Cricket: Forth Valley Midweek T20 trophy win for LocHire Stenhousemuir

LocHire Stenhousemuir’s T20 trophy-winning team (Photo: Submitted)

LocHire Stenhousemuir faced a mixed weekend, losing out to local rivals Stirling County in the Western Premiership One before sealing the Forth Valley Midweek T20 trophy the following day.

On Saturday, Stenhousemuir made the short trip to Stirling. The visiting side batted first and following their recent form, they lost opener Farhan Haider for eight.

When South African professional Danie Rossouw joined opener Asad Izaz they amassed a fine 116 run stand taking the score to 139 when Rossouw was run out for 67.

Izaz was the last Stenhousemuir wicket to fall with the score on 185 bowled by Ramteke for a well made 73. Callum Grant (8*) and Denico Hollis (22*) took the score to 213 for five at the end of the allotted 50 overs.

Stirling County were never really in trouble chasing 214 to win and Bunn (95*) plus Northend (73) moved the score along towards the winning target.

The hosts were greatly assisted by ten dropped catches by the Stenhousemuir side.

Stirling County reached their target with 12 overs to spare for an easy win which belied their lowly league position.

On Sunday, Stenhousemuir travelled to Boghall to compete in the Forth Valley Midweek T20 cup finals day.

Stenhousemuir played in the second semi-final and on winning the toss asked Clackmannan County to bat first. They struggled against some very good Stenhousemuir bowling and were 55 all out.

Callum Grant took two wickets. Stenhousemuir scored the runs losing four wickets running out at 57 for four.

In the final, Stenhousemuir faced Linlithgow. Rossouw and Smith opened the batting.

They scored runs freely and quickly were over 100. Rossouw was out for another good score but Zander Smith batted on getting caught on the boundary for 99.

The innings closed on 239 for seven in 20 overs. When Linlithgow batted, they took their score to 31 for three in five overs when the match was abandoned due to heavy rain.

LocHire Stenhousemuir won the match and captain Scott Bain received the trophy.

The pool of players were: Edwards, Shazad, Smith, Atif, Hamilton, Sneddon, McKay, Rodgers, Grant, Rossouw, Hollis, Bain, Rainsforth and Greenwood.

The second’s match with Inverclyde was conceded.