Week 13 Review - 1st XI regain momentum in push for title

The 1st XI were still short of a number of players on Saturday when they welcomed Heriot's FP to Glenpark but crucially skipper Craig Wright declared himself fit to bowl. Whilst the big fella did not take any wickets, he bowled his ten overs with his usual parsimony and this gave Greenock heart to carry on and defeat the Edinburgh men in a closely-fought encounter.

Heriot's won the toss and elected to bowl first. Two early successes, including the wicket of Tim McIntosh, seemed to vindicate that decision but cometh the hour as they say and Harry Byrnes Howe chose this day to produce his best performance of what has been an unlucky season so far. He top-scored with 86 to ensure that Greenock had a total (195) that they could defend and then after taking one catch behind the stumps, he removed his pads to take three crucial top-order wickets that sealed Heriot's fate. A true man of the match performance and one that made sure that Greenock capitalised on the leader's, Grange, inactivity to move within 3 points of top spot. A brief report of the game, with scorecard details, can be read here.

On Sunday, a somewhat understrength team travelled up the road to Paisley for the final West League Cup sectional tie against Ferguslie, a game that Greenock had to win to stand any chance of maintaining an interest in the competition and therefore holding on to the trophy. In the event, they came up short by 18 runs and have therefore failed to qualify for the semi-finals. Ferguslie batted first and totalled 158 for 1 in their 30 overs, with overseas amateur Haslim scoring 89 not out and Scotland Under-17 batsman, Luthra 51 not out. In reply, Tim and Ryan Begley put on 60 for the first wicket before the professional was out for 40, the first of three key wickets for the veteran Stewart Kennedy. David Brown, batting at 3, made 22 but thereafter the innings somewhat petered out in the push to reach the target. The scorecard details are available here.

The first innings was overshadowed by a fearsome collision between Dougie Wylie and Sammy Sanghera as they both went for a high, swirling catch. Dougie bravely insisted in completing his bowling spell but then went off to hospital and was unable to bat. Fortunately, there were no bones broken and he hopes to playing again on Tuesday. Sammy for his part was badly shaken by the incident but does not seem to have suffered any lasting damage.

The Glenpark XI did not make it on to the field on Saturday as their game with Anniesland was called off early in the morning.

The Hillend XI played their last fixture before the Division 5 table is split in two. With their place in the top 6 already assured, the Hillenders were perhaps a trifle complacent when they took on lowly Gatehouse of Fleet. The result was an embarrassingly heavy defeat by 115 runs. Admittedly, Hillend were not at their usual strength but this was undoubtedly a bit of a reality check prior to the last five fixtures of the season. The full scorecard details can be read here.