Uddingston all-rounder Paul Hoffmann hopes he and his team-mates will win this season’s Scottish Cup, having reached the final.

Jul 22 2010 by Andrew McGilvray, Hamilton Advertiser

PAUL Hoffmann has set his sights on Scottish Cup glory this season, and admits he wants to win it for the fans.

The Australian was a stand-out on Sunday as Tunnock Uddingston dumped fellow Scottish National Cricket League Premier Division side Dunfermline Knights by seven wickets to set up a final clash against first division Stirling County at West of Scotland’s Hamilton Crescent ground on September 4.

Hoffmann hopes Uddingston can recapture their form from 2003 when they landed the Scottish Cup.

He said: “We won the Scottish Cup in 2003 and back then we beat Dunfermline in a low-scoring game in the semi-final before beating West of Scotland at West of Scotland – here’s hoping that was a bit of deja-vu on Sunday!

“We won’t treat Stirling County lightly even though they’re a league below us in division one.

“I would say the top five teams in that league are on a par with most of the premier division, so it should be a good test for us.

“Stirling are a club who are going forward and they’ll certainly be up for it, so we’ll need to be at our best.”

Hoffmann added: “It would be an incredible feeling to win the cup I guess, especially for our long-suffering supporters.

“Our last trophy win was seven years ago with the Scottish Cup and while we’ve done quite well in the league there has been something of a drought since then.

“Realistically, the Scottish Cup is generally our best chance of silverware. It’s great for the players and the team, but also for the spectators, who travel around the country with us.

“It would mean a lot to me to make them happy and it would be a good way to top off the season.”

From the first ball Uddingston tore into the high-scoring Dunfermline side, whose batsmen found scoring very difficult against the searing pace of Hoffmann and the nagging accuracy of captain Ricky Bawa.

Wickets fell in the fourth, seventh and 10th overs and after 15 overs the score was 30 for 3.

None of the Knights batsmen settled in and the prolific South African professional Alistair Gray struggled while wickets fell in the face of extremely accurate bowling and excellent fielding.

Gavin Bradley and professional Rasika Priyadarshana continued to pin down the batsmen and, by the time of a short stoppage for rain, the visitors’ innings was in tatters at 80 for nine.

When play resumed, only two balls were required to close out the innings at 80 all-out in the 31st over.

Bradley’s figures of 4 for 17 and Priyadarshana’s 3 for 31 were key to the low target, while Bryan Clarke stumped three batsmen, two from wide balls.

Due to the mid-match stoppage, under the Duckworth/Lewis rules Uddingston required 78 to win in 45 overs.

Dunfermline’s opening bowlers kept Hoffmann and Sameer Zia quiet with their pace and accuracy until the Australian broke loose in the fifth over with some characteristically spectacular hitting.

By the time he was stumped in the 10th over he had made 42 out of a total of 51 for 1, effectively finishing the match.

After a few slow overs Priyadarshana hit 14 runs in the 16th over and ended the match with a four in the 18th over, meaning Uddingston won by seven wickets.

Modest Hoffmann deflected praise for his own performance after the match, and instead praised his team-mates.

He said: “I might have got the majority of runs but the whole team performed really well.

“I took two wickets, Ras took three and Gavin Bradley took four – it was just the best team performance for many a year.

“I knew there would be a lot of niggling from Dunfermline as they tried to put us off, so I thought the best way to shut them up would be to score a few quick boundaries, and thankfully I managed that.

“But the whole team played well, there weren’t too many bad bowls from everybody and everybody stepped up to the plate.”