MAJID Haq's return to competitive cricket proved to be a painful one after the player lost a tooth when he suffered a sickening blow to the face.
Scotland's record cap holder and leading wicket taker was making his first appearance since his notorious World Cup tweet when he lined up for Clydesdale in their Western Union clash with Uddingston at Titwood.
However, the 32-year-old's return was cut short after he was felled in attempting to take a reaction catch in the slips. The force of the impact knocked out one of the player's front teeth and blood gushed from cuts to his mouth. Haq was helped from the field by Scotland team-mate Richie Berrington before being taken to hospital for treatment.
Haq is still suspended by Cricket Scotland after being sent home from the World Cup for posting a race-related tweet following his omission from the side to face Sri Lanka in Hobart. However, a club suspension for a separate matter ended recently and Haq returned to captain Clydesdale yesterday.
Before his injury Haq's team appeared in total control, the skipper having bowled eight tight overs at a cost of just seven runs only to be upstaged by Abdul Sabri and Con de Lange who claimed three wickets each.
Sabri made the breakthrough but Uddingston looked comfortable when Gowtham Rai and Anwar Hafeez were together. However, a loose shot by Hafeez presented youngster Adil Ghaffar with a wicket to spark an astonishing collapse that saw the visitors lose their last nine wickets for just 28 as they subsided to 84 all out.
Dale's reply was not all plain sailing and Haq was back at the ground to see seven wickets falling before his team completed an underwhelming victory.
Like Clydesdale, Kelburne were looking to bounce back from a first defeat of the season and they did so in style as West of Scotland's woes continued at Hamilton Crescent. The Partick men could muster just 104 as their hopes of a first win evaporated, Kelburne racing to their target thanks to Fraser Macdonald's unbeaten 57.
East Kilbride's encouraging start to the campaign continued with a five-wicket win at Dumfries.
Eastern Premier champions Aberdeenshire slumped to their second defeat in a row as Carlton maintained their 100% record with a commanding display at Grange Loan. Fraser Watts led the way for the hosts with a brilliant 103 as Carlton repelled a normally potent Dons attack to make 263.
They were every bit as dominant in the field as both openers and overseas professional Harsha Cooray were removed with just 28 on the board.
Carlton refused to loosen their grip and regular wickets saw 'Shire dismissed for 120.
Carlton share top spot with Grange who beat Stoneywood-Dyce by eight wickets to complete a double over for capital sides against Granite City rivals.
A century from Ross McLean helped Arbroath beat Corstorphine.
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