Just pride to play for the 1st XI this Saturday

The 1st XI travel through to Stirling on Saturday for their penultimate match in the 2023 WDCU Premiership One season.

Had results worked out for the team last weekend it would have been a hugely important fixture as both teams would have been battling to stay in the top league and to avoid relegation.

However, the results did not go as hoped. The 1st XI's match against Stenhousemuir was abandoned after a start stop day due to regular heavy rain showers while Stirling won against Prestwick. The upshot of the outcomes of the two matches is that the eleven will now be relegated from Premiership One at the end of the season.

So it will only be pride at stake when they take on County at their New Williamfield ground this Saturday.

Matches between the sides in the past have often been keenly contested. One such occasion was just prior to the pandemic at the very end of the 2018 season and it was at New Williamfield. The 1st XI needed to win to avoid relegation from the Premier Division and did so in fine style.

Stirling County batted first and scored 178 but in reply the 1st XI made 179 for the loss of just 3 wickets and as a result retained their Premier League status.

Last weekend Stirling captain Matthew Tweedie led his team from the front to gain the win at Prestwick which should be enough for County to be safe from relegation. Only Dumfries now have the very slimmest of chances of overtaking the Stirlingshire side.

Tweedie, who is County's regular opening batsman scored 62 not, and shared an unbeaten 87 run third wicket partnership with Manav Malik 53 not out, to pull off the win for his side.

The County skipper is the club's top scorer in the Premiership with 365 runs and an average of 30.4 while next highest scorer Amir Shahzad (218 runs) has not played since mid-July and may not be available on Saturday.

Manav Malik is the team's regular wicket-keeper and he is also a useful batsman. His highest score this season was 78 at Glenpark at the end of June, an innings the local bowlers will not want to see repeated !

Stirling's two South African amateurs, Rowan Bailey and Mornay Kohl, have also made some impression in terms of run-scoring. But County's batting has relied heavily on Tweedie, Shahzad and Malik this season when they have been available. Therefore if the 1st XI can find a way to remove these players early in their innings, the stats suggest that there are few other batsmen who will provide much danger.

County's bowling has shown that it has potential to do damage to opposition batting. Mubarak Ali and Zeeshan Sami are the regular opening bowlers and have almost 30 Premiership wickets between them.

However it is team captain and all-rounder Matthew Tweedie who as a change bowler is the team's leading wicket-taker with 23 Premiership wickets this season.

The team will field an eleven which shows only one change from last Saturday. Gregor Chambers is unavailable and Inam Khan comes into the side in his place.

Lukas Fischer-Keogh, who was part of the Scotland Under-19 team which last weekend won the Europe qualifying section and will now head to Sri Lanka in 2024 to play in the ICC Under-1919 Cricket World Cup, is not available this weekend and so Chris Hempsey will keep wicket once again.

Chambers will be a significant loss as he is the team's regular opening bowler and is also a player who can usually be relied upon to score runs when he bats in the middle order.

Team captain Greg McDougall will have a number of bowling options at his disposal despite the loss of Chambers from the side to face County. Sam Sanghera, Nikhil Kadyan, Rahul Dalal, Inam Khan and McDougall himself are all experienced bowlers who will form part of the bowling attack.

And with relegation now decided there is an opportunity to give a number of the younger players in the side a chance to show what they can do.

Cammy Calder, Usman Mansoor and Aryan Sanghera have become regular 1st XI players this season but have had limited opportunities to be part of the bowling attack. They will almost certainly be given a chance to show what they can do on Saturday.

To win games runs have to be scored as well as wickets taken and being able to score enough runs has been an issue for Greenock during the season.

With the pressure off perhaps runs will flow at New Williamfield on Saturday and the team can get the better of Stirling County to gain a little pride as a disappointing season moves towards its conclusion.

The match will start at 12 noon as usual.

The Glenpark XI are home on Saturday to Milngavie 2nd XI in what will be their last game of the season. It has been a season that promised much early on but some poor performances and no luck whatsoever with the weather has meant a mid-table finish for the team. Skipper Eddie Ahmad will be hoping that the selected side will play to their capabilities and finish the season in style with a win. The match is scheduled to start at 12 noon.

The Club is grateful for the continued sponsorship from Cleaning Supplies 4U.