GREENOCK are back on the road again this weekend with a trip to play Stirling County at their New Williamfield ground.
Although it is just round five of the 18-week Western Premiership Two league programme, the match takes on a real significance for Greenock.
After the first four league fixtures, the Glenpark side have just one win to their credit and sit in third-bottom position. The team need to target at least three more wins before the halfway mark of the league programme.
The fixture list has given Greenock a difficult start with three out of the first four matches played against the current top three teams. And only one out of these four matches has offered Greenock home advantage.
A win at Stirling could see the club climb a few places in the league table and ease the pressure of being close to the bottom. But a loss would put the Glenpark side firmly in the relegation zone.
Stirling County have fared only a little better than Greenock. The Stirlingshire side have won two out of their four fixtures and lie in a mid-table position. They have won against the bottom two teams, Mearns and Hillhead, but have yet to play against any of the top three teams Uddingston, Dumfries and Langside.
Last Saturday, County lost heavily to Helensburgh who had been occupying second-bottom position before the match. Helensburgh batted first and amassed 228 runs for the loss of just four wickets. In reply, County were bowled out for just 116 runs. And against fourth-placed Kilmarnock two weeks before that the result was almost a mirror image. Killie scored 235 and County were all out for 115.
But in between those two heavy defeats, County outplayed second-bottom Hillhead. The Glasgow side were bowled out for 73 after 27.3 overs and Stirling took just 11.2 overs to score 74 runs with the loss of two wickets to win easily.
The similarities in league performances between Greenock and Stirling suggest that it may come down to which of the sides can bat best. Both seem to have difficulty in batting through their 50-over allocation. Stirling’s longest innings was last Saturday against Helensburgh when they lasted 34 overs while Greenock batted for 37 overs against Langside.
Coming into the Greenock side this weekend is Jack Matthews, brother of one of Greenock’s two Aussie amateurs Toby. He is a useful cricketer and could make an important contribution on Saturday.
The Greenock team will be: A. Sanghera (C), T. Matthews, A. McGuirk (WK), J. Matthews, M. Ahmadzai, F. Dinarkheil, C. Pandher, P. Bryceland, N. Kadyan, S. Prabhu, G McDougall
Greenock’s 2nd XI Glenpark play against Stenhousemuir 2nd XI The Tryst at Glenpark on Saturday with a noon start. The team has yet to decided.
In midweek, the Glenpark XI lost by just two runs in a Western Cup sectional match against Kelburne’s Whitehaugh XI at Glenpark. The Whitehaugh XI scored 120 for the loss of nine wickets and in reply the Glenpark XI came up tantalisingly short scoring 119 for the loss of nine wickets.
Greenock Cricket Club is sponsored by The Ethos Group
