CRICKET — Greenock Hope To Finish Season On A Positive NoteTHE Premier Division cricket season draws to a close this weekend at the end of a summer which has been blighted by bad weather.
But, weather-permitting this Saturday afternoon at Glenpark, Greenock will complete their fixtures with a visit from Poloc. Wet weather has had a major impact in the second half of the season. Both Greenock and Poloc have had three matches cancelled over the last four weekends.
Poloc are one place above Greenock in the Premier Division table and a win by the Glenparkers will see them leapfrog the Glasgow southside team. There is no danger of relegation as the bottom two teams, Drumpellier and East Kilbride, are both now certain to drop down to the First Division.
So it should be a Greenock team free from pressure which takes to the field and supporters will be hoping that the side can end the season in style with an entertaining game and a fourth league win.
Greenock pro Saurabh Bandekar has had a fine season with both bat and ball. He is currently top run-scorer in the Premier Division with 604 runs, 173 ahead of second-placed Rory Kleinveldt of West of Scotland. He will almost certainly, therefore, finish the season as the highest run-scorer in the top league.
Bandekar is also a top wicket-taker and could overtake Sachin Chaudhary of Prestwick to become the player with most wickets if he can produce a really class display of bowling against Poloc.
But the Glasgow south-siders will themselves be keen to finish the season on a high note. They have had a season very similar to Greenock, winning just three times throughout the summer and flirting with relegation as the second half of the league programme has progressed.
The Shawholm team has failed to gain a single win in the second half of the Premier Division league programme and last won when they played against Greenock towards the end of June. Other wins were gained against the bottom two teams Drumpellier and East Kilbride, also in June.
Key players for them will be South African professional Lesiba Ngoepe, Mo Dar, Craig Young and Amaan Ramzam. They have been Poloc’s main run scorers during the summer. No one bowler has stood out for the Poloc team in this season’s Premier Division matches. Zaighum Ahmad with 16 wickets and Mohammad Arafat with 13 are the Glasgow side’s top wicket-takers but at least another five players have been regularly used in the Poloc bowling attack.
Greenock and Poloc have travelled very similar roads in recent years. Both sides gained promotion in 2016 when Greenock on 88 per cent pipped Poloc (87.14 per cent) for the Division One title. In the seasons since, both clubs have managed, only just, to maintain their Premier Division status and so it is once again in the 2019 season.
But while Poloc have had a poor second half of the league programme this summer, Greenock were looking good with three wins in a row in July only for the exceptionally poor weather to disrupt the improved form which the team had been showing.
On Saturday, Greenock will be without three of their most experienced players — Neil Flack, Jonathan Hempsey and Shailesh Prabhu — but will nevertheless be able to play a side which should give Poloc a challenging afternoon and hopefully win the match and end the season on a positive note.
Greenock’s team for the match, which will start at noon, will be: S Bandekar, Z Barrenechea, TM Black, S Fischer-Keogh, CJK Hempsey,, GJ McDougall, RP Mountford, CS Pandher, SS Pandher, SS Sanghera, E Stewart. Scorer: R McGregor.
The Greenock 2nd XI (Glenpark) have no league match this Saturday, but on Sunday the Hilled XI have a friendly fixture against Irvine at Glenpark. This match will begin at 1pm.
Greenock Cricket Club is sponsored by Cleaning Supplies 4U
