1st XI face tough task at Kilmarnock on Saturday

The 1st XI's dismal record of just three wins in the Western Premiership Two has put the local team into a four way fight for survival as the end of the league season approaches. Just four matches remain and on Saturday the team travels to face league leaders Kilmarnock.

A win at the Scott Ellis Playing Fields would be very welcome, but it would also be a major upset for Kilmarnock who have lost only one of their twelve league matches completed and are currently favourites to win the league title and be promoted up to the Western Premiership Division One.

And while beating Kilmarnock would bring much needed points to Glenpark, the main focus for the side will be the final three game run-in to the close of the season. These games are against their three relegation rivals Hillhead, Helensburgh and Mearns.

Only a minimum of two wins out of these games is likely to provide a lifeline and it may be that they will need to win all three.

For Saturday's match, the selected team shows just one change from the team which lost to second top Uddingston a couple of weeks ago. Vice-captain Cammy Calder is out due to an injury and is replaced by Rokhan Safi.

All rounder Calder will be missed as he would likely have opened the batting along with Avishek Neupane and is also a key bowler for the team. Still missing is Usman Mansoor who was one of the regular opening batsmen for the team for much of the season.

So, who will form the important opening partnership will once again be a decision for captain Toby Matthews to figure out. Getting a sound start is key to building a good team score and only once this season has the opening partnership provided a start with 50 or more runs.

It is the lack of being able to score sizeable totals which has been the team's major problem all season and been the factor which has led to so few wins. Just too few players have been able to spend time out in the middle and build partnerships which would lead to challenging or winning scores being created.

Saturday's opponents, Kilmarnock, have had no such problems and have risen to be league leaders because of strong batting performances allied to having a bowling attack which has been too good for most opposing teams. The Ayrshire side are almost eight percentage points clear of second placed Uddingston with early season leaders Dumfries back in third top spot.

When the teams met at Glenpark in early June, Kilmarnock batted first and posted a total of 213 all out in 46.4 overs. The 1st XI's reply fell well short with the team bowled out for 145 in 45.1 overs.

That was only the second time all season that Kilmarnock have been bowled out. The first time was against Uddingston in the very first league match on the first Saturday in May. And since then, the Ayrshire have embarked on an eleven match unbeaten run.

An interesting fact which Greenock will be aware of is that on the five occasions Kilmarnock have batted first, the lowest total the team has made is 193 for 9 which was against bottom side Hillhead.

On two occasions they have scored more than 300 runs from their allocated 50 overs. Of these, 332 for 4 was scored against Helensburgh at home at the end of May, and against Mearns in mid-July the team scored a massive 370 for 7.

So, Saturday's trip down the coast to Kilmarnock will be a difficult one for the team to negotiate and return with a win. But doing so would be a huge confidence booster for them and their supporters, and be the perfect start to what is going to be a very tense finish to the season.

The Glenpark XI, who put in a fine performance last Saturday against Stenhousemuir's 2nd XI, The Tryst, have a double header of league fixtures this weekend, both at Glenpark with 12noon starts.

On Saturday, Mearns 2nd XI, Mearns Challengers, are the visitors and on Sunday Langside 2nd XI, Albert Park, are the opponents. No team has yet to be announced for either match on a weekend when Glenpark will be hoping that they can finally break their league duck.

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