Tom Nicholson puts Poloc to the sword
Greenock 1st XI vs Poloc
WDCU CSL First Division
Saturday 14th May 2022
| Greenock 1st XI | 269 for 9 | TJ Nicholson 156* |
| Poloc | 127 | A Hudar 43, M Chaudhry 31; TJ Nicholson 5 for 27, RA Walker 4 for 26 |
Greenock gained a second successive league win on Saturday with a massive 142 run victory over Poloc at Glenpark. The win put to bed the long running 'hoodoo' that the Poloc club has had over the Glenpark side in recent years.
Australian overseas amateur Tom Nicholson was 'Man of the Match' with an unbeaten innings of 156 which he followed up by taking 5 wickets for just 27 runs.
While Nicholson's performance was by far the most outstanding of the afternoon, he was very ably supported by a number of his teammates which enabled Greenock to outclass their Glasgow southside opponents.
Following a week of unseasonably unsettled and cool weather which dumped significant amounts of rainfall across the Inverclyde area, Glenpark was in remarkably good condition. Credit must go to groundsman Alan Boag and some Club members for a great deal of hard work to ensure the wicket was well prepared and the outfield in good shape.
At the pre-match coin toss, Poloc called incorrectly and Greenock captain Greg McDougall opted to bat first.
In just the second over, Greenock suffered an early loss when opening batsman Jamie Nowell was very smartly stumped by wicketkeeper Mo Chaudhry who was standing up to the medium pace bowling of Robert Cathcart.
Harry Briggs joined Tom Nicholson and the pair steadily progressed the local's score to 39 during the next forty minutes with Briggs hitting Ahmed for a six out of the ground and two boundaries before he was caught by wicketkeeper Chaudhry from the bowling of John Cathcart in the tenth over. He had scored 19 runs from 28 balls faced.
Greenock's second Aussie amateur Ryan Walker joined his compatriot Nicholson and a good third wicket partnership developed. Nicholson, who was batting cautiously and waiting for any loose balls, unleashed three consecutive boundaries from the bowling of Hanif in the fifteenth over as the Glenpark side began to take control.
However, it was Hanif who made the breakthrough for Poloc in the twentieth over when he bowled Walker for 15 with the score on 85.
The fourth wicket yielded 19 runs in five overs before Gregor Chambers (11) gave a return catch to bowler Sufian Ali.
The fall of the fourth wicket was close to the midway point in the innings and Aussie opening bat Nicholson was by now well settled in his innings and Greenock were 104 for 4.
In the second half of the innings as Greenock set their sights on achieving a high, challenging total for Poloc to chase, Nicholson took charge and played a superb innings. He was supported by various of the middle and lower order batsmen and more than 160 runs had been added when the innings closed at the end of the fiftieth over. The Aussie amateur stroked an unbeaten 156 in Greenock's 269 for 9. His innings which was compiled from the full fifty overs included 26 boundaries and 1 six.
After the break between innings, Poloc made a slow start and lost opener Sohail (13) when he was trapped LBW by Gregor Chambers in the fifth over.
The second wicket partnership between Akshay Hudar and Mo Chaudhry added 60 runs in what turned out to be Poloc's best partnership of the innings. It was ended when Chaudhry was caught by wicketkeeper Lukas Fischer-Keogh off the bowling of Ryan Walker for 31 with the score on 78.
Thereafter wickets fell very regularly as Poloc were unable to make much headway against the spin bowling of Walker and Nicholson. Only Hudar with 43 and Waseem Ahmed with 16 put up any resistance as Walker with four wickets for 26 runs and Nicholson with five wickets for 27 runs bowled out the Glasgow southsiders for just 127.
