Crunching victory for Glenpark XI
Torrance House v Glenpark XI
The Glenpark XI returned to winning ways in convincing style this weekend.
With skipper Mark Robertson delayed, stand-in Peter Hempsey continued tradition by winning the toss and inviting the opposition to bat. Openers Sam Sanghera and Jeeta (Bradman!) Singh got Glenpark off to a steady start, though only Jeeta had success. Dave Sharma came on first change but, bowling injured, struggled to find rhythm off a short run. Off his full run he made inroads into the home team’s top order, including an excellent slip catch by Sam. However Torrance House number three
Brian Kampman remained an immovable object and held the innings together. Mark Robertson, arriving just in time to enjoy the drinks break, was unlucky not to have him caught behind in his first over – but otherwise it was a chanceless innings resulting in more than half of his team’s runs. Jeeta came back to take another wicket, then it was up to the pace of Sam and guile of Mark to run through the remaining batsmen, earning Glenpark an extra eight overs for their innings.
Chasing 160 on a green wicket was initially thought to be a challenging but achievable target – this was right in one respect. Openers Peter and Chris Hempsey set about their task superbly – solid in defence and effective in attack, they continued their impressive form from last week to put on a century stand. The second half was only marred by Chris’s wicket as he fell just short of a deserved half century. However this did allow Peter Robertson to come in and entertain with a quickfire 33 including three sixes and two fours, as the two Peters cruised to victory with more than 32 overs to spare. Admittedly Glenpark were helped by wayward bowling – the last two winning runs rather aptly being wides – but this was an impressive performance and crucially, in this correspondent’s opinion, the team appear to be enjoying their cricket.
The Glenpark XI are back on home turf this Thursday evening in the second round of the Glasgow Cup against Scotindinans. Kick off circa 6pm – as usual all support would be appreciated.
Torrance House (4 pts) 159 (42 overs) B Kampman 81*, DC Sharma 3 for 33, SS Sanghera 3 for 34
Glenpark XI (25 pts) 160 for 1 (25.3 overs) CJK Hempsey 43, P Hempsey 37*, PE Robertson 33*
Glenpark XI won by 9 wickets
Glenpark XI Man of the Match: Too difficult to call this week with many good performances, but none standing out above the others, therefore commendable mention goes to Chris Hempsey, Peter Hempsey, Peter Robertson, Sam Sanghera and yours truly!
Scooby Award: Peter Hempsey. During the match a kindly passer-by found a lost ball and threw it onto the pitch to return it to the cricketers – only for Peter to pick it up and throw it back at him. He walked away feeling disgruntled and unappreciated!
'The Snake'