1 overs.
The celebrations were audible even if the match was, in truth, something of a damp squib. Not that anyone from Angus was given to complain, with Marc Petrie able to revel in his decision to out Uddingston in to bat.
"This caps a marvellous season for us," said the Arbroath captain. "We have played as a team throughout the season and again we had contributions throughout the side. It was definitely a good toss to win to stick them in on that wicket but we still had to do the job."
Arbroath wasted little time before seizing control, with Benny McGill, in his final senior game, and Alvin Pollard offering little for the batsmen to hit. Pollard removed Derek Allan and Gautham Rai, while McGill signed off in style after bowling Ras Priyadarshana, Uddingston's Sri Lankan professional.
At 20-3, the Bothwell team were in trouble and proved unable to recover. It did not help that Gavin Main was run out for a duck, nor that Aamir Gul, having battled his way to 13, succumbed to a delicious delivery by Brendan Ford. He then went on to take three for 18.
Bryan Clarke, the Uddingston captain, posted his side's top score of 18, before two wickets for left-arm spinner Craig Ramsay took his tally for the season to 50.
In what had been billed by some as the friendly final, Uddingston's Vasu Reddy perhaps took the sentiment a bit far when he dropped Ford before Arbroath had got off the mark in their reply. Priydarshana took three wickets and veteran left-arm spinner Mark Townson took one more - dismissing Calvin Burnett - but the batsman's brother, Fraser, registered the decisive score with two 6s and one boundary to make 22 and secure the title with six wickets in hand.
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