Yet another important double-header weekend at Glenpark

Unbeaten during the month of July, the 1st XI have two important matches ahead this weekend. On Saturday, the team travel through to East Kilbride for a Western Premiership Two league match and on Sunday play Strathmore CC in the semi-final of the Cricket Scotland Challenge Cup at Glenpark.

First up is the match against third from bottom East Kilbride at their Torrance House sports ground. The Lanarkshire club have won just three out of their nine league matches completed and go into the final month of competitive cricket seeking to avoid relegation.

Currently, East Kilbride are thirteen percentage points above the two bottom sides Irvine and Helensburgh, each of whom have won only two matches. Getting one or two more wins from the last five fixtures would likely secure survival for them.

But the 1st XI will be in no mood to provide one of those wins. Instead, they will be eyeing up the opportunity to move up the Premiership Two table into fourth top spot by beating the Torrance House team. If they do and if Kilmarnock, currently fourth, lose to Stirling County at New Williamfield, then they will move up to that position.

Team captain Aryan Sanghera returns after missing last weekend's match against Irvine due to a family celebration. He will re-join Callum Henry at the top of the batting order replacing Shailesh Prabhu who is unavailable due to work commitments.

The batting line-up has shown much more resolve this season, and while Aussie amateur Henry has been the top run-scorer with over 400 runs, players such as Aryan and Sam Sanghera, Will Jenkins, Cammy Calder, Nikhil Kadyan and Shailesh Prabhu have all shown their ability with the bat.

East Kilbride have frequently struggled to build much of an innings in their league matches and only two of their players have managed to score over a hundred runs in total during the season. So, if the the 1st XI's opening pace bowling attack of Fahimgul Dinarkheil and Cammy Calder can get some early wickets it is possible that East Kilbride will have another difficult afternoon.

Saturday's side shows a number of changes from the team which quite easily defeated Irvine at Glenpark last Saturday. Shailesh Prabhu, Nikhil Kadyan, Usman Mansoor and Sehmat Pandher are replaced by Aryan Sanghera, PJ Bryceland, Kurukulasuriya Leema and Sam Sanghera.

Just as last week, the 1st XI will start as favourites to collect the match-winning 25 points, but all players in the team must contribute to ensure that the win is achieved.

On Sunday, the 1st XI will hope to get their Cricket Scotland Challenge Cup semi-final against Strathmore CC played at Glenpark at the second attempt. Wet weather caused the cancellation of the match last weekend, and with the final just two weeks away, a dry day on Sunday is hoped for to get the match completed.

Strathmore CC were winners of the Challenge Cup in 2019 and will be keen to reach the final to get a chance to win the trophy once again.

The Forfar side play in the North East Scotland cricket league and currently occupy fourth top position behind Huntly, Freuchie and Aberdeenshire. The team began the league season by winning their first four completed matches, but since their last league win in mid-June, Strathmore have lost each of their last four league matches and have dropped down to fourth top position.

Opening bat Rhys Tweedy is Strathmore's most outstanding run-scorer this season with over 650 runs to his credit in all matches. The 20 year old South African scored 216 not out against St Modan's in a league match in early May and 116 against Crescent in June.

Tweedy is an all-rounder and is also Strathmore's top wicket-taker with 19 wickets in all matches. His best is 5 for 25 against Stoneywood Dyce at the end of May.

Some others in the Strathmore side who have the potential to cause the 1st XI problems include Majid Rashid, Mohsin Ali, Jonathan Blaikie and Shahzeb Saeed.

In 2012, the Cricket Scotland Challenge Cup replaced the Scottish Cricket Union Trophy which Greenock won in 1998 by beating Watsonians in the final.

This weekend's match against Strathmore is Greenock's first cup semi-final since 2011 and the team and supporters are hoping to win through to the final which is scheduled to take place at Stenhousemuir's ground on Sunday 17 August.

The team for Sunday shows a couple of changes to the one that will play East Kilbride on Saturday. Out are PJ Bryceland and Kurukulasuriya Leema and into the team come Harry Briggs and Sehmat Pandher.

With home advantage, the 1st XI may start slight favourites, but Strathmore will provide a serious challenge and so if a place in the final is to be achieved, a top performance by the whole team will be needed on Sunday afternoon.

The Glenpark XI have no fixture this weekend.

On Tuesday evening, the Hillend XI chalked up another win when they defeated Vale of Leven in a Midweek League match at Glenpark.

Batting first they XI scored 118 for 9 with Mohammad Zeeshan top scoring with 52. In reply, Vale of Leven were 99 for the loss of 6 wickets at the end of their 20 overs innings.

Hillend have won three out of their five Midweek League matches completed and are currently in joint third top position with Ferguslie.

The Club is grateful for the continued sponsorship from Cleaning Supplies 4U.