1st XI fail to trouble Clydesdale

Clydesdale v Greenock 1st XI
WDCU Premiership One
Saturday 5th August 2023

 Scorecard       

Following a fine win at Prestwick last weekend, the 1st XI put in one of their most disappointing performances of the season against Clydesdale on Saturday at Titwood.

Put in to bat by Clydesdale captain Craig Young on a day when there was a lot of rain around, the team produced a poor batting display, which was not helped by several interruptions during their innings, and failed to set the Glasgow southsiders a total which was going to be challenging.

Due to a combination of poor choice of shot and poor running between the wickets, the side could only muster 122 runs.

The start of the match was delayed due to some morning rain which left the ground pretty wet, but when it did get under way, openers Tom Polkinghorne and Shailesh Prabhu played some fine shots and by the end of the seventh over they had accumulated 32 runs.

The umpires, at this point, conferred and decided that there was an issue with the ball. A full five minutes passed while a new ball was brought out and eventually the game got under way once again.

Breaks in play are rarely good for a batsman's concentration and with just the fourth ball after the re-start the team lost Polkinghorne when he was caught low down at point by Zeeshan Bashir off the bowling of Arun Krishna for 19.

Two balls later and Krishna had new batsman Harry Briggs caught at slip by Kasim Farid.

A partnership between Prabhu and Rahul Dalal looked to be getting the innings moving along well until Prabhu got an edge to a ball from Sahir Hussain and he was caught by wicketkeeper Galling who was standing up to the stumps. The opening bat had scored 18 runs and the mini partnership had added 21 runs to take the score to 55 for the loss of 3 wickets

The incoming number five batsman, Gregor Chambers, played a useful supporting role to Dalal who was getting in to his stride, and also produced a couple of boundaries of his own as the score moved along into the eighties.

But with the mid-point of the fifty over innings approaching and 82 runs on the board, Chambers attempted to sweep a delivery from slow bowler Daniel Cairns towards the leg side boundary only to miss the ball and be given out LBW.

Another promising partnership then developed between Dalal and Nikhil Kadyan which took the team past the 100 run mark. But with 111 runs showing on the scoreboard Kadyan, who had been batting well, played a shot towards short extra cover and immediately set off for an unlikely run only to be turned back by Dalal who recognised the danger.

A smart piece of fielding by Zeeshan Bashir saw the ball picked up and very quickly thrown to wicketkeeper Galling who had the bails removed before Kadyan {12} could get back safely to his crease.

Further trouble ensued with just another five runs added to the score. With the last ball of the 31st over, Dalal scooped his shot straight to Walter Behr at mid-off and was caught having scored 46 runs.

The score was now 116 for the loss of 6 wickets and from being in a reasonably good position a short time previously on 82 for 3 in the 24th over, the innings was in some disarray.

That disarray was complete just four overs later when the last four wickets went down for the addition of just six more runs. The lower order batsmen too easily became victims of the home bowling attack and the side were all out for 122 with fifteen overs of the 50 over innings still available to be bowled.

For Clydesdale, whose bowlers enjoyed some easy wickets, Zeeshan Bashir was top wicket-taker with 4 for 16 from 8 overs.

In reply, Clydesdale opened with James Galling and Sheryar Awan and the pair put on 29 runs from the first nine overs. Then with the first ball of the tenth over Galling was bowled for 19 runs by Sam Sanghera.

The wicket of Galling was the bowlers' only bit of joy until almost the end of the match.

Clydesdale's in-form captain Craig Young settled in with Awan and they put together a fine partnership which took the home side past the 100 run mark after 24 overs.

However, at the end of a very lengthy 25th over bowled by Aryan Sanghera, the Clydesdale captain was bowled by the young bowler for 45 with the winning line in sight.

The win for Clydesdale was only delayed by two more overs and was completed in fine style by the unbeaten Sheryar Awan who dispatched Sanghera for two boundaries in quick succession to end the game. Awan was left unbeaten on 46.

The team now have just three Premiership One matches remaining to find the wins needed to avoid relegation.