CRICKET — Greenock Face Stirling County At GlenparkFOLLOWING last weekend’s fine win over Premier Division leaders Ferguslie at Meikleriggs, Greenock return to Glenpark this weekend for another important fixture, against Stirling County who occupy the league position immediately above the local side.
The last three Saturdays have shown a big improvement in form for Greenock. Against Clydesdale, the team came close to a win, going down by just ten runs in a high-scoring match. Then against Uddingston, Greenock triumphed in a match which was eventually decided by the Duckworth Lewis Stern (DLS) system. And last Saturday, league leaders Ferguslie were beaten following a fine, all-round team performance.
Key to the improvement has been run-scoring. Various players have found form with the bat and the result has been a number of consecutive matches where the team has accumulated large scores. Team captain Neil Flack has led from the front. Against Clydesdale he scored a magnificent 119 runs in an innings which saw him return to the top of his form. And last Saturday at Ferguslie, Flack hit a sparkling 76 which helped to set up Greenock’s winning score of 214 for 7. Teenager Harry Briggs, who has been Flack’s opening batting partner, has also found a return to good form at the top of the order and, while he has not gone on to make large scores, his contribution to the early innings partnerships in the matches with Clydesdale and Ferguslie have been of significant value.
Greenock’s two overseas players, Indian professional Saurabh Bandekar and South African amateur Laurens Smit, have both settled in well and become important contributors. Bandekar scored useful runs against Uddingston and Ferguslie and, in the latter match at Meikleriggs, ripped through the Ferguslie late order batsmen with a brilliant bowling hat-trick to set up the win. Smit scored 63 in a 179-run partnership with Flack at Clydesdale and a useful 18 runs at Ferguslie as the middle order dug deep to build a challenging and ultimately winning total. He also scored a match-winning 63 in a midweek cup match at Renfrew.
Others who have made important contributions include Jonathan Hempsey and Greg McDougall who have picked up a total of 12 wickets and more than 70 runs between them in the recent three league matches.
An important area of improvement for Greenock last Saturday was the reduction in ‘extras’ given away. Bowling was very disciplined with only four wides bowled throughout the Ferguslie innings which played a significant part in Greenock gaining the win over their Renfrewshire rivals.
Stirling County are immediately above Greenock in the Premier Division table. Like Greenock, they have gained two wins so far. The first was on the opening Saturday when 2017 champions Prestwick were well beaten on their own ground in Ayrshire. County’s second win was against Ayr on the last Saturday in May, but by the narrow margin of just 14 runs.
Key players in the Stirling side are the experienced Gavin Anderson, South African amateur Brandon McMullen, and son of the Scottish national cricket coach, Tom Bradburn. Anderson is an all-rounder — a useful batsman and also a dangerous change bowler. McMullen will be likely to open the bowling, and bat in the middle order where he has been a consistently good run-scorer for the team while young Bradburn is a useful middle-order bat.
Also likely to feature in the Stirling side will be Louis Ware who came up through the junior ranks at Greenock. But having left school last summer and taken up a university course at Stirling University, he has switched allegiances to County as he now lives in the town. Louis will be sure to get a ‘warm’ welcome back to Glenpark!
With both teams sitting close to each other in the Premier Division table, Saturday’s encounter takes on an increased level of importance as whoever wins this match will move up the table and put a bit of space between themselves and the teams at the bottom.
Greenock’s team for the match which start at noon will be: ND Flack (Capt), S Bandekar, HR Briggs, S Fischer-Keogh, F Godsman, CJK Hempsey, JPC Hempsey, GJ McDougall, RP Mountford, SS Prabhu, L Smit. Scorer: R McGregor
Greenock 2nd XI (Glenpark) are away to St Michael’s 2ndXI (Kingholm) at Dumfries. The match will commence at the Kingholm ground, Dumfries at 1pm. The team for this match will be: A Calder, PJ Bryceland, C Calder, A Caskie, P Caskie, S Chaudhary, T Forrest, J Nowell, S Pandher, P Robertson, E Stewart.
On Sunday afternoon, Greenock’s Hillend XI will play host to a West of Scotland CC Development XI at Glenpark with a 1pm start. The Hillend XI will be from: L Smit, G McDougall, S Sanghera, A S Calder, C Calder, E Stewart, J Nowell, P Caskie, A Caskie, PJ Bryceland, A Sanghera, E Norris, A Calder.
Midweek Match Rained Off
The warm sunny weather of recent weeks gave way to wind and rain on Wednesday evening and Greenock’s final match in the McCulloch Cup West Section against Ferguslie at Glenpark was cancelled.
Greenock must now wait to find out the result of the Kelburne v Renfrew match which was given permission to be re-arranged to next Wednesday 20 June as Renfrew players were attending the Scotland v Pakistan T20 international in Edinburgh. Greenock are just one point ahead of Kelburne in the West Group sectional table and, should the Paisley team win against Renfrew, then they will qualify for the knockout stage ahead of Greenock.
Greenock Cricket Club is sponsored by Cleaning Supplies 4U
