CRICKET: Greenock Hoping For Second League Win

1 June, 2023 | Sport

GREENOCK face Clydesdale at Glenpark on Saturday in the Western Premiership.

The Glasgow side have been one of Scotland’s top teams over the past decade. In that time the Titwood team have won the Premier League three times, Scottish Cup once, The Rowan Cup twice, and The McCulloch Cup twice.

This season, however, even Clydesdale have been finding league wins hard to get, securing just two victories out of five matches played.

Stirling County, who occupy the position immediately above Greenock at the foot of the table, gained their only win of the season to date against Clydesdale on the first Saturday of the league programme.

The loss to County was followed up by one of Clydesdale’s worst league performances for years when, at their home ground, they were bowled out for just 75 when chasing West of Scotland’s lowly total of 94.

However, the Titwood team got back on track in round three against Uddingston at Bothwell Policies, overcoming the Lanarkshire club’s challenging total of 250 and scored 251 for the loss of six wickets. The win was mainly thanks to a second wicket partnership of 165 runs between Sheryar Awan (85) and Craig Young (73).

Round four returned another loss, this time to Prestwick at the Henry Thow Oval when another disappointing batting performance could only muster 148 runs which the Ayrshire side passed with ease.

Last Saturday brought Clydesdale a second win when Dumfries were bowled out for 107. But even then, the Titwood team made heavy weather of the run chase, losing six wickets before passing the Dumfries total.

So, only once have Clydesdale batted well. There is a fragility in their line-up which Greenock must look to exploit.

But Greenock should recognise there is also talent in their squad. Scotland senior international cricket captain, Richie Berrington, is in their ranks and, if he is in form, he can be a major danger. Berrington is, of course, a former Greenock player who came through the Glenpark junior system and played for years in the 1st XI before transferring to Clydesdale at the end of the 2013 season.

Another key batsman is former Poloc player Craig Young. He is Clydesdale’s leading run-scorer this season and removing him early will be important to curtail the visitor’s run-scoring.

Greenock will field a strong side, encouraged by the form of Rahul Dalal, the club’s Indian professional. Two consecutive centuries in the recent games against West of Scotland and Prestwick have been just what was needed for him personally and also as a boost for the team’s confidence.

Unavailable through work are Shailesh Prabhu, Chirag Pandher and Tom Forrest while Jamie Nowell drops down to the 2nd XI. Into the side come Harry Briggs, the Hempsey brothers and Nagendra Nagaraju.

Briggs will partner Tom Polkinghorne at the top of the batting order for the third time this season. Nagaraju had a fine all-round performance for the 2nd XI last weekend.

The team will be: GJ McDougall, HR Briggs, GM Chambers, RR Dalal, LC Fischer-Keogh, CJK Hempsey, JPC Hempsey, N Nagaraju, T Polkinghorne, A Sanghera, SS Sanghera. Scorer: R McGregor. The match will start at noon.

Greenock’s 2nd XI make their shortest journey of the season on Saturday when they travel to Gourock Park to meet local rivals Inverclyde. The team will be: E Ahmad capt., PJ Bryceland, S Chaudhary, A Farooq, I Khan, U Mansoor, E Norris, J Nowell, PE Robertson, DC Sharma, EA Stewart.

On Tuesday evening Greenock’s 2nd XI had a walkover against Helensburgh in a Western Cup sectional match when the opposition were unable to field a team.

And on Wednesday evening in a McCulloch Cup sectional match at King George V Playing Fields in Renfrew, the 1st XI needed to score four runs from the last ball of the match to win. It yielded just two runs. Renfrew 146 for 7 wickets, Greenock 145 for 3 wickets. Lukas Fischer- Keogh top-scored with 70.

Greenock Cricket Club is sponsored by Cleaning Supplies 4U

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