1st XI looking for key win at Prestwick
After a washout last weekend when their match at Glenpark was abandoned without a ball being bowled due to the wet weather, the 1st XI travel down the coast to play Prestwick this Saturday.
The Ayrshire side, which won the Premier Division title in 2017 and were runners-up in 2022, are currently occupying a comfortable mid-table position having won five out of the eleven matches which they have completed.
After an unexpected poor start to the season which saw them lose the first three matches, Prestwick got back to winning ways with three wins from the three weekends which followed. But since then the Ayrshire side's form has continued to be mixed, as has the weather.
Two more wins have been gained against Uddingston and Dumfries against three losses to Stirling County, Ayr and Clydesdale. And two matches have been abandoned due to wet weather.
Former Irvine CC professional Sachin Chaudhary, now playing as an amateur, tops both batting and bowling stats for Prestwick. He has taken 20 Premiership wickets with 5 for 24 against Dumfries his best to date this season.
Chaudhary's batting is also key for Prestwick and he has amassed almost 350 Premiership runs including his highest score 59 against Greenock at Glenpark at the end of May.
In that match, the Duckworth Lewis Stern (DLS) system had to be used as a result of a rain interruption to play. Batting first, the 1st XI scored 176 for 5 from 42.4 overs with Rahul Dalal unbeaten on 109 when the rain came.
Prestwick were set a DLS target of 208 in 43 overs and achieved the total with five overs to spare and with the loss of only three wickets.
The Ayrshire side demonstrated in the match that their team has a number of players who are capable with both bat and ball. Overseas players Donovan Du Randt and Matthew Van Der Messcht, both from South Africa, provided the team's opening pace attack and gained the wickets of the 1st XI's top three batsmen.
In the run chase all five Prestwick batsmen who were needed, scored in double figures. Apart from Chaudhary, 33 runs came from Van Der Messcht and a fine unbeaten partnership of 73 runs from Euan McBeth (64) and Du Randt (33) sealed the win for the visitors.
The chosen team for this game shows three changes to the team which lost to Prestwick at the end of May. In the side for Saturday are Harry Briggs, Aryan Sanghera, Usman Mansoor while Tom Forrest, Jamie Nowell and Ewan Stewart are the players who are replaced.
Briggs will add to the batting line-up while Sanghera and Mansoor will provide a couple of extra bowling options for team captain Greg McDougall.
It is perhaps getting runs on the board that the team most need to achieve to ensure that Prestwick are challenged on Saturday. And if the top five or six in the batting line-up can score runs then there is every possibility that points will be gained.
First up, the opening partnership is likely to be Tom Polkinghorne and Shailesh Prabhu with Lukas Fischer-Keogh coming in at number three. A good start to the innings from the top three would lay a good platform for Rahul Dalal at number four to take forward.
The Indian professional scored a fine unbeaten century against Prestwick at Glenpark in May and if he can continue his fine batting form and get support from others then a big team score can be possible.
The Henry Thow Oval at Prestwick is normally a ground where high scores can be achieved. It is not a huge ground and with a fast, often bumpy outfield, boundaries are a regular feature of most innings. It is also a ground which has a sandy base and drains well so if there is rain around it can also dry quickly.
Team captain Greg McDougall has a number of bowling options for Saturday's match and if Prestwick's top five batsmen can be kept quiet and dismissed without getting settled in to their innings then his team could find themselves gaining the result needed.
McDougall stated, "We know that we can be competitive and if we can bat and bowl well on Saturday then we are very hopeful of getting a good result".
With Dumfries now in bottom position in the Premiership table, the team must look to overtake Stirling County who are in third bottom position. However, fifteen percentage points is the gap between the sides and with only five rounds of fixtures remaining it will take quite an effort from the side to beat the drop. The immediate task is a win at Prestwick on Saturday.
The match will start at 12 noon as usual.
Eddie Ahmad's Glenpark XI face a tough encounter on Saturday at Glenpark when league leaders Woodfarm pay their first visit to the ground. The selected side will have to play at their full capability if the winning points are to be captured but in truth the team will just be happy to be on the field, given their lack of cricket in the past few weeks. The match is scheduled to start at 12 noon.
On Sunday at Glenpark, the Hillend XI have a friendly match against a Ferguslie XI. A youthful-looking side has been chosen for the game which is scheduled to start at 1pm.
The Club is grateful for the continued sponsorship from Cleaning Supplies 4U.