Harry makes Heriots pay
Greenock 1st XI 195 Heriot's FP 181 scorecard
With the pressing need for a victory over Heriot's FP in order to maintain their challenge on Grange for the Premier Division title, Greenock were pleased to welcome back skipper Craig Wright to full order on Saturday. Having played the previous week, solely as a batsman, Craig felt confident enough in the improvement to his back, to risk a return to the attack. With Shailesh Prabhu and Jonathan Hempsey also available again, the team had a closer resemblance to the normal selection than had been the case the previous week.
Heriots won the toss and elected to bowl first on a pitch that had been covered for over twenty-four hours against the rains that fell on Friday. With the large cover having been taken away to be repaired after having been damaged by strong winds at the end of June, the club was very grateful to Greenock Morton for the loan of two large covers which are used to protect Cappielow from frost in the winter. In the event, these covers certainly did their job although removing them with the amount of water that was lying on top proved to be extremely difficult and required the assistance of some of the visitors before they could be taken off.
Greenock suffered a rude shock in just the second over when professional Tim McIntosh got a nick on a ball going down the leg-side from Farrell to be caught by the keeper for just 3 runs, just about the first failure with the bat that the big fellow has suffered this year. Shailesh Prabhu followed him shortly after, caught in front of his stumps for 12 and Greenock were in a bit of strife at 23 for 2. The skipper and Harry Byrnes Howe now got together to repair the damage and gradually they began to get on top of the bowling. Both played some excellent shots in a stand of 73 and it was a disappointment when Wright flashed hard at McCraw and was well caught by young Azhar, standing up to the stumps, for a fine 39.
Ryan Begley now joined Byrnes Howe and they, too, put on a promising stand. The young South Australian reached his first league half-century for the club and thoughts of a total well over 200 were now in mind. Begley fell at 147, trapped in front by the slow left-armer, Ritchie for 23, but David Brown kept the young Aussie company as the score pushed on into the 170s. Brown was rather stupidly run out, Diffenthal did not last long but when Byrnes Howe fell for 86 with the total at 193, the innings subsided in a rush of wickets. Byrnes Howe looked set for his century but fell when he seemed to catch his bat in the ground and succeeded only in sending a gentle catch to the bowler, Edington. At first, there was no reaction from either batsman or bowler but the umpire raised his finger eventually on appeal. It seemed as if Heriots just took it for granted that the catch was valid and although Byrnes Howe clearly thought that he had hit the ball into the ground, it later transpired that both umpires were adamant that he had not.
Greenock therefore ended up with a total of 195 and whilst that represented a good recovery after the sluggish start, it was certainly less than they would have hoped for. Wright and Jonathan Hempsey opened the bowling. The former slotted back into his usual rhythm and the Heriots batsmen, Knox and Snaddon, were content to keep him out whilst they garnered runs at the other end where Hempsey and Diffenthal struggled to keep the runs down. It took the introduction of Tim McIntosh to achieve the breakthrough, inducing Snaddon to edge a delivery through to Byrnes Howe behind the stumps. 61 for 1 and now Ritchie joined Knox in another productive partnership. The two of them seemed quite comfortable and at this stage there appeared to be only one winner.
Greenock now played their joker as Byrnes Howe removed the gloves and pads, passed them on to young Alex Baum and entered the attack. In a decisive spell of bowling he removed both of Heriots' overseas players, Ritchie caught by Diffenthal for 32 and Farrell by McIntosh for just 9. He then rounded matters off with the crucial wicket of Knox, caught by Jonathan Hempsey for 80 and Heriots were now 164 for 5 and it was very much a matter of game on. Hempsey returned to have the Heriots' skipper, Gavin McIntyre, caught by the professional, Dougie Wylie bowled Litster and the Edinburgh team were in freefall. From a winning position of 160 for 3 they had slumped to 171 for 6. Tim bowled Edington and Case was caught and bowled by Wylie and when Azhar was run out without scoring, Heriots were now 179 for 9 and in dire straights. Big Tim claimed the last wicket, having Farooq caught by Ryan Begley and the Edinburgh men were all out for 181, having lost their last 7 wickets for just 21 runs.
Given that they were still short of options in attack and that the professional had for once failed with the bat, this was a really satisfying win for Greenock and there was certainly no lack of fight from the team. More of the same will be required in the coming weeks but if Wrighty keeps his fitness and with Dewald Nel available this Saturday, even if Berrington and Weeraratna are still on international duty, they will be confident of maintaining their title challenge when they travel to Titwood to take on Clydesdale. It is a well-worn cliche but it really is a matter of taking each game as it comes.