Greenock look to maintain promotion challenge against Hillhead

 

Greenock approach the mid-point in the 2016 league season in a very strong position following the Club's best form in recent seasons. Six wins from the seven matches which have been completed have put the Glenpark side in second top spot, just one percent behind leaders Poloc.

A total of eighteen matches are possible from the full league programme during the season, but poor weather will usually knock out a number of these. To date this season, thanks to the recent good weather, especially at weekends, only one match has had to be cancelled.

This Saturday Greenock welcome newly promoted Hillhead to Glenpark. The Glasgow side struggled with their form from the opening Saturday of the league season and recorded six defeats from their first six matches played to lie bottom of the WDCU Division One. Last weekend, the Hughenden side put on their best performance of the season and defeated Renfrew to gain their first league win of 2016.

Set a total of 154 runs to win, Hillhead scored the runs with just five wickets down and with two overs to spare. The win hoisted the Hughenden side off bottom spot as Weirs, who also have a poor record in the league, lost heavily to third placed Irvine.

WDCU CSL First Division Table (at 18th June)

 
Played
Won
Lost
Bonus Points
Penalty Points
Points
%
NVT Poloc
7
6
1
  8
0
158
90.29
GREENOCK
7
6
1
  6
0
156
89.14
Irvine
7
5
2
  13  
0
138
78.86
West of Scotland
8
5
3
22
0
147
73.50
Stirling County
7
4
3
16
0
  116  
66.29
Queensberry St Michael's
7
4
3
12
0
112
64.00
Glasgow Accies
7
3
4
  16  
0
  91
52.00
Renfrew
7
1
6
26
0
  51
29.14
Hillhead
7
1
6
27
5
  47
26.86
Weirs
8
1
7
13
0
  38
19.00

On the face of it, Hillhead should present Greenock with a comfortable win, but cricket regularly throws up unexpected results and the Glenpark side need to ensure that there is no 'banana skin' associated with this fixture.

In three of their matches, Hillhead have batted very poorly and failed to score a challenging total, but in the other four, quite good totals have been racked up, albeit that only one win has been achieved. Keetan Patel has been their most consistent run scorer but has only scored one fifty in the seven games. Highest scorer is Paul Bartlett with 89 scored against Irvine two weeks ago.

The Hillhead bowling attack has not ripped through any opponents, but the veteran and man of many clubs, Imran Adrees, is one player to watch as he has come into a good vein of form in the last couple of weeks with 4 wickets for 19 runs against Irvine and 4 wickets for 20 runs last week against Renfrew.

Greenock will field the same side which won easily last Saturday in Dumfries against St Michael's at the Kingholm ground alongside the River Nith. Neil Flack, with a career best 8 wickets for 22 runs, will no doubt once again feature prominently. Noted mostly for his batting as an opener, Flack will look to score well on Saturday at Glenpark, but with confidence sky high after ripping through St Michael's, it would not be a surprise if he once again bagged several wickets against Hillhead.

With what may be a fairly brittle batting line-up, Saturday's visitors, Hillhead, may find difficulty with the pace of Declan White. White has been a consistently good performer with the ball for Greenock and has already bagged one five wicket haul. Others who could share the bowling for Greenock include Jonathan Hempsey, Phil McIntosh, Louis Ware, Greg McDougall.

Greenock have either been asked to field first when they have lost the toss or have shown a preference to bat second in almost all of their league matches to date and it has paid off very well. The team has chased down runs well and shown a confidence in their batting line-up which has been missing for some time.

Damon Rootes has been in fine form and no matter the total set by opponents, he has batted extremely well, gaining a league best 81 runs against West of Scotland two weeks ago and also a century against Stirling County in the Scottish Cup at New Williamfield. Others too have contributed significant runs most weeks. Chris Hempsey with 29 against West of Scotland two weeks ago and 26 not out last week against St Michael's has formed good partnerships with Rootes.

Greenock should keep up their winning momentum against Hillhead on Saturday and, with league leaders Poloc travelling down the Ayrshire coast to play Irvine, a win for Greenock will keep the Glenparkers' promotion aspirations well on target.

The team for the match, which will start at the later time of 1pm, is the same as has played and won on the previous two Saturdays.

This match is kindly sponsored by Blair & Bryden (Solicitors)

The Glenpark XI, bounced back from their defeat at the hands of Partick when they easily defeated Kingholm last Saturday by 9 wickets and they will look to record another win when they take on Hughenden in Glasgow to consolidate their mid-table position. So far this season, there have been some pleasing performances by the younger members of the team, notably from William Goan and Jamie Nowell which bodes well for the club's future. This match will start at 12 noon.

On Sunday, the 1st XI >turn their attention to the Scottish Cup and a Quarter Final tie at Glenpark against top Edinburgh side, Carlton. This match will provide a real test for the young Greenock side as Carlton sit in third place in the Eastern Premier Division and are clearly a team with plenty of strength. Ex- Greenock player, Fraser Watts is still going strong for Carlton and his wicket will be a prized one for Greenock. The team for this match, which will start at 12 noon, shows two changes from Saturday's selection with Harry Briggs and Chirag Pandher replacing the unavailable Sehmat Pandher and Shailesh Prabhu.

The Hillend XI were due to play Poloc Academy on Sunday at Glenpark but the Scottish Cup match takes priority and this means another blank weekend for the Hillenders.

Greenock Cricket Club is sponsored this season by Cleaning Supplies 4U.