Kilmarnock likely to pose tough opponents for 1st XI

Following a hugely important league win against Stirling County last weekend, the 1st XI are at home on Saturday to fourth top Kilmarnock. The Ayrshire side will provide a real test for them, but having shown application and resolve to overcome a difficult spell in mid-innings at Stirling to gain the win, they will be looking forward to taking on Kilmarnock.

Under new coach, Tom Black, there was an immediate difference in attitude from the players at Stirling. Team captain Aryan Sanghera said, "It was a big win for us. Tom definitely made a difference. He brings the mindset and aggression we were missing."

Black is second only to the legendary John Kerr in run-scoring for Greenock, having scored over nineteen thousand runs during his career. He has been enticed back to Glenpark in a coaching capacity. It is hoped his experience, coaching skills and tactical knowledge will rub off on the current crop of players at the Club.

Saturday's opponents, Kilmarnock, have made a fine start to the league season. From the first five Western Premiership Two matches played, they have won four and lost just once. That defeat came against Uddingston in their first league outing of the season.

Since then they have been in cruise mode swatting aside each of their opponents with strong batting performances. That culminated last weekend with 332 runs being scored in just 40 overs at their own ground, the Scott Ellis Playing Fields in Kilmarnock, against second bottom Helensburgh.

Top batter in the high scoring innings was the well-known, hard hitting middle order batsman Gurupreet Singh who made 137 not out from just 87 balls, scoring 13 boundaries and 7 maximums (sixes) in the process.

Also in the runs against Helensburgh was team captain Paul Flanagan who scored 63 and Nas Khan who scored 42.

The Ayrshire team has strengthened this season with additions to their playing numbers which includes former professional, Sachin Chaudhary, who has moved across from Prestwick.

The 1st XI will once again look to their two overseas players to lead the team with strong performances with both bat and ball.

Adam McGuirk's innings of 64 runs was the key to the team's win over Stirling. At 109 for the loss of 7 wickets at one point in the innings, the team looked a long way from reaching their target score.

However, McGuirk settled in and, along with Jack Matthews, took the team to the brink of victory, before tail-enders Greg McDougall and Fahim Dinarkhiel scored the remaining runs in a nail-biting finish to gain the win.

The overall batting performance was an improvement from earlier matches, but there were still too many wickets lost cheaply in the early to middle order of the batting line-up which will concern team coach Tom Black.

On the bowling front, Toby Matthews and Fahim Dinarkhiel continued to demonstrate a consistent ability to pick up wickets with five gained between them at Stirling. And Nikhil Kadyan showed that he too can be a key performer for the team with the ball with 2 wickets for just 19 runs from his 10 overs of off spin.

For the team to give Kilmarnock a testing afternoon on Saturday, there will need to be strong performances from all players in the side.

And it is not just scoring runs or taking wickets where the game can be won or lost. Performances in the field have been generally below par with mis-fields and dropped catches occurring all too frequently.

Although still early in the season, there has already developed a gap between the top four teams in the Western Premiership Two league table and the remaining six sides. The 1st XI will do well to overcome Kilmarnock on Saturday, but doing so would certainly begin to close the gap between themselves and the top four.

It will certainly be a big task for the side as there are several key players missing from the selection due to work commitments. Out are Fahim Dinarkhiel, Chirag Pander, Jack Matthews and Nikhil Kadyan while Cammy Calder remains unavailable.

With the remaining three matches of the first half of the league programme to be played after this weekend against the bottom teams Hillhead, Helensburgh and Mearns, Aryan Sanghera will be hoping such issues do not continue to affect selection.

The Glenpark XI are away on Saturday to play Mearns Challengers, currently second in the Championship Two table, at Bellahouston. The team is still looking for its first league win of the season and will have to do so this Saturday with a weakened team, due to the above mentioned 1st XI selection issues.

In midweek, the team were well beaten in a Western Cup sectional match by Meikleriggs, being dismissed for just 68 before losing by 10 wickets.

Sunday sees the Hillend XI travel to Stenhousemuir for a Sunday League fixture.

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