Greenock break their league duck at last

East Kilbride vs Greenock 1st XI
WDCU CSL Premier Division
Saturday 29th June 2019

DLS Par Score was 118 in 35 overs

Scorecard       

Greenock broke their Premier Division 'duck' on Saturday afternoon with a fine eight wicket win over bottom of the table East Kilbride. It was a win or bust match for Greenock and the local side came through with flying colours.

The win will give the Glenparkers renewed confidence as the second half of the league campaign gets under way and Saturday's victory means the gap between Greenock and Drumpellier has closed to just six percent.

WDCU CSL Premier Division Table (as at 29 June)

And these two sides meet at Glenpark next weekend for what will be another huge match in determining the placings at the foot of the Premier Division. A win for Greenock will lift them above Drumpellier and out of the relegation bottom two places.

At Torrance House on Saturday afternoon, Greenock won the toss and inserted hosts East Kilbride. The Lanarkshire side made a brisk start to their innings with opener Imran Mughal on attack from ball one. He scored two boundaries in the first over and two further fours before he edged a delivery from Saurabh Bandekar in the fifth over and was caught behind the stumps by Zac Barrenechea having scored 19 runs.

Gavin Meikle and Adil Hussain added 18 more runs before Meikle (16) became Bandekar's second victim of the afternoon when he was caught by Neil Flack with the score on 44 in the ninth over.

East Kilbride captain Qasim Sheikh joined Hussain and immediately took the initiative. He smashed a quickfire 23 runs, which included five boundaries, before he was clean bowled by first change bowler Sean Fischer-Keogh to make the score 76 for the loss of three wickets in just the fifteenth over and Fischer-Keogh soon picked up a second wicket when he had Hussain (14) caught behind by Barrenechea with the hosts score on 90.

Former Greenock and Scotland international player Moneeb Iqbal and Sahil Kakar kept the runs flowing for the Lanarkshire side with Iqbal, in particular, looking in fine form. However, Fischer-Keogh picked up his third wicket of the afternoon when Kakar (6) was caught behind by Barrenechea with the score on 113 and that wicket signalled the collapse of the East Kilbride innings.

New batsman Joshua Johnston paid the briefest of visits to the middle becoming Barrenechea's fourth victim behind the stumps when he edged a ball from Neil Flack and the Greenock bowler quite quickly had Iqbal caught at first slip by Chris Hempsey having top scored with 27 to take EK to 119 for 7.

A further twenty runs were added before the innings ended on 139. Hafeez Muthair scored thirteen of these runs but he was last out, caught and bowled by Sam Sanghera. Sanghera and Chirag Pandher picked up the other two tail-end wickets.

Sean Fischer-Keogh with 3 wickets for 29 runs from 7 overs was the leading bowler for Greenock with Saurabh Bandekar, Neil Flack and Sam Sanghera each picking up two wickets.

After the tea interval, Greenock's innings had moved along to 26 for the loss of one wicket when weather intervened. Heavy rain and thunder brought a temporary halt to play and when the game was able to resume, the umpires informed both sides that the Duckworth Lewis Stern system (DLS) was being introduced due to the time lost. Greenock were given a revised target of 118 from 35 overs.

Needing to score at just three runs per over, Greenock were soon well on track. Zac Barrenechea scored seven boundaries in a brisk scoring innings which took the Glenparkers to 48 in the eighth over before he became East Kilbride's second wicket.

But that was to be the home team's last success as Greenock's Indian professional Saurabh Bandekar and Neil Flack eased the visitors to a very comfortable win in just the 18th over. The two Greenock batsmen put together an unbroken partnership of 73 runs as they dominated the EK bowling. Bandekar was not out 40 in his innings which included three boundaries and one huge six.

Flack was unbeaten on 37 in his innings which was characterised by some fine shots which flashed past the home fielders. He hit a total of six boundaries and finished off the match with a massive straight six high over the bowler's head into the trees beyond the boundary line.

This win, Greenock's first in the Premier Division this season, will give the local side heart after a number of good performances in the first half of the league programme which could, and possibly should, have provided maximum points but which were eventually allowed to slip away.

Local supporters will be hoping this win will herald a new dawn, and next Saturday's match at Glenpark against third bottom team Drumpellier is crucial for Greenock's future in the top division.