CRICKET – Must-Win Match At Dumfries For GreenockGREENOCK make the long trip south to Dumfries on Saturday for what is a crucial fixture in this season’s Premier Division programme.
It is a ‘must-win’ match, as Greenock have slipped back to second-bottom position, less than one percent behind Ayr, while Dumfries are firmly stuck at the bottom of the table. The Dumfries fixture marks the beginning of the second half of the season and Greenock will wish to make a positive start to the nine matches which lie ahead.
Greenock have had a mixed bag of results so far. Highlights were the wins over Uddingston and league leaders Ferguslie, and an extremely close match against second-placed Clydesdale. Weather cancelled just two matches, but these were both home fixtures against two of the bottom four teams, Stirling County and Dumfries. Had these matches taken place, and had wins been achieved, then Greenock may have ended the first half of the league season in a more positive position.
This Saturday, Greenock will be being looking for a return to the form of the first weeks in June when runs flowed and the team showed that it could compete with the very best in the Premier Division.. The Nunholm ground in Dumfries is a venue where runs often flow and on Saturday with the warm and sunny weather forecast to continue, the wicket should be a good one for batting.
Dumfries have had a poor first half of the Premier Division season and have yet to register a win. Yet the south of Scotland side have had several good performances but just failed to take maximum points. Former Greenock player Chris Bellwood could be damaging to his old club. Bellwood is back playing in the Dumfries side after being unavailable for most of the first half of the season and has already posted a couple of good scores.
Others whom Greenock will be keen to keep in check include overseas players Andrew Dawson and Jesse Smit. Both players have scored well during two months playing for Dumfries and Smit gained a century against Ferguslie just a few weeks ago.
Greenock find themselves without a number of first-team regulars. Shailesh Prabhu and Fraser Godsman are both unavailable and Chris Hempsey is also out as a result of the hand injury he suffered last week at Poloc. Back into the side comes Harry Briggs, who will resume his opening batting partnership with Neil Flack, and also Sean Fischer-Keogh who missed last Saturday’s match through illness. Ewan Stewart keeps his place in the 1stXI and Chirag Pandher is promoted after his good form with the bat for the 2ndXI.
Greenock’s team the match, which will start at noon, will be: ND Flack (Capt), S Bandekar, HR Briggs, S Fischer-Keogh, JPC Hempsey, GJ McDougall, RP Mountford, C Pandher, S Sanghera, L Smit, E Stewart. Scorer: R McGregor
With the holiday period underway, the 2ndXI will be without a number of players including Mark Farrell, Neil Forrest, Jamie Nowell and Tom Forrest as well as the players moving up to the 1stXI to cover for the players unavailable.
The Greenock 2nd XI (Glenpark) are at home to second-top team Whiteinch on Saturday. The match will commence at 1pm at Glenpark.. The team for the match will be from: A Calder, PJ Bryceland, C Calder, A Caskie, P Caskie, S Chaudhary, L Fischer-Keogh, P Hempsey, L McCahill, E Norris, S Pandher, A Sanghera, D Sharma.
Greenock Cricket Club is sponsored by Cleaning Supplies 4U
