CRICKET — Greenock Clinch Vital Second WinGreenock 232 for 5 wickets (25 Points)
Drumpellier 142 all out (1 Point)
GREENOCK gained a massive confidence boost on Saturday afternoon at Glenpark when they defeated Drumpellier by 90 runs.
It was a must-win match for Greenock and the victory has enabled the local side to move out of the bottom two spots in the Premier Division league table by leap- frogging their opponents.
Having failed to win a single game in the first half of the season, Greenock have now won two out of two as the second half of the season has got under way and so, with seven matches remaining, Greenock’s ability to remain in the top league is now in their own hands.
Batting first, Greenock began with a new opening partnership. Jonathan Hempsey was promoted to join Aussie amateur Zac Barranechea and, in the first over of the match, a couple of singles got the innings moving. But the plan was quickly disrupted when Hempsey was given out leg before wicket (LBW) to Darren Pryde with just the third ball of the match.
This early wicket brought Greenock’s pro Saurabh Bandekar out into the middle to join Barranechea and these two quickly showed an attacking intent. With Glenpark in splendid condition and the batsmen getting full value for shots played, Barranechea and Bandekar took the Greenock score to 40 after just six overs. But in the seventh over, first change bowler Jordan Pryde had Barrenechea caught by Sabri for 17.
In-form Neil Flack replaced the Aussie amateur, but just as he was getting his innings going he was adjudged LBW to Darren Pryde and departed for just seven runs with the score showing 52 for the loss of three wickets. Greenock now needed to ensure that a strong partnership could be developed and fortunately for the local side that happened.
Rod Mountford batting at number five in the Greenock line-up gave Bandekar the perfect support at this crucial stage in the match. In a period of 18 overs, the two experienced batsmen put on 56 runs to lay the platform for the innings to progress positively in the last 20 overs. When Mountford gave a second catch to Sabri in the 29th over Greenock were well placed on 108. Mountford had contributed 29 important runs.
Former Ludlow Cricket Club player Jack Griffiths, who is in his second season at Glenpark but not regularly available, joined Bandekar. The two batsmen began their partnership gradually, adding just 22 runs in their first nine overs together but then began to score at an impressive rate as they dominated the Drumpellier attack.
In the next ten overs together, Bandekar and Griffiths smashed 79 runs with their shots regularly racing across the fast Glenpark outfield to the boundary. And just when it seemed that Bandekar would reach his maiden Greenock century, he presented a catch to Nathan Allison off the bowling of Sabri having scored a magnificent 93.
With just slightly more than two overs remaining, Griffiths and Chirag Pandher kept up the onslaught towards the Drumps bowlers and a further 23 runs flowed from their bats to take Greenock to 232 for the loss of just five wickets, their highest Premier Division total for the season to date. Griffiths was undefeated on 61. For Drumpellier, Darren Pryde returned bowling figures of 2 wickets for 42 runs from 10 overs, while Sabri, Jordan Pryde and Willie Leslie picked up one wicket each.
Drumps began their innings without scoring from the first two overs before openers Sabri and Shaw hit seven runs from the third. But then in the fourth over, Neil Flack made the first breakthrough for Greenock when he bowled Sabri who had scored six.
Jordan Pryde paid the shortest of visits to the middle before being LBW to Saurabh Bandekar without troubling the scorers. And the visitors’ Sri Lankan professional Gamay Maneeshan was unable to help take the Lanarkshire side forward as Chirag Pandher bowled him for just five runs in the 11th over with the score on 18.
Opener Gordon Shaw was joined by Nathan Allison and these two were just beginning to develop a good partnership when Neil Flack made an important breakthrough with the score on 45 to dismiss Shaw caught by Bandekar for 19. Allison and new batsman Chris Keltie added a further 26 runs before Greenock picked up wicket number five.
Greenock’s Scottish under-17 squad member Sean Fischer-Keogh came into the bowling attack and made an immediate impact by bowling Nathan Allison with his very first ball to leave Drumps struggling on 71 for 5 in the 24th over.
A clutch of wickets followed in the next six overs which put Greenock on the brink of victory. Chirag Pandher had Keltie caught by Sam Sanghera for 12, Flack bowled Pyne for 8, Khan was run out by a Flack/ Barranechea combination without scoring and Leslie was caught by Bandekar off Chirag Pandher’s bowling for 12. The score at this point was 97 for 9 and only the last pairing remained out in the middle.
But Josh Allison and Darren Pryde did not go down without a fight and added 45 runs in the best batting partnership of the visitors’ innings before Sam Sanghera made the final breakthrough and had Allison caught behind the stumps by Zac Barranechea for 14, leaving Pryde unbeaten on 22 and the innings closed on 142 all out.
Neil Flack continued his good bowling form with 4 wickets for 24 runs from 10 overs, with Chirag Pandher taking 2 wickets and Sean Fischer-Keogh, Sam Sanghera and Saurabh Bandekar each picking up one wicket as Greenock gained a second very important win from consecutive matches played. Greenock will now look forward with increased confidence to their match next Saturday at Glenpark once again when West of Scotland are the visitors.
Greenock Cricket Club is sponsored by Cleaning Supplies 4U
