1st XI at Irvine for final away game of the season
The 1st XI are away to Irvine on Saturday and will travel down the coast seeking to gain a win from their last away match of the season.
When the two sides met earlier in the season, towards the end of June, the team emerged victorious by 5 wickets at the end of an absorbing afternoon of cricket at Glenpark.
Irvine batted first and scored 164 before being all out with three overs of their 50 over innings remaining, Sri Lankan professional Sachin Jayawardena was the Ayrshire side's main run scorer with 65 before playing on to his stumps from a ball bowled by Ewan Stewart.
In reply, the team owed much of their success to a fine unbeaten innings of 80 runs by Connor Nowlan, supported by 28 from Angus Tolhurst and a very important 30 not out from Chirag Pandher.
They will travel to meet Irvine at their Marress ground with a deserved feeling of optimism following their fine five wicket win over second top Kelburne last Saturday.
The match at Irvine presents the opportunity to get a back to back win but will require the team to play well and show a determination to score the runs and take the wickets which will merit the 25 points for victory.
However, it has been very much a start stop season for the team. With seven wins from 13 completed matches, the side has had difficulty following up one win with another win the next week.
Perhaps this will be the weekend for it to happen. With the yet to be corroborated news that Irvine's professional, Sachin Jayawardena, may have completed his time in Ayrshire and returned home to Sri Lanka for the start of his own club's cricket season, they could find they have a significant advantage.
Jayawardena has been a key player during the Western Premiership Two season for the Marress team. He is the league's top wicket-taker with 40 wickets, with his best match statistic being 7 wickets for just 8 runs against Hillhead at the beginning of June.
The Sri Lankan professional has also been his team's top run scorer. However, his batting ability has been less prolific than his bowling and he is placed at 14th highest in the league run-scoring stats. His best innings in the league (65) was scored against Greenock.
His absence from the Irvine team on Saturday would certainly be a blow for the Ayrshire side and an advantage to Greenock.
And the coming weekend round of matches could provide a tail-end of the season boost for the 1st XI as they could go to third in the league if a win can be gained against Irvine and the current third placed team Renfrew lose at home to Glasgow Accies.
But first, they must perform well against Irvine.
Team captain Greg McDougall is once again absent due to his back injury and will not take part again this season. The captaincy has been passed to the team's all-rounder Connor Nowlan who will lead from the front both in bowling and batting.
The young Australian has had a fine season along with his Aussie team-mate Angus Tolhurst. Both have done well for the team scoring runs and taking wickets and they each feature towards the very top of the Western Premiership Two league Stats.
Inclement weather has played a role in a number of the side's matches during the season and could do once again for Saturday's match at Irvine. The wet and very windy weather experienced during this week shows little sign of change for the weekend and so preparation of the ground at Marress will be a problem. A very major change in overhead conditions may be needed to allow ground conditions to become dry enough for the match to take place.
The team for Saturday's match, which will start at 12 noon, weather conditions permitting, has yet to be finalised but is likely to come from a pool of 14 players.
The Glenpark XI have no match this Saturday. They were scheduled to play away against Stirling County 3rd XI but their opponents have withdrawn from the league due to difficulties with raising a side.
The Club is grateful for the continued sponsorship from Cleaning Supplies 4U.