Greenock enjoy better fortunes at Whitehaugh in CSL40 Cup

Kelburne v Greenock 1st XI
CSL40 Cup
Sunday 16th June 2013

Scorecard       

The grey, gloomy and wet conditions, which caused Saturday’s league match at Glenpark against Weirs to be cancelled without a ball being bowled, gave way to blue skies and quite pleasant, warm conditions on Sunday for this CSL40 cup match at Whitehaugh in Paisley.

Kelburne skipper Scott Hamilton won the toss and took the decision to have first use of the wicket. Just four overs into the innings, he was possibly wishing he had opted to field as his side were two wickets down with just seven runs on the board. Firstly opener Andy Gilmour (4) edged a pacey delivery from Tom Batters to first slip where Chris Hempsey snapped up the chance, then the experienced, and quite recent, former Scottish internationalist Qasim Sheikh badly misjudged a delivery from Waleed Jamal and had his stumps knocked back having scored just one run.

In the eighth over Jamal clean bowled Kelburne’s other former Scottish internationalist Omar Hussain in almost identical fashion to leave the Paisley side in some disarray on 12 runs for 3 wickets.

Opening bat Ryan Morrow and number five batsman Steven McLister slowly developed the home total taking it to 54 before Greenock’s captain Jonathan Hempsey bowled Morrow for 19 in the eighteenth over . McLister was then joined by his own team captain Scott Hamilton and these two added 33 runs, largely from the efforts of the former, before Hamilton was LBW to Waleed Jamal for 7.

Just ten runs more were added to the Kelburne total when Tom Batters, in his second bowling spell, had McLister well caught at cover by Chris Hempsey for 38 runs.

Wickets were now falling quickly. Ross Mclean was LBW to Jonathan Hempsey without scoring, Donald Campbell hit five runs before Greg McDougall had him caught by Jonathan Hempsey and then Javaid Ashraf was trapped LBW by Waleed Jamal for a ‘duck’.

The Kelburne innings ended in the 38th over when Waleed Jamal gained his fifth wicket of the afternoon when he bowled tail-ender Ross Arbuckle for 7. The home side’s total was 127 all out and Jamal returned the excellent figures of 5 wickets for 23 runs from 10 overs. Tom Batters picked up 2 wickets for 26 from 8 overs, Jonathan Hempsey had 2 wickets for 27 from 9 overs and Greg McDougall was the other wicket-taker with 1 for 21 from 6 overs.

With the memory of the recent calamitous batting collapse in a league match at Whitehaugh still festering in the minds of the players, Greenock made the worst possible start to their innings. Young Harry Briggs drove the first ball from Steven McLister to Ross MacLean at cover and he gladly accepted the chance. Chris Hempsey (7) then became McLister’s second victim in just the fifth over when he was bowled with the total on ten. Two runs later and Alex Baum found a leading edge to present a second catch to Ross MacLean, this time off the bowling of Ross Arbuckle.

There was however to be no repeat of Saturday 25 May. Greenock stand-in captain Jonathan Hempsey joined New Zealander Fraser Colson in the middle and these two played sensibly and built a fine fourth wicket partnership of 81 runs in 19 overs which put the Glenparkers in clear sight of the winning line. Hempsey departed LBW to Donald Campbell for 23 runs with the total on 93 and although Tom Batters (3) lasted only a few balls, Greg McDougall played a fine supporting role as Fraser Colson guided Greenock to a very (in the end) comfortable five wicket win in just the 34 th over. Colson was unbeaten on 79 with eight boundaries included in his score.

For those interested in statistics, several Greenock bowlers are vying for top wicket-taker spot with Waleed Jamal in front with 22 wickets closely followed by both Tom Batters and Jonathan Hempsey who each have 19 wickets. Greg McDougall is also in double figures with 14 wickets. A clear leader in run scoring is New Zealander Fraser Colson who has 461 runs from nine innings, with three not outs, giving a current average of 76.8

On Wednesday evening at Glenpark, Greenock play Ferguslie in a West League Cup match. The match is scheduled to start at 6pm.