GREENOCK are at home to Mearns CC this Saturday as the Western Premiership Two reaches its season midpoint.
Mearns CC were stranded at the bottom of the league table for the first five rounds of matches with no wins to their name
But in early June, a win over East Kilbride signalled a change in their fortune. A second win two weeks ago over Helensburgh moved them up to seventh spot, ahead of Greenock in eighth, who also have two victories.
The south side of Glasgow team are playing their ‘home’ matches at Stirling County’s ground and, although they have lost five out of the seven matches played, the team has been competitive in most of them.
Their lowest score was 120 against current league leaders Kilmarnock in round three, while their highest, 227, was scored just two weeks ago when the team gained a fine win against Helensburgh.
On that occasion, an opening partnership of 86 runs from Ketan Sharma and Simon Machado gave the team a good platform on which to build a substantial total. Sharma (46) and Machado (46) were well supported by a number of others, most notably by Anulome Kishore (43 not out) coming in at number 9 in the batting order.
Mearns have a number of bowlers who can cause damage. Their opening attack is regularly Anish Gadgil and Sagar Suman and they have had a number of successes against opponents’ top-order batters.
But against Helensburgh, it was Siddharth Wadhwani who took five for 43 from his 10 overs, coming on as fourth-change bowler who did the major damage. And vice- captain Anulome Kishore has also had a couple of good performances with the ball
A much-improved team performance from that which lost to Helensburgh last Saturday will be crucial for Greenock against Mearns. Having had the visitors at 87 for 6, the team did not drive home that good position and allowed Helensburgh to finish on 153 all out.
A positive for the Glenparkers, is that they welcome back Cammy Calder who has missed a number of recent league matches through work commitments. He made a useful return in midweek with 20 runs and one wicket for 14 runs.
The team to play Mearns CC at Glenpark on Saturday with a noon start will be from: A Sanghera (Capt), Ma Ahmadzai, Mu Ahmadzai, HR Briggs, CS Calder, PJ Bryceland, F Dinarkhiel, U Mansoor, TA Matthews, GJ McDougall, A. McGuirk (Wk), C Pandher, SS Prabhu, K Thapa.
Greenock’s 2nd XI Glenpark play against Hamilton Cresent on Saturday.
In midweek, the Greenock Midweek XI Hillend gained a fine win against Ferguslie Midweek XI at Meikleriggs in a Midweek League match. Ferguslie scored 132 for 7 wickets with Greg McDougall the team’s top wicket-taker with 3 for 25. In reply Greenock put in a winning batting performance, scoring 135 for 8 with a full over to spare. Toby Matthews with 61 not out and Cammy Calder 20 were the team’s top batters.
On Sunday afternoon at Glenpark, the Greenock Seniors’ XI will play against the XL Club when the team will be from: TM Black (Capt), D Brabender, A Calder, S Chaudhary, C Craig, CJK Hempsey, R Kumar, TA Matthews, R Mountford, SS Prabhu, PE Robertson, DC Sharma, J Ventham. Reserves: D Thomson, B Roberts.
Greenock Cricket Club is sponsored by The Ethos Group
