Greenock need to counter Clydesdale danger men

 

Greenock take to the road once again this weekend and head back up the M8, this time to the south side of Glasgow to Titwood for their match with last season's Premier Division champions Clydesdale.

The Titwood team are a significantly different side to the Championship winning team of 2016 and indeed have already suffered four defeats in this season's competition out of seven matches completed. In the most recent two matches against Ayr and Prestwick, neither Richie Berrington nor Con de Lange were available and the Glasgow club were well beaten by their Ayrshire opponents.

This coming Saturday, both players are likely to be back in the team and therefore Greenock will face a stronger Clydesdale side than has taken to the field in recent weeks. Both Berrington (a former Greenock player) and De Lange have been on international duty for Scotland playing in matches against Sri Lanka, Namibia and Zimbabwe and their presence in the Clydesdale side has been sorely missed.

Berrington has been in a rich vein of form this summer both for Clydesdale and Scotland. In the four Premier Division matches in which he has played this season for Clydesdale, the former Greenock player has scored two centuries and rattled up a total of 368 runs. His average, having been not out twice, is a huge 184!

De Lange too has been a key player for the Titwood side when he has been available to play. His bowling has been of particular importance and in the four matches where he has been part of the Clydesdale attack he has collected 12 wickets at just under 8 runs per wicket.

So just as Michael English and Riyaad Henry were the two key players for Ferguslie in the recent matches between Greenock and their Renfrewshire rivals, Berrington and De Lange are the men Greenock must seek to keep in check on Saturday at Titwood.

 

WDCU CSL Premier Division Table (at 17th June)

 
Played
Won
Lost
Points
Net Run Rate
%
Ferguslie
6
5
1
132
0.29
88.00
Uddingston
5
4
1
109
0.40
87.20
Ayr
7
5
2
137
0.40
78.29
Prestwick
6
4
2
117
0.58
78.00
Dumfries
6
3
3
  91
0.18
60.67
Poloc
6
3
3
  91
0.01
60.67
Clydesdale
7
3
4
  95
0.70
54.29
GREENOCK
6
2
4
  74
-0.17 
49.34
East Kilbride
4
1
3
  37
-1.07 
37.00
Kelburne
7
0
7
  28
-1.44 
16.00

Greenock should be at or near full strength for this match, with both Chris Hempsey and Shailesh Prabhu, who were unavailable last weekend, once again back in the side. Back too could be Phil McIntosh who has been out through injury and ill health.

With a full squad, Greenock have the potential to be competitive with any of the teams in the Premier Division and if they can play to their strengths then there is every chance that they can return from the match at Titwood with full points.

Making a good start to their innings when batting will be an important element of the game for Greenock. Neil Flack and Harry Briggs will be likely to be the openers. Flack has been in fine form and Briggs has shown that he has the ability to score well if he can survive the first few overs against the opposition bowling attack.

Then there is Kyle Scrimegour. The young Aussie has been gaining in confidence as he gets used to the Scottish conditions and last Saturday at Ferguslie he made a fine 66. Another innings of this size or more would be very welcome.

In middle order, Greenock have a number of players who can score well. The experienced Shailesh Prabhu has been in good form and has developed several important partnerships in the league matches this season. Aussie Julien Hulbert scored over forty runs at Meikleriggs last Saturday and has had several other decent scores earlier in the season. And Louis Ware, Chris Hempsey and Jonathan Hempsey have all had some good innings.

If Phil McIntosh passes himself fit and returns to the team, then Greenock will have a potentially powerful batsman in their middle order line-up and one who can quickly alter the shape of a game if he gets his innings going.

Fielding and bowling are areas of the game where teams can lose runs quickly or where they can stifle an opposition's progress. By and large, Greenock have bowled and fielded quite well in their Premier Division matches and another good performance in these key areas will be important on Saturday.

Leading the Greenock bowling attack will be pace bowler Kyle Scrimegour and his fellow Aussie Julien Hulbert. Both players have collected an impressive haul of wickets so far this season and will be keen to bag some more on Saturday.

Having a good back up to an opening bowling attack is crucial in the Premier Division. Greenock have several players who can be utilised as change bowlers. Jonathan Hempsey, Neil Flack, Louis Ware, Sam Sanghera and Greg McDougall have each had significant wicket hauls in the Premier Division so far this season and if they can be on form this Saturday then Greenock will hope to keep Clydesdale to a manageable score.

Greenock have chosen a squad of twelve for the match and a final decison on the selection will be made once McIntosh's fitness has been checked. The match will start at the usual time of 12 noon.

Greenock 1st XI players get a well earned rest this Sunday. The Glenparkers were due to play Poloc, but the Glasgow side has a Scottish Cup Quarter Final tie to play against Edinburgh side Carlton, so Greenock's Western Union 40 Cup Quarter Final match at Glenpark against the Glasgow club is likely be held over until Sunday 2 July although that has to be confirmed.

The Glenpark XI are again at Glenpark on Saturday this time to play Anniesland (Glasgow Accies' 2nd XI) in the Reserve League First Division. The team put in a good performance last Saturday against league leaders Torrance House and a repeat of that will go a long way to gaining victory this weekend. The game will start at 12 noon.

*** On Friday evening, Greenock and Helensburgh's Under-15 team are at home to play Stenhousemuir Under-15s whilst the Under-11s travel east to Stenhousemuir for an Under-11 League game. On Monday, there is just the one game with the Greenock / Helensburgh Under-18 team playing the combined East Kilbride / Uddingston team at Glenpark.

 

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