Greenock look for success against Renfrew

Greenock take on near neighbours Renfrew in the second of their Scottish Cup sectional matches at Glenpark on Saturday and will be seeking to gain their first competitive win of the season. The local side will field a near full strength side with both overseas players having arrived and available to play.

Saturday's game against Renfrew will be a good test for the Greenock team. Renfrew were last season's CSL Western Division One champions and promoted to the CSL Western Premier Division while Greenock were relegated from the top division. With home advantage, the Glenpark side will be keen to show that they have a team capable of playing good cricket and capable of winning.

Into the Greenock side for the first time will come Australian seam bowler 21 year old Tom Batters from the Essendon Club in Victoria and New Zealander Fraser Colson, a 23 year old top order batsman who just a few years ago represented his country at Under-19 level. These players will be a major boost for the local side adding an extra dimension with both bat and ball and hopefully bringing increased confidence and improved performances from the team as a whole.

Last Saturday, one of Scotland’s top sides, Grange from Edinburgh, won comfortably at Glenpark in the opening Scottish Cup sectional match of the 2013 competition. Fortune favoured the visitors who won the toss and inserted Greenock on a slow, green wicket. The Glenparkers struggled to get runs on the board and could only muster 105 all out in 33.4 overs, a total which Grange overcame quite comfortably in the end.

Greenock will be hoping that the toss is more favourable to them this weekend as once again the pitch will be slow and soft as the weather has yet to allow wickets to firm up. Batsmen will require to apply themselves to get in and build confidence in their shot making while bowlers will see the conditions as very favourable for picking up wickets.

Richie Berrington last Saturday was the one Greenock bowler who was on form. He collected all four of the Grange wickets which fell and the visitors' batsmen were constantly in difficulty against him. A good line and length must be sought by all of the home bowlers on Saturday to keep the Renfrew batsman in check and to induce false shots which will create chances.

Greenock captain Shailesh Prabhu is keen to get his first win in this season’s Scottish Cup competition and stated, " The team is looking forward to the Renfrew game and also to having both of our overseas players available. With proper application I am confident we can get a positive result on Saturday".

Renfrew will provide a bit of an unknown quantity for Greenock. The team from up the M8 are obviously a useful side having been CSL Western First Division champions last year and last week defeated Dundee HSFP by 89 runs in Dundee. Standouts in that victory were opening batsman Ahmed Said who scored 106 not out and also took 4 wickets for 11 runs from ten overs, and opening bowlers Sai Majeed with 3 for 20 and Kashif Parvez with 2 for 22 from thirteen overs.

Greenock make two changes from last Saturday’s side. Into the team come both overseas players Tom Batters and Fraser Colson and dropping down to the second XI goes young Harry Briggs, while Sam Sanghera remains at Glenpark as 12th man.

Greenock Cricket Club is grateful to acknowledge that Saturday's match versus Grange is kindly sponsored by Flower Vogue and that the match ball is sponsored by Clydesdale Bank.

The Glenpark XI  play Renfrew's 2nd XI, Dean Park, at Renfrew on Saturday in the Western Cup with a 1pm start. Last week's game against Helensburgh was a difficult start for the team with many players being unavailable for selection. Those that did play did their best but were ultimately outgunned by their opponents. With a stronger selection this week, the team will be confident of achieving a positive result.