Cricket: LocHire Stenhousemuir defeat rivals Stirling County to round off successful first top tier season

It was a very low scoring match but in the end the home side won easily.

Stirling County won the toss and elected to bowl first and must have thought they had judged it correctly when the home side were bowled out for 110. However on a very damp wicket, they struggled even more and were bowled out for 66

Stenhousemuir found batting conditions very difficult and were without top run scorer Danie Rossouw who had returned early to South Africa for pre-season training. All the batsmen struggled and wickets fell regularly.

Zander Smith, who also kept wicket in the absence of Rossouw, made 20. Of the top six, the only other batsman to reach double figures was Asad Izaz with 14. Adil Raza made 11 but a stand of 42 for the eighth wicket between Nicky Rodgers who made 16 and Nick Lister who made 13 not out took the total up to 110. After Rodgers was out, the last two wickets fell without addition.

It was never going to be easy to score runs and Stirling were soon in trouble. John Vaughan-Davies had Stirling skipper, Matthew Tweedie caught by Nick Lister and Deon DuPreez was run out after a smart bit of fielding by Peter Hamilton.

Stirling were 23 for three when Dennico Hollis had Manav Malik out leg-before-wicket. Thereafter it was the Callum Grant show.

In 8.4 overs he took six wickets for 13 runs, his best figures of the season, and Stirling were all out for 66 with Mubarak Ali unable to bat because of a broken finger.

This was a great win for the club with some excellent bowling from Callum Grant and inspired captaincy by Nicky Rodgers, and was a great way to end what was a very successful first season in the Premier Division.

LocHire Stenhousemuir finished in fourth place with eight wins and six defeats from their 14 completed matches against top opposition.

Callum Grant was the leading wicket taker in the Premier Division, a great effort for a young player and they do say that spinners get better with age. Danie Rossouw came third in the batting list and everyone played a part at some point.

However, praise must go to Nicky Rodgers who came late to captaincy but has proven to a very fine leader both on the field and also for all the hard work he has done behind the scenes for the club.

We must not forget the generous sponsorship given to the club by LocHire which has been invaluable in what was always going to be a challenge as the club stepped up a league.

Meanwhile, the second XI lost their last game in the Championship Three. Second Milngavie scored 258 for seven and Stenhousemuir were 87 for four when the match was called off.

They finished fourth in the league. William Sneddon was the league’s top scorer and Bobby Angus joint second wicket taker.

On Sunday afternoon, the club will be naming the pavilion the Morison Zuill pavilion in memory of Morison’s great service on and off the field. There will be challenge matches between past and present players with plenty of food and drink available as the club celebrates the 50th anniversary of their first Scottish cup win. The event starts at 1pm.