Greenock race to victory over Hillhead and go top

Greenock 1st XI vs Hillhead
WDCU CSL First Division
Saturday 25th June 2016

Scorecard       

Greenock moved to the top of the WDCU Division One league table on Saturday evening after a crushing nine wicket win over Glasgow side Hillhead at Glenpark.

On an afternoon when some very heavy rain showers were circulating around the west of Scotland, Glenpark managed to stay dry for almost the entire period during which the match was played. Many other matches across the area were abandoned due to torrential rain flooding grounds and making play impossible.

One such match was between third placed Irvine and league leaders (at the start of the afternoon) Poloc, which was being played at the Ayrshire club's Marress ground, but which was abandoned just over half way through the game due to a prolonged thunderstorm.

So with Greenock winning and Poloc's match abandoned, Greenock leap-frogged their Glasgow rivals to take over the top spot. It is the first time in around a decade that a Greenock cricket team has topped a league and is a signal that the Glenpark club is once again on the march.

WDCU CSL First Division Table (at 25th June)

Saturday's game also marked the midway point in this summer's league programme, and for Greenock to sit atop the table is a huge encouragement for the 1st XI players and the Club as a whole. But there is still much work to be done before the season is over and a promotion place back to the Premier Division is secured.

Hasan Azhar, the Hillhead captain, made the wrong call when the toss was made prior to the start of the match and Jonathan Hempsey, Greenock's captain, had no hesitation in opting to bowl and inviting Hillhead to bat.

And what a start the Glenparkers made, as Aussie pace bowler Declan White's very first ball of the match got the edge of Hillhead opener Alistair Fergus' bat and arrowed to second slip where Phil McIntosh took a very smart catch.

White's pace was a persistent problem for the visitors' batsmen and so it was little surprise when the Aussie claimed two more victims in the ninth over of the innings. Firstly, opener Amith Mudalige was trapped leg before wicket having scored six runs, and then just two balls later, new batsman Jack Holland had his stumps scattered to leave Hillhead on 18 runs for the loss of 3 wickets.

The Glasgow club's New Zealand amateur Keetan Patel departed with just seven more runs on the board, caught by Neil Flack from the bowling of Phil McIntosh having scored only four runs. But then the visitors' captain Hasan Azhar and Atif Ahmed put together the inning's best partnership with thirty runs, which were added in slightly more than eleven overs.

Neil Flack, who gained career best bowling figures of 8 for 22 last weekend, was the bowler to make the breakthrough for Greenock when he took a return catch from Ahmed who had scored 15. As often happens after a decent partnership has been built, one wicket quickly brings another and so it was on this occasion as home captain Jonathan Hempsey clean bowled Azhar without addition to the total to leave Hillhead in deep trouble on 55 for the loss of six wickets.

Naeem Iqbal was next to go, caught Sehmat Pandher bowled Flack for three, and he was quite quickly followed back to the pavilion by Gopakumar Nair, who became Flack's third scalp when he was caught by Jonathan Hempsey without scoring. Total after 29 overs, 64 for the loss of 8 wickets.

Adam Jackson (3) was run out before Shehroz Mehmood and veteran Richard Bond put up a short rearguard action adding nineteen runs for the final wicket. Bond was last out, caught White for five from the bowling of Greg McDougall, who captured the wicket with just his fourth ball. Mehmood was unbeaten on 19 as Hillhead were all out for 88 in the 37th over.

With blue skies becoming replaced by increasingly cloudy, threatening skies, and thunder sounding in the distance, Greenock recognised the importance of 'getting on with it' if a result was to be achieved before weather might intervene. Openers Neil Flack and Phil McIntosh set about the task in brick fashion and had posted fifty five runs in just seven overs before McIntosh was out for a very entertaining 30 runs, stumped by wicketkeeper Fergus from the bowling of Atif Ahmed.

McIntosh's wicket was to be the only breakthrough for Hillhead, as Greenock continued to pile on the runs, and victory was achieved by the Glenparkers in just the eleventh over with Flack not out 33 and Damon Rootes also unbeaten on 22.

So another very good performance from the Greenock team and a seventh win from eight league matches completed. Confidence is high at Glenpark and the promotion quest is well on track, but at the half way mark the players also know the job is still only half done.

Saturday's match against Hillhead was kindly sponsored by Blair & Bryden.