Greenock lose second successive league game

Ferguslie vs Greenock 1st XI
WDCU CSL Premier Division
Saturday 12th June 2021

Scorecard       

Greenock lost for a second successive Saturday when they went down to a six wicket defeat at Meikleriggs against Ferguslie at the weekend. The Paisley side for their part maintained their position at the top of the Premier Division table.

Fielding a largely inexperienced side, missing four players from the previous week due to work commitments and injury, Greenock were aware the trip to play their Renfrewshire rivals would be a difficult one. And so it proved.

Greenock batted first with in-form Neil Flack opening the innings along with former captain Shailesh Prabhu, who was promoted back to the top of the order due to Jamie Nowell and Harry Briggs both being unavailable for the match.

The Greenock opening pair looked to be making a sound start with ten runs on the board when Prabhu became the first of Mo Ghaffar's four victims. The young bowler's pace caused Prabhu to mis-time his shot and Taimoor Ahmad took a good catch to dismiss the opener.

In at number three in the batting order came Gregor Chambers fresh from his 65 not out against Helensburgh in the Rowan Cup on Thursday evening. However, it was not to be his day, as with just another thirteen runs added to the score, Chambers was out leg before having contributed only four runs from a nicely struck boundary shot.

For Chambers, this dismissal was a third LBW in his last four innings and will be a cause for concern for the 20 year old. With two midweek cup matches coming along on Wednesday and Thursday evenings, he may wish to consider his batting technique to eliminate the possibility of any further such dismissals.

Greenock's woes continued in the tenth over when Riyaad Henry had Flack caught by wicketkeeper David Stafford. He has scored 23 out of the 31 runs on the board and his wicket led to a mid-order collapse.

Four more wickets fell in the next eight overs as Ferguslie took control of the game. The Fischer-Keogh brothers, Chris Hempsey and Sehmat Pandher all failed to remain at the crease for long as Greenock tumbled to 52 for 7 in the eighteenth over.

A battling rearguard action by Greenock's 'tailenders' frustrated the Ferguslie bowling attack for a further 15 overs and added another 27 runs to the total before the innings ended on 79 all out in the 34th over. Jayaraj Janampally, not out with 11 runs, was highest run contributor in the lower order of the batting line-up.

Mo Ghaffar claimed 4 wickets for 28 runs from 10 overs including 3 LBWs. Taimoor Ahmad took 3 for 16, Hamid Mahmood 2 for 4 and Riyaad Henry 1 for 19 were the other wicket-takers.

Ferguslie made a good start to their innings with their opening pair of Gregor Preston-Jones and Mo Ghaffar putting on 38 runs from the first twelve overs. But as often happens, one breakthrough can lead to another, and that is what happened to Ferguslie.

Sean Fischer-Keogh removed Preston-Jones (12) with the first ball of the thirteenth over thanks to a smart catch by Gregor Chambers. And then with the last ball of the same over Riyaad Henry, who had come in at number three was adjudged LBW and sent on his way without scoring.

Gregor Chambers, who led the Greenock bowling attack along with Fischer-Keogh, got reward for his efforts with the third ball of his eighth over when he had the Ferguslie opener Mo Ghaffar caught by Neil Flack for 25 to put the Paisley side on 58 for the loss of 3 wickets.

Greenock refused to go quietly and kept up the attack on the Meikleriggs side despite having so few runs to play with and as Ferguslie nudged towards their target of just 79 to win the match, the Glenparkers got a fourth wicket.

Anup Vejandla, Ferguslie's number four in the batting order was returned to the Meikleriggs side 'covid corner' when Greenock captain Greg McDougall held on to a good catch from the bowling of Neil Flack. He was out for 13 in the 18th over with the score on 70.

Vejandla's wicket was to be the last however, as Omar Hussain, not out 9, and Taimoor Ahmad not out 10, eased Ferguslie to a second Premier Division win in the twentieth over.

All three bowlers used by Greenock picked up wickets. Sean Fischer-Keogh 2 for 13 from 7 overs, Neil Flack 1 for 20 from 3 overs and Gregor Chambers 1 for 45 from 9.3 overs were the bowlers who kept working hard throughout the Ferguslie innings.