Greenock look to ward off relegation with win over Clydesdale

Greenock begin a crucial five week period of play in the Premier Division with a home match against Clydesdale on Saturday. Needing at least one and possibly two more wins to make survival in the top league possible, the results of every match until the end of August will be of huge importance.

WDCU CSL Premier Division Table (as at 21 July)

Clydesdale currently sit in second top spot in the Premier Division and will pose a huge challenge for Greenock, but it was against the Glasgow side earlier in the summer that the Glenparkers recorded one of their best performances this season, albeit that they just failed to win in a very high scoring game at Titwood.

That match was on the last Saturday in May and was a turning point in Greenock's season. Having lost their three opening Premier Division matches, Greenock's form took an important leap forward against Clydesdale. Chasing 263 to win, Greenock came up just ten runs short with team captain Neil Flack scoring a magnificent 119.

The following week the team's improved confidence was shown when Uddingston came to Glenpark and Greenock recorded their first Premier Division win of the season, and that was followed up with a coupon bursting win against the league leaders Ferguslie at Meikleriggs the following weekend.

Since then Greenock's form has been mixed, perhaps partly due to injuries and availability of some key players, and the team now finds itself in a real battle to avoid relegation along with Ayr and Dumfries. However, last Saturday's win at Prestwick will once again have lifted the confidence of the side.

A win against second placed Clydesdale this Saturday would be a major step towards playing Premier Division cricket again next season. Although sitting in second top spot in the league, the Glasgow side are far from being unbeatable and indeed have lost four times so far this season from twelve outings.

Their main player is former Greenock man Richie Berrington who was attracted to the Titwood team several seasons ago when Greenock dropped out of the top league. He is one of Scotland's top senior international players with in excess of two hundred international caps. On his day, Berrington is without doubt the team match-winner and Greenock will want to remove him early in his innings.

But Berrington is not the only player who could cause damage to Greenock. Others whom the Glenpark side will be wary of include Karim Farid, Zeeshan Bashir and Kallum Dhami all of whom have scored well in recent matches, not to mention Angus Guy, the Scotland Under-17 captain who has scored prolifically for that team and Ihtisham Malik and Hamid Mahmood who have been important wicket-takers, along with Berrington, in the Clydesdale attack.

Greenock captain Neil Flack will be focusing on a repeat of his fine century plus innings when the teams met at Titwood earlier in the season, and he will be hoping that last week's improved batting form from the team, which brought a six wicket win over last year's champions, Prestwick, can be continued at Glenpark on Saturday afternoon.

Cricket being 'the summer game' regularly means that some players are unavailable due to holidays and work commitments, but this weekend a number players are returning to the side that has been selected. Shailesh Prabhu, Harry Briggs and Jack Griffiths are all back into the team but still away is Jonathan Hempsey.

Runs, and scoring plenty of them, will be likely to be the single most important factor for Greenock on Saturday afternoon. Professional Saurabh Bandekar has been in good form in the last couple of weeks with 80 against West of Scotland and 59 last week at Prestwick.

Another run-filled innings from Bandekar and good support from Flack, Harry Briggs, Chris Hempsey who top scored at Prestwick last weekend, Laurens Smit, Jack Griffiths and Shailesh Prabhu, along with contributions from others, would give Greenock a competitive score which would be likely to give the side every chance of challenging and beating Clydesdale.

As always, when in the field, Greenock must put Clydesdale under pressure from the start and then try and continue that pressure throughout the southsiders' innings. Accurate bowling, good fielding and keeping extras to a minimum will be important factors in containing the visitors' run-scoring.

Neil Flack, as well as being Greenock's regular opening batsman, has developed into an important bowler for the team. He is now the top wicket-taker in the Premier Division with 25 wickets this season so far. Along with pro Bandekar, it is likely Flack will spearhead the Greenock bowling attack on Saturday.

South African amateur, Laurens Smit, and Under-15 Scotland international Sean Fischer-Keogh will provide important back up along with Greg McDougall and Sam Sanghera both of whom can frequently pick up important wickets when brought into the attack.

The wonderful summer weather may be briefly interrupted over the weekend according to available weather forecasts, which means Saturday's cricket will be very much in the balance. Local cricket fans will be hoping the sun keeps shining and will be looking forward to an entertaining afternoon at Glenpark. The match starts at 12 noon.

The Glenpark XI are away to the Cavaliers (Clydesdale's third string) on Saturday and after a couple of disappointing results they will be keen to get back on the winning trail. Skipper Ally Calder has a full squad from which to pick after several weeks of lackof availability and this should help the team to obtain the needed victory. The match starts at 1pm.

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