GREENOCK play their final Western Premiership One match of the 2023 season at Glenpark on Saturday.
The opposition is Uddingston who are sitting safely in a mid-table position. So it will be an end-of-season match with nothing at stake for either side as Greenock are already confirmed as being relegated along with Dumfries.
But Greenock will wish to finish their season with a good performance and hopefully a win against their Lanarkshire opponents.
However, the local side will be without their professional Rahul Dalal. He returned to India earlier this week as his own domestic cricket season is now under way. He will be a significant loss as he was a fine performer with both bat and ball during the season.
In the Premiership matches, Dalal scored 765 runs at an average of 69.55 which placed him second top run-scorer overall across all clubs in the league. He scored three centuries. He was also a useful off-spin bowler and took 17 wickets in league matches.
Also missing for the final match will be Lukas Fischer-Keogh.
Greg McDougall, the team captain, will lead a side which shows a good mix of experience and youth.
Shailesh Prabhu and Tom Polkinghorne will likely open the batting and hope to lay a good foundation.
Chris Hempsey, Gregor Chambers, Chirag Pandher, Sam Sanghera and McDougall himself will provide some further experience in the batting line-up while the younger members of the side will have an opportunity to get some time out in the middle at Premiership level without any pressure.
Twenty-year-old Cameron Calder has a 2nd XI century already under his belt and has shown that he is a very capable, hard-hitting batsman who has had several fine 1st XI innings this season. He is also developing well as a powerful pace bowler who has potential to be an opening bowler who will trouble opposition.
Two 19-year-old players who have played regularly for the 1st XI this season are Usman Mansoor and Aryan Sanghera. They will both get some overs against Uddingston
Also in the team is 21-year-old Tom Forrest who is a fine fielder and can bat in the middle order.
The team will be: GJ McDougall, CS Calder, GM Chambers, T Forrest, CJK Hempsey, U Mansoor, CS Pandher, SS Prabhu, T Polkinghorne, AS Sanghera, SS Sanghera. The match will start at noon.
Meanwhile, 19-year-old Emily Norris, a regular player in Greenock’s 2nd XI, who often opens the bowling for the team, enjoyed success with the West of Scotland ladies’ team.
Last Sunday, at the Doo’cot ground in Perth, Emily was a key player as they won the inaugural Beyond Boundaries Scottish Ladies’ T20 Cup competition.
Emily took three wickets in the semi-final win over Edinburgh side Grange. And in the final, Emily took one wicket as the team defeated another Edinburgh side, Watsonians, to become Scottish champions.
Greenock Cricket Club is sponsored by Cleaning Supplies 4U
