Greenock 161 all out (44.5 overs) 3 points
Kilmarnock 162 for 5 wickets (35.3 overs) 25 points
GREENOCK were defeated in their first WDCU Premiership Two game of the season against Kilmarnock in a keenly contested affair at sun-drenched Glenpark.
Having won the crucial toss, Kilmarnock skipper Paul Flanagan opted to bowl first, a decision that ultimately laid the groundwork for their successful chase later in the day.
Greenock’s innings commenced very positively with openers Callum Henry and team captain Aryan Sanghera at the crease. In the very first over, Sanghera hit a fine straight drive to the Fox Street boundary and then in the second over, Aussie amateur Henry, making his Glenpark debut, struck two fine boundaries to put Greenock on 15 without loss.
However, the Kilmarnock opening bowlers, Tom McFadzean and Zeeshan Qamar, quickly found their length and line and put the brakes on the two Greenock openers as only three runs were added in the following five overs. Sanghera and Henry did get back into run-scoring mode and by the 16th over the Greenock score had moved on to 76
A bowling change at the beginning of the 17th over heralded a change of direction in the match. With just his second ball, slow bowler Adam Wilson lured Sanghera into a big hit and the Greenock captain was caught on the Fox Street boundary and dismissed for 27.
Kilmarnock then quickly captured the wicket of Henry when the Aussie amateur got a faint edge to a ball from Kilmarnock’s South African amateur Daniel Lombard and was caught behind the wicket. So Greenock found themselves on 83 for 2 in the 20th over. Henry scored 38.
Three further wickets fell as the Greenock middle order struggled to deal with the Killie bowlers and, towards the end of the 23rd over, the home score was a precarious 93 for the loss of five wickets.
The experience of Sam Sanghera, who came in at number six, helped to steady the innings and gradually the home score moved along. But wickets continued to fall and no really meaningful partnerships were created. And when Sanghera was the team’s eighth wicket to fall, adjudged leg-before wicket for 30 runs in the 40th over, Greenock’s innings had crept along to 150.
Just a further 11 runs were added before the innings ended on 161 towards the end of the 45th over. The inability to forge a substantial partnership after the opening 76 runs put on by Aryan Sanghera and Callum Henry ultimately proved costly. For Kilmarnock, Adam Wilson with 3 wickets for 25 runs was the visitor’s top bowler.
Kilmarnock’s chase began with Greenock’s opening bowlers, Will Jenkins and Sam Sanghera aiming to make early inroads. But it was a mix-up between the Ayrshire side’s openers which led to a very early breakthrough when Chaudhary was run out off just the second ball of the innings.
Jenkins, bowling with with pace and aggression, then had Haider Iqbal caught for five with the score on 12 and Greenock had made a perfect start to the second half of the match.
A third wicket captured when Lombard had his stumps knocked back by Jenkins for six runs with the score on 32 could have brought a collapse from Kilmarnock, but Oelofse and Flanagan steadied the innings with a 50-run partnership which ended at the start of the 18th over when Oelofse was smartly caught by Sehmat Pandher for 28 off the bowling of Greg McDougall.
And, as so often happens after a good partnership, one wicket leads to a second. Two overs later McDougall and Pandher combined once again to remove Flanagan for 34. But that was to be Greenock’s final breakthrough, as Mo Islam and Qamar forged a match-winning, sixth-wicket partnership of 79 runs to take Kilmarnock to what had seemed at one stage an unlikely win.
For Greenock, while the loss will be disappointing, the contributions of Australian newcomers, Callum Henry and Will Jenkins, will offer a significant positive for the season ahead.
Win For Glenpark XI
Glenpark 104 all out (33.4 overs) 25 points
Galloway 96 all out (30.1 overs) 0 points
Greenock 2nd XI (Glenpark) won their opening league match against Galloway at Gatehouse of Fleet, returning with maximum points after a hard fought and very narrow win over Galloway.
Batting first, Glenpark struggled to just 104 all out, with team captain Eddie Ahmad top-scorer with 50. Galloway were then bowled out for 96 to give the Glenpark side a win by just eight runs. Arun Nair with 3 wickets for 5 runs and Hamid Safi 3 wickets for 8 runs were Glenpark’s two top bowlers.
XL Club Sunday Friendly
XL Club 72 all out (33.5 overs)
Greenock XI 74 for 1 wicket (19 overs)
The Greenock XI gained a win against XL Club on Sunday at Glenpark.
Batting first, the XL Club batsmen were unable to develop any good partnerships and were restricted to just 72 runs. Muhib Ahmadzai took 4 wickets for just 4 runs from 6.3 overs and Nikhil Kadyan took 3 wickets for just one run from 4 overs
The Greenock XI then lost just one wicket as they overtook the visitors’ score from 19 overs. Shailesh Prabhu retired having scored 25 runs while Sudeep Chaudhary 16 and Cammy Calder 14 were both unbeaten. The single wicket to fall was Aryan Sanghera who was dismissed for 17 runs.
Greenock Cricket Club is sponsored by Cleaning Supplies 4U
