The 1st XI host Dumfries in key relegation tussle
The 1st XI get the second half of this season's Western Premiership One league programme under way this Saturday with a visit to Glenpark by Dumfries. The local side have so far had a disappointing return to the Premiership and only managed one win from the opening nine rounds of matches
Playing Dumfries in the first match of the second half of the season is the perfect start for the team as the visitors have also had a poor season so far and have not won a Premiership match since mid-May and suffered six straight defeats since then.
Saturday's game therefore provides an excellent opportunity to get a much needed win and so build confidence for the remainder of the season.
While the 1st XI have just a solitary win, Dumfries have two wins to their credit. Those wins came against Greenock at their Nunholm ground in Round 1 of the Premiership and against Stirling County at New Williamfield in Round 3.
But only once since then has the Dumfries team managed to score above 150 runs in a match and as a result the south of Scotland team has lacked a competitive edge.
The Nunholm side's batting line-up has shown constant change during the season. And no fewer than twelve different players have featured in the top four of the batting order in their most recent four Premiership matches.
Adam Malik has been promoted to being an opening bat in the last four matches. But he has had a different opening partner each time and early loss of wickets has been a regular pattern for the Dumfries team's top order. Malik has been their most consistent batsman over the past month with scores in excess of 20 in each of his last four innings.
Also one to watch is Chris Bellwood. He is the Dumfries side's second highest run scorer with 146 runs from 8 innings, including a top score of 60 against Ferguslie.
The 1ts XI must try to put the Dumfries batters under pressure from the off with accurate bowling and sharp fielding so that the visitors do not get any opportunity to build meaningful partnerships.
In the opening Premiership match of the season, Dumfries won the pre-match toss of the coin and elected to bowl first. The Glenparkers scored 192 for the loss of 7 wickets from 50 overs with Tom Polkinghorne 64 and Lukas Fischer-Keogh 54 the top scorers.
In reply, Dumfries posted their highest total of the season 196 for 6 to win the match with just eight balls remaining. Alan Davidson batting at number 6 in the Dumfries line-up had a match-winning innings of 66 not out and, with young Calum Reynolds-Lewis 21 not out, shared an unbeaten seventh wicket partnership of 41 runs which took the Nunholm team to victory.
Availability of regular players has been an issue for skipper McDougall throughout the season and this Saturday Cammy Calder and Chirag Pandher are both unavailable due to work shifts.
However, apart from these two players, he has most of his regular 1st XI squad available plus into the selected side comes Nikhil Kadyan who has transferred from Stenhousemuir.
Kadyan is an all-rounder who has played at Stenhousemuir for the last couple of seasons featuring on a number of occasions as an opening batsman. Prior to playing for Stenhousemuir, Kadyan played his cricket near London in the Surrey area. He is a left hand bat and also bowls left arm spin.
Opening bat Tom Polkinghorne will be keen to find a return to the form he displayed in the early part of the season. He scored 64 against Dumfries and followed up with 54 against Ayr. Then a match missed due to work commitments upset his rhythm for a few games before he got back into run-scoring with 40 against Clydesdale and 26 against Stenhousemuir.
Also in good form in the season opener against Dumfries was Lukas Fischer-Keogh who scored 54. The young player has had several fine innings during the season in league and cup matches and he has the ability to score well on Saturday.
A key player will, of course, be professional Rahul Dalal. The Indian top order batsman has three centuries to his name in the most recent six Premiership league matches. Another big score from Dalal on Saturday would put his team in a strong position to take the winning 25 points.
All-rounder Gregor Chambers could have an important part to play against Dumfries. He is the third highest scoring batsman in the league with 146 runs and has also had several useful innings in cup matches. As the team's opening bowler he will lead the attack against Dumfries and will look to add to his tally of 17 league and cup wickets.
The side have the opportunity to turn their season around with a much improved second half of the Premiership One programme. But to do so, the players need to play as a team and be focused and patient in their play.
In several games in the first half of the league, they had opportunities to gain victories but lacked the ability to turn good positions into winning ones. In the matches to come, the lessons learned need to be shown in much improved team performances starting with Saturday's vital home game against Dumfries.
As usual, the match will start at 12 noon.
The Glenpark XI had no match last weekend but are back in action once again this Saturday when the team travels to Vale of Leven's ground to meet Blackhill. Skipper Eddie Ahmad leads a strong-looking team and will be hoping to win the toss to get his batsmen some time at the crease against a team whom they defeated with some ease in the first game of the season. The match starts at 12 noon.
The Club is grateful for the continued sponsorship from Cleaning Supplies 4U.