1st XI looking to hit back against Langside

The 1st XI begin the second half of the Western Premiership Two league programme in sixth position but with work to do to make up ground on the teams immediately above, Stirling County and Langside.

Saturday will provide a good opportunity to do so as Langside are the visitors to Glenpark and the team will be very keen to make amends for a poor performance against the Glasgow south side team earlier in the season.

Langside won the match at Albert Park by 156 runs having batted first and amassed 281 for the loss of just 4 wickets. In reply, the 1st XI could only manage 125 runs before being bowled out.

It was the worst possible start to the league programme for them, but with all pre-season friendlies having been unable to be played because of poor weather, and therefore no match practice, it was perhaps not too surprising an outcome.

There are no such issues for Saturday, and with the emphatic win over Mearns CC last weekend, the team will be buoyed up and ready for the challenge which will be presented by Langside.

With six wins out of the nine matches played, Langside are in a very comfortable fourth top position with a points percentage of 71%, and the team is neither in contention for the title nor in any danger of being in a relegation battle.

In the season opening match between the two sides in early May, it was Langside's ability to score runs which set up their victory. Opening bat Anwar Hafeez (43) was instrumental in getting his team off to a fine start and when he was joined by Nathan Perika (71 not out) the innings really became well established.

When Hafeez was dispatched with the score on 68 for 2, Perika continued to play with dogged determination and developed a 134 run partnership with Asad Khan (82) which took the score to over 200. A further partnership of 79 runs between Perika and Mo Asif (57 not out) then took the game well out of reach of the 1st XI as the reply of 125 all out demonstrated on the afternoon.

The side's stand-in captain, Toby Matthews, will be keen to give Langside a much more challenging afternoon than was the case in May. Since then, the team has had eight weeks of cricket and numerous players have shown good form.

Usman Mansoor has developed into a useful opening bat and scored 37 runs last week against Mearns. He may be joined for a second week by Cammy Calder who scored a useful twenty runs in last week’s opening partnership of 60 runs.

In the middle order, both of the club's Aussie amateurs, Toby Matthews and Adam McGuirk, will be key players. If they can both score well and others such as Shailesh Prabhu, Chirag Pandher, Greg McDougall and the Ahmadzai brothers provide support in the batting line-up, then the team will be well placed to give Langside a really testing afternoon.

But as well as scoring runs, they must bowl and field well. Coach Tom Black has been working with the players to improve fielding technique and also catching ability.

The opening attack of Fahim Dinarkhiel and Mahmood Ahmadzai worked well last Saturday with three early wickets and may be utilised in similar fashion against Langside. Four other bowlers were used against Mearns and all had success which will give Matthews both encouragement and options.

For the game, the team selected is along the same lines as last week's team.

The Glenpark XI are away again on Saturday to play Albert Park, Langside's second eleven. This has been a really tough season so far for the team with availability issues resulting in weakened teams being fielded.

This week is no exception with skipper Eddie Ahmad unavailable to play. The selected team will be led by Emily Norris, a great honour but a deserving one for somebody who works so hard for the Club and at her game.

Neither the Hillend XI nor the Senior XI have a game this Sunday.

The Club is grateful for the continued sponsorship from Ethos Group.