CRICKET: Disappointment As Greenock Miss Out With Victory In Sight

6 June, 2023 | Sport

Clydesdale 215 for 8 wickets from 50 overs (25 Points)
Greenock 182 all out after 47.1 0vers (5 Points)

GREENOCK missed out on a great opportunity to beat one of Scotland’s top clubs and gain a second Western Premiership One win.

With victory in their sight, the team’s batting imploded and the chance of 25 points was lost. The disappointment amongst players and supporters was palpable.

The Glenpark team had been on top for much of the match and the run chase was going very much according to plan. But a period of just ten minutes of play shattered what had seemed a likely win.

Greenock went from 134 for the loss of just two wickets and needing just 81 runs to win with 17 overs remaining, to 144 for five after 35.3 overs with three key batsmen dismissed and the innings disarray.

On the warmest afternoon of the season, Clydesdale not surprisingly opted to bat first. Their opening pair of Nick Pyne and Ali Khan began cautiously and, after six overs, had managed to score just eight runs.

A flurry of run-scoring, including three boundaries, in the following two overs took the score on to 22 but at that point Pyne attempted to find a fourth quick boundary only to be caught by Tom Forrest off the bowling of Jonathan Hempsey. And then in the very next over Khan gave Gregor Chambers a return catch to put the visitors two wickets down.

A brilliant one-handed diving catch by wicketkeeper Lukas Fischer-Keogh put Clydesdale in a spot of bother in the 11th over. Sheryar Awan glanced a delivery from Gregor Chambers down the leg side expecting a boundary, only for Fischer-Keogh to end his brief stay out in the middle.

Clydesdale captain Craig Young and Kallum Dhami then settled in to build a fine fourth-wicket partnership which yielded 102 runs and put the Titwood team back into the game.

The partnership ended with the re-introduction to the home bowling attack of Gregor Chambers. With just the fifth ball of his second spell, Chambers lured Young into an off-drive which he failed to properly execute and he sent a relatively straightforward catch to Jonathan Hempsey at mid-off. Young was out for 43.

The partnership of 102 runs was halted in the 35th over with the visitors on 136 but did not put an end to Clydesdale’s run-scoring. Dhami and new batsman Daniel Cairns maintained a steady run-rate adding 26 runs to the total in five overs before Cairns (11) was caught by Chambers from the bowling of Greenock pro Rahul Dalal.

Two further quick wickets were picked up, including Dhami caught by Dalal for 69 off just the second ball bowled by Greenock captain Greg McDougall. The dismissals put Clydesdale on 176 for 7.

With just less than six overs remaining, Greenock would have hoped to keep the innings total to under 200 and finish off the visitors’ tail-end batters.

Instead, Greenock picked up just one more wicket while Clydesdale added a further 39 runs to take their final score to 215 for the loss of eight wickets with Ihtesham Ul Haq unbeaten on 22.

Gregor Chambers was Greenock top bowler taking four wickets for 42 runs from 10 overs.

Greenock began their innings with Tom Polkinghorne and Chris Hempsey providing the fifth different opening pairing in the six Western Premiership One matches played so far.

The new partnership failed to get Greenock off to the positive start hoped for and ended with only 14 runs scored when Hempsey (7) was adjudged LBW (leg before wicket0 in the seventh over.

A second wicket went down with the score on 26 when Harry Briggs was given out caught behind the wicket by Galling off the bowling of Cairns.

Then, just like Clydesdale in their innings, Greenock found a fine partnership between Tom Polkinghorne and Rahul Dalal. The pair batted with authority and seemed at ease against the visitors’ bowling adding 108 runs from 23 overs, putting Greenock well on track for a fine win.

However, it all went wrong with the last ball of the 33rd over. Tom Polkinghorne had scored 40 runs and had batted well in support of the in-form Rahul Dalal but, looking to keep the run rate moving along, he tried to drive Awan through the offside only to find the ball looping off his bat to the waiting hands of Zeeshan Bashir at backward point.

Then in the very next over, a mix-up between Dalal and Fischer-Keogh ended with the latter being run out before he had even faced a ball. The loss of Fischer-Keogh, who had played a brilliant midweek innings of 70 against Renfrew, was a second big blow.

And just nine balls later, a disastrous ten minutes for Greenock was topped off with the dismissal of Dalal. The Indian pro, who was heading towards a third consecutive league century, attempted to sweep Cairns to the clubhouse boundary only to get a top edge and the ball skied to Kallum Dhani who took a fairly routine catch. Dalal had scored 71.

Of the remaining batsmen, only Gregor Chambers with 22 made any impact as the game slipped away along with the remaining wickets. Greenock were bowled out for 182 with the first ball of the 48th over.

Greenock Cricket Club is sponsored by Cleaning Supplies 4U

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