Greenock aim to put last week behind them

 

Greenock 1st XI's first game at Glenpark for a month turned out to be an anti-climax as East Kilbride ran out deserving winners on the day.

That defeat has brought Greenock back into the relegation area and while there are plenty of games still to be played this season they will not want to drop down any further in the league. There are two relegation spots to be filled and with Kelburne already looking doomed, it would appear that one of East Kilbride, Dumfries and Greenock will accompany them down to the First Division.

 

WDCU CSL Premier Division Table

 
Played
Won
Lost
Points
Net Run Rate
%
Prestwick
  9
7
2
192
0.99
85.34
Ferguslie
  8
6
2
160
-0.04 
80.00
Ayr
10
7
3
193
0.52
77.20
Uddingston
  8
5
3
141
0.32
70.50
Ferguslie
  8
6
2
160
-0.04 
80.00
Poloc
  8
5
3
141
0.18
70.50
Clydesdale
10
6
4
170
1.70
68.00
GREENOCK
  9
3
6
112
-0.22 
49.78
Dumfries
  9
3
6
109
-0.12 
48.45
East Kilbride
  7
2
5
  66
-1.51 
37.72
Kelburne
10
0
10
  34
-1.86 
13.60

 

However, as said, there is a long way to go and lots of cricket to be played and Greenock just need to concentrate on each game as it comes, to quote that old cliche.

The first of these games comes against Poloc at Shawholm on Saturday and their opponents will present a considerable hurdle to be overcome. Having recruited strongly over the winter, Poloc were reckoned by many to be strong contenders for the title and they started the season with two wins against Ferguslie and Uddingston. They then lost the next three games to drop off the pace but a further three wins have brought them back to the fringes of the title chase.

Poloc have plenty of options in both batting and bowling. Scotland Under-19 opener, Syed Shah, has had a prolific season with his aggressive style of batting and the two South Africans, Juri Snyman and Louis Geldenhuys, have also provided plenty of runs. Backing them up are Asad Izaz, who joined from Drumpellier, Taimoor Ahmad, a recruit from Ferguslie and Abdul Sabri, a useful tailender who played for Clydesdale last season.

As far as their bowling is concerned, their spin attack of Hamza Tahir, ex-Ferguslie, and Snyman is as good as any in the league. Geldenhuys, Sabri, Ahmad and another Scotland Under-19 player, Ihtisham Malik, provide the pace alternatives.

Greenock themselves have plenty of options with which to counter Poloc. Aussies Kyle Scrimegour and Julian Hulbert have both produced a number of fine spells while Neil Flack and Jonathan Hempsey offer the alternative of spin.

At times this season, the fifth bowler that is needed in each game has proved to be a tricky role to fill but Greg McDougall, Sam Sanghera and Louis Ware are each capable of doing the job. All the bowlers also need to make sure that they maintain their discipline to keep the number of extras down, something which in fairness they had been doing of late until last Saturday. Quite often this can mean the difference between winning and losing a game.

As far as Greenock's batting is concerned, Neil Flack is due another big innings having experienced a slight lull after a very sound start to the season. Kyle Scrimegour has had a run of good scores without quite being able to convert them into a really big innings but you feel that it is just a matter of time before that happens.

Harry Briggs has had a mixed season so far but the talent is there and he just needs to learn to push the singles to keep the scoreboard moving and he will be fine. Shailesh Prabhu, Julian Hulbert, Louis Ware and the Pandher brothers, not to mention the skipper, Jonathan Hempsey, provide plenty of backup in the middle order.

Greenock have yet to play Poloc this season, the first league game at Glenpark having been cancelled due to the weather, but they have plenty of experience of playing them in previous seasons in the First Division. The two sides were promoted to the Premier Division last year with Greenock just pipping Poloc to the title. In some respects, this experience will count for little, given the extensive changes to the Poloc line-up since last season.

If the Greenock side that turns up at Shawholm is the one that played so well two weeks ago at Uddingston, then Poloc will certainly know that they are in a game. But if Greenock play as they did last Saturday, then it will be a completely different matter. But the team are aware that they let themselves down somewhat against East Kilbride so there is every reason to believe that they will atone for that on Saturday.

Greenock make two changes from the side that lost to East Kilbride with Chirag Pandher and Sam Sanghera replacing the unavailable Chris Hempsey and Aidan Forrest.

The match at Shawholm will start at 12 noon.

The Glenpark XI are at home on Saturday to GHK / Strathclyde in the WDCU First Reserve League. After last week's 10-wicket defeat at the hands of Albert Park, the team will want to get back on a winning run. One pleasing aspect of this season so far has been the performances of some of the Club's younger players which bodes well for the future. This game will start at 12 noon.

 

On Sunday, Glenpark plays host to the Scotland Under-15 team as they take on Durham Under-15s in the Royal London ECB Under-15 County Cup. The Scots defeated Northumberland and Lincolnshire last week and Cumbria this week and meet Northumberland again before Sunday's meeting with Durham. They will want to keep their winning run going on Sunday.

The game is scheduled to start at 11am and will be a 50-overs per side match. It should be well worth watching as some very talented youngsters will be displaying their skills.

 

*** On Friday evening, Greenock and Helensburgh's Under-15 team are at Glenpark against West of Scotland Under-15s while the Under-11s travel to Uddingston. On Monday, the Under-13s are away at Glasgow Accies in an Under-13 League game while at Glenpark the Greenock / Helensburgh Under-18 team take on Accies in the Under-18 league.

 

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