The Snake's century sets up another Glenpark win

Glenpark XI v Torrance House

An excellent all round performance saw Glenpark come away with maximum points again on Saturday.

Glenpark lost the toss and were asked to bat first. Skipper Mark Robertson kept faith with the new opening partnership from the past two matches and, on this occasion, Dave Sharma and Kieran Begley rewarded that trust. Concentrating on preserving their wickets, they made sure to punish the bad ball to ensure the scoreboard kept ticking over. They achieved a partnership of 83 at four-an-over, during which Dave reached an assured half-century, before Kieran holed out looking to push the scoring rate. Dave was then joined by Peter Hempsey, who picked up from where he left off last week, to take the score to 141.

Chris Hempsey replaced his Dad and took on the mantle of run-getter to take the pressure off a tiring Dave. Together they put on the third consecutive half-century partnership of the innings, Dave reaching his first century for Glenpark in the process. Both fell in quick succession looking for quick runs, Chris to a high catch and Dave dragging a ball that kept low onto his stumps. The cause was then taken up by Sam Sanghera and Mark Robertson, putting on 32 runs in three overs before Mark and Brian Roberts perished in the final over before a declaration on 250.

Torrance House were therefore set a sporting target of 251 in 54 overs, less than five-an-over, but that did not seem to entice the visitors. Dave and Jeeta Singh opened tightly, though Dave clearly showed the effects of his marathon innings – struggling to generate much pace. Jeeta made the breakthrough to bring Kampman to the crease to join his fellow veteran Meikle. Glenpark knew this would be the crucial partnership, and for a while it looked as if they may be frustrated with a draw as the drinks break came up in the 30th over without further success.

After the break however, Glenpark’s other family pair combined to make a vital double strike. Chris Hempsey smartly stumped Meikle off Mark Robertson, and Jamie Terris took a fine boundary catch off the skipper's Uncle Peter to remove Kampman. After that, the result never looked in doubt as the last nine wickets fell for 23 runs. Peter had further successes, and Sam ran through the lower order similar to last week – only this time even more clinically. The bowlers were backed up by some excellent fielding: Sam took an amazingly athletic catch off his own bowling, but even this was upstaged by Jamie Terris’s dive to take one over his shoulder – surely the catch of the season. Sam ended up with the superb figures of 5 for 7, and Peter rolled back the years with his 3 for 15.

Current thinking is that Glenpark will be promoted to Division 2 for next season and, on current form, they would be competitive at that higher level. There is now a fortnight’s break before the season closer against GHK/Strathclyde, when the strength of the team should be further boosted by the return of Dougie Moore, who was unavailable for this match because of another “engagement” – Glenpark wish Dougie and Annemarie all the best for the future.


Glenpark XI (25 pts) 250 for 6 (46 overs) DC Sharma 132, Wilson 3 for 19

Torrance House (4 pts) 113 (50.2 overs) Meikle 37, Kampman 35, SS Sanghera 5 for 7, PE Robertson 3 for 15

Glenpark XI won by 137 runs

Glenpark XI Man of the MatchDave Sharma - Sorry Sam, it was an excellent bowling performance, but I think I sneaked it.

Scooby Award: Mark Robertson – After withdrawing form bowler Jeeta to shine the ball, he then returned it via the ground! After asking the batsman, with false concern, if he had been hurt when a ball from Sam rapped him on the pad – the next ball took Mark on the shin. There was also a nomination for a questionable haircut.

scorecard

'The Snake'