Week 9 Review - the bowlers win it for the 1st XI

Another Saturday, another thumping win for the 1st XI. But this time it was the bowlers that did the trick after the batsmen had struggled on the same pitch as had been used the previous Saturday for the Uddingston run-fest. As the cliche goes, lightning seldom strikes twice. Winning the toss yet again and deciding to bat, Greenock struggled to post a total of 176 for 9 and they were indebted to an 9th wicket partnership of 35 from Juddy and Jonathan Hempsey to even reach that total as the Ayr attack kept a tight hold on proceedings. But if the Ayr bowlers did well, that was nothing to the effect that the Greenock attack had. The early loss of professional Matt Horne, bowled by a pearler from Dewald Nel, precipitated an almighty collapse, first to 18 for 5, then 27 for 8 before the final wicket fell at 46. Mark Renny alone of the Ayr batsmen was able to cope with Craig Wright (4 for 15) and Tim McIntosh (3 for 11) and he ended up 24 not out. Without his valiant efforts, Ayr would have struggled to reach 20. The usual brief report and the scorecard details are available here.

Sunday's Scottish cup-tie at Dunfermline was an early victim of the overnight and early morning rains and the game will now go ahead this Sunday. Should that also be rained off, then the alternatives are to somehow play a midweek game or opt for a bowl-out. The winners of this tie have been drawn away against either Arbroath or Clydesdale which opens up the prospect of a repeat of last year's explosive quarter-final at Titwood.

Greenock's worst fears regarding international call-ups have been realised as Richie Berrington, Dewald Nel and Sean Weeraratna have all been selected for the Intercontinental Cup squad to play Bermuda and Canada and as a result will miss the forthcoming games against Grange and Heriots. Juddy will also be missing as he has been appointed assistant coach for this mini-tour, which does rather mean that it will be a much-weakened side that will be fielded in these two fixtures. Having said that, Greenock are delighted for the guys for this honour and they are also delighted that Richie and Dewald, together with Craig Wright, have been chosen for the squad to play Ireland and New Zealand in next week's triangular series at Aberdeen. In Richie's case, this is due reward for a series of great performances with the bat in recent weeks.

The Hillend XI were also due to play on Sunday but the rain put paid to that possibility. With Inverclyde winning the only game to be completed in Division 5 over the weekend, this means that the Hillenders drop a place in the table to 5th spot.