Glenpark XI start their league campaign

Glenpark XI (Greenock 2nd XI) open their SNCL Reserve League programme with a home fixture against Partick (West of Scotland 2nd XI) at Glenpark on Saturday. The SNCL Reserve league is a new format for 2011 and brings together the 2nd XIs of clubs in the West District whose top teams play in the SNCL Premiership or SNCL Championship. For the Glenpark XI this means playing against some sides who last year played two divisions above them in the old WDCU league format. It will therefore be a challenging season for the local side.

Mark Robertson once again takes charge of the Glenpark side and he will look to the experience of players such as Dave Sharma, David Thomson and the evergreen Peter Robertson to bring out the best in some of the younger players such as Greg McDougall and Aidan Forrest. For this weekend’s opener the side will be without Sam Sanghera who was the Glenpark XI's top bowler in 2010. He is on holiday but should be available in the next week or two.

With no 1st XI SNCL fixtures yet having been played and with no game this weekend for the top side, Saturday’s fixture provides an opportunity for some much needed match practice for a few of the players who will almost certainly line up against Clydesdale next week in the opening Premiership match. Alex Baum, Ryan Begley and Jonathan Hempsey have been included in the line up against Partick and each will be looking to get time in the middle to sharpen their game before the main event gets under way against their Glasgow rivals next Saturday.

The match will start at 1.00pm.

On Sunday the Hillend XI (Greenock 3rd XI) was due to play Carradale at Glenpark in a friendly match, however the team from Kintyre called off in midweek and at the time of going to press no definite decision had been reached with regard to obtaining an alternative opposition for Sunday afternoon.