Greenock too strong for Prestwick

Prestwick vs Greenock 1st XI
CSL Western First Division
Saturday 1st June 2013

Prestwick 174 J Erasmus 38; GJ McDougall 3 for 26, JPC Hempsey 3 for 48
Greenock 1st XI 175 for 6 FJ Colson 62, ND Flack 44; C Rodger 3 for 48

Scorecard       

Greenock recorded their opening league win of the season with a comfortable four wicket victory over MGM Prestwick at the Henry Thow Oval in Prestwick on Saturday. Following last week’s disappointment at Kelburne, when a win should have been achieved, the Glenparkers made no mistake this weekend and eased to their win with some overs to spare .

Prestwick won the toss and elected to make first use of the wicket. Greenock opened their bowling attack with their pace bowlers Tom Batters and Waleed Jamal and it was the latter who made an early breakthrough when he held on to a return catch to dismiss opener Fraser Macdonald (3) in just the fourth over.

Kevin Lawler and Greg Phillips then put together Prestwick’s biggest partnership of the innings, 52 runs, before change bowler Fraser Colson dismissed Phillips for 25 with the score on 62. One run later, Jonathan Hempsey had Lawler caught at slip by Colson for 13 and Prestwick were in a little spot of bother but Calum Rodger and overseas player, South African, Jean-Pierre Erasmus dug deep and put on twenty seven runs before Colson bowled Rodger (4).

Erasmus was the dominant batsman whom Greenock now needed to remove but it was the incoming batsman Calum Morrison who became Greenock’s fifth wicket on 106 when, newly into the attack, Greg McDougall had him caught by Ben Peterson for just three runs. McDougall then picked up the important wicket of Erasmus (38) in his third over to reduce Prestwick to 124 for 6.

David Carlyle and Archie McDonald halted Greenock’s progress for a short period as they put together Prestwick’s second best partnership of twenty seven runs. Carlyle returned a catch to bowler, Jonathan Hempsey, having scored 17 important runs for his side to leave the hosts on 151 for 7 in the 43rd over.

McDonald was next out on 165 when McDougall picked up his third wicket of the afternoon with yet another return catch. Just four runs later, Gavin Pitt (8) edged a delivery from Jonathan Hempsey which was taken by his brother Chris behind the stumps and Prestwick were nine wickets down, and the end came on 174 when Tom Batters was too sharp in the field and number ten batsman Fraser Rodger was run out having scored just four runs.


Greg McDougall with the best figures for Greenock

For Greenock the wickets were shared with Greg McDougall taking 3 for 26, Jonathan Hempsey 3 for 48, Fraser Colson 2 for 24 and Waleed Jamal 1 for 32.

After the tea interval, Greenock began their innings with a change to the usual opening batting partnership. Skipper Shailesh Prabhu elected to drop down the order to allow in-form Chris Hempsey to open with Neil Flack. The two made a good start but with the score on 19 after six overs, Hempsey was bowled by Gavin Pitt for 13.

New Zealander Fraser Colson, joined Flack and these two developed a very fine partnership. The Prestwick total of 174 was brought nearer over by over as they frustrated the home bowling attack and kept the scoreboard ticking over at a good pace. Colson reached his fifty from seventy six balls with the Greenock total on 104 but shortly afterwards was adjudged LBW to Calum Rodger for 62 which included eight boundaries. He and Flack had built an excellent second wicket partnership of 105 and on his dismissal Greenock were two wickets down for 124 in the 37th over.


Another promising knock from Neil Flack

With the platform built for a good win, Greenock continued to move towards their target, but on 134 two further wickets were lost when first Waleed Jamal was caught and bowled by Rodger and then Neil Flack was caught by Jacob Stafford off the bowling of Greg Phillips for a fine knock of 44.

With two new batsmen at the crease Prestwick sniffed a chance of gaining the upper hand as 41 runs were still needed from just ten overs. Fifteen runs from three overs from Jonathan Hempsey and Shailesh Prabhu reduced the runs needed for victory to just 26 although that was achieved at the cost of Hempsey’s wicket when he became Rodger’s third victim, bowled for 9.

Prabhu and Ben Peterson then took Greenock to the brink of victory before the Greenock skipper got an edge to a Calum Morrison delivery and was snapped up by wicketkeeper Archie McDonald for 13 with the score on 168 for the loss of 6 wickets.

Greenock were not to be denied however, and the seven runs needed to overtake Prestwick’s total were duly taken off the the very same Morrison over to give the Glenparkers a deserved win with still three overs remaining. At the end Ben Peterson was unbeaten on 13 and Tom Batters not out on 1.

Greenock now have one win from their two CSL Western Division One League matches which have beaten the weather and this Saturday are at home to Poloc when they will look to push on with their promotion campaign.