THIRD-placed Stirling County are Greenock’s opponents at Glenpark on Saturday.
Last weekend, Greenock performed poorly against East Kilbride and missed an opportunity to overtake Kilmarnock in fourth.
The fixture between the Greenock and Stirling earlier in the season was abandoned towards the end of the Stirling innings because of an unrelenting heavy downpour which made further play impossible.
This Saturday’s Greenock team shows a couple of changes from the team which lost to East Kilbride. In come Harry Briggs and Sehmat Pandher, which should bolster the batting line-up, and Pandher will also offer another bowling option.
There are just just eight percentage points separating Stirling County from Renfrew in second position, so there remains an opportunity for them to gain promotion back to the top division.
Three key players in their batting line-up are team captain Manav Malik, former Arbroath United player Bryce Carnegie and Eliot Bunn who joined County from North Yorkshire side Rawton.
Malik, who bats in a top middle order position, is County’s top scorer with more than 350 league runs. Carnegie has scored more than 330 runs this season, while opening bat Bunn scored a century against West of Scotland at Hamilton Crescent.
Ali Mubarak will almost certainly open the bowling for County. He has been a consistent wicket-taker this season with 27 wickets to his credit. Bunn is also a useful bowler and has taken 17 wickets at an average of 10.53.
The match will start at noon. The Greenock team will be: A Sanghera (Capt), Mu Ahmadzai, HR Briggs, CS Calder, F Dinarkheil, CJ Henry (Wk), W Jenkins, G McDougall, CS Pandher, SS Pandher, SS Sanghera. 12th man/scorer : C Prabhu.
Greenock 2nd XI: The 2nd XI Glenpark travel to But to play Bute County and Cowal on Saturday. With just four matches of the league season remaining, the Glenpark XI are at the top of the Western Championship Three league table and are six percentage points clear of second top Clydesdale Bees.
Bute County and Cowal are at the opposite end of the table with just two wins from eight matches completed.
The side have had a very inconsistent season because of player unavailability. But, if former Greenock 1st XI player Louis Ware, and former Greenock 2nd XI players Mark and Guy Crichton are available, then, the Glenpark XI will need to be at their best to gain the 25 points.
The team will be: M Ahmad Capt, M Ahmadzai, M Anwar, PJ Bryceland, Z Dilsoz, K Leema, U Mansoor, A Nair, H Safi, S Safi, M Zeeshan. 12th man: R Safi.
Greenock Cricket Club is sponsored by Cleaning Supplies 4U
