GREENOCK host Glasgow High Kelvinside (GHK) at Glenpark on Saturday afternoon and will be determined to continue the good form which the team has displayed in the league so far.
With four wins from the five matches played, Greenock are sitting in third and well placed to challenge for promotion back to the Premier Division.
Saturday’s visitors, GHK, are currently bottom of the league having lost all five of their matches. The Glasgow side have picked up only four bonus points and are well adrift from others at the lower end of the First Division.
Greenock captain Greg McDougall will have both overseas amateurs Tom Nicholson and Ryan Walker available. The Aussies have been in excellent form with both bat and ball and given the team a drive and confidence which has been missing in the last few seasons.
Nicholson is second highest run-scorer in the First Division while Walker is the leading wicket-taker.
Batting alongside Nicholson at the top of the order may be 22-year-old Harry Briggs, who is also a fine fielder. He has developed into one of the team’s strongest players and showed his batting capabilities with a useful knock of 44 runs against Irvine towards the end of May.
Regular opening bowler Gregor Chambers is also a consistent performer in the top middle order of the team’s batting line-up. The all-rounder has scored into double figures in each of the league innings in which he has batted. He has also bowled well and been unfortunate to have only a few wickets to show for his efforts.
A young player who has come through from the junior age group teams and earned a place in the 1st XI is Jamie Nowell. He has matured into a useful top order batsman and has been benefiting from playing alongside the Aussie amateurs. His confidence has grown and he has developed a good selection of scoring shots many of which were in evidence on Tuesday evening in a 2nd XI cup match when he top-scored with 31 runs.
Missing from Saturday’s team will be Lukas Fischer-Keogh who is the team’s regular wicketkeeper. He has been in fine form behind the stumps this season. However the team is fortunate to have the experienced Chris Hempsey available to take over this key position.
Greenock will also be without Sam Sanghera and Usman Mansoor both of whom will be out for a number of weeks.
In the five First Division matches completed, GHK have shown an ability to build decent totals when batting first but have been easily beaten when batting second and chasing their opponent’s score.
Greenock on the other hand have batsmen who can both build a big first innings total and chase a total if necessary. The team also has a bowling line-up which has bowled out every team against which it has played in the league for less than 130 runs, except for Stenhousemuir who were bowled out for 156.
With the league’s two unbeaten teams, Stenhousemuir and Kilmarnock, playing each other at The Tryst, Greenock will have the opportunity of moving up to second position as one of the two must lose their 100 per cent record.
Greenock’s team will be: GJ McDougall, HR Briggs, GM Chambers, CJK Hempsey, P Hempsey, TJ Nicholson, J Nowell, SS Prabhu, A Sanghera, E Stewart, RA Walker. Scorer: R McGregor. The match will start at noon.
Greenock’s 2nd XI Glenpark travel to Stirling on Saturday to play Stirling County 2nd XI at New Williamfield. The team for the match will be from: J Janampally, E Ahmad, S Chaudhary, M Farrell, A. Fielding, N Kuwar, N Lohan, N Nagaraju, E Norris, C Prabhu, PE Robertson, DS Sharma.
McCulloch Cup — On Wednesday evening, Greenock defeated Premier Division side Kelburne in a McCulloch Cup match at Glenpark. Batting first Greenock scored 115 for the loss of 4 wickets from their 20 overs. In reply, Kelburne were bowled out for just 70.
The victory gives Greenock two wins from the four matches completed in the competition. Another win, against Renfrew next week, could see Greenock progress to the knock-out stage of the McCulloch Cup if Kelburne lose to Ferguslie.
Greenock Cricket Club is sponsored by Cleaning Supplies 4U
