Greenock record hard-fought victory over Renfrew
Renfrew vs Greenock 1st XI
WDCU CSL First Division
Saturday 4th June 2016
| Renfrew | 158 | I Uddin 36, A Said 32; ND Flack 3 for 26, JPC Hempsey 3 for 41 |
| Greenock 1st XI | 160 for 7 | SS Pandher 60, DB Rootes 35, DOD White 33* |
Greenock maintained their fine league form with a hard fought three wicket win over Renfrew on Saturday afternoon. The win lifts the Glenpark club up into second top position after league leaders St Michael's lost heavily to Irvine and second placed West of Scotland were beaten in a high scoring match at Hamilton Crescent by third placed Poloc, who now top the table.
On another gloriously warm and sunny afternoon, Renfrew won the toss at their Deanpark ground and opted to bat. A fifty eight run opening partnership between home professional Ahmed Said and Amrit Kalash put Renfrew in a commanding early position, but in the space of just five overs the complexion of the game was radically changed.
Neil Flack, who had come on as second change bowler after ten overs of play, made a double breakthrough in his third over capturing the wickets of Kalash, stumped by Chris Hempsey for 20, and also new batsman David Graham, caught by 'keeper Hempsey for a second ball duck. Then with the score still on fifty eight, Renfrew's pro Ahmed Said was caught by Shailesh Prabhu off the bowling of Jonathan Hempsey for 32. 58 for 3 in the 16th over.
Worse was to follow for Renfrew as, with just six more runs added to the total, firstly Adil Muzzaffar (3) was out caught by Phil McIntosh from the bowling of Neil Flack and swiftly followed by Anil Roy (3) caught and bowled by Damon Rootes. 64 for 5 in the 20th over.
New batsmen Shabir Baig and Imtiaz Uddin then got the home side back into the game with a rapid partnership of 56 runs from just 7 overs. However Baig was out caught by Louis Ware for 18 off the bowling of Damon Rootes, and soon after, the big hitting Uddin was also out caught by Ware, this time from the bowling of Jonathan Hempsey. Uddin top scored for his team with 36 runs which included five boundaries and two sixes.
Asad Amir became Hempsey's third victim of the innings when he was caught by Declan White without troubling the scorers and as the Renfrew innings moved towards its conclusion, Amir Ali added fifteen runs before becoming last man out as he was caught by wicketkeeper Chris Hempsey from Louis Ware's bowling. 158 was the Renfrew team's total as their innings ended in the 38th over
Jonathan Hempsey took 3 wickets for 41 runs from 10 overs, Neil Flack picked up 3 wickets for 26 runs from 8 overs, while Damon Rootes returned stats of 5 overs 2 wickets for 22 runs.
Greenock's reply did not start well, and by just the 14th over, the Glenpark side were in some trouble at 37 for the loss of four wickets. Shailesh Prabhu, Neil Flack, Louis Ware and Chris Hempsey had all been returned to the clubhouse and the Glenpark team were in need of something out of the ordinary to get them back into the game.
That arrived in the shape of Sehmat Pandher, who came to the wicket as Greenock's number six batsman. Pandher along with Damon Rootes put together the afternoon's highest partnership adding sixty nine runs for the fifth wicket before Rootes was caught by Amir off the bowling of Muzzaffar for 35.
Pandher, however, continued to pile on the runs as he plundered the Renfrew bowling. But his big hitting innings eventually came to an end when he was caught by Said off the bowling of Muzzaffar for a hugely important 60 runs which included eight boundaries and two big sixes. 128 for 6 wickets in the 29th over.
The remaining thirty runs needed to win the match were duly compiled with the loss of just one more wicket as Declan White played the main run-scoring role with a fine, undefeated innings of 33 runs. Greenock won the match in the 34th over with just in excess of fifteen overs remaining from the regulation 50 overs.
