1st XI hope to beat the rain and East Kilbride

After a wet Saturday last weekend, which led to the cancellation of the Premiership Two match against Irvine at the Ayrshire club's Marress ground, the 1st XI will be hoping the unsettled weather relents enough to allow this Saturday's match to go ahead against East Kilbride at Glenpark.

Both of these fixtures were targeted at the start of the season as matches which could bring full points, and put Greenock into the top four, at least, in the Premiership Two league table. However, the current reality is that the team have played just three of the first four league fixtures and won only once.

Losses to Kilmarnock and West of Scotland, and a single win against Glasgow Accies, have left the side sitting in sixth position. But a win on Saturday with other results going in the team's favour would hoist them up one or perhaps two places in the table.

Saturday's opponents, East Kilbride have played all four of their Premiership Two matches to date, but have claimed just one victory which came against bottom side Irvine two weeks ago. And in their first round match in the Rowan Cup, the Lanarkshire side lost to Drumpellier.

So, East Kilbride is a side which has had a disappointing start to the 2025 season. Batting has proved a problem. In three out of the four completed matches, the Lanarkshire team has been bowled out in less than 30 of the 50 overs available and have lost on each occasion scoring 130 runs or less.

Only one of their batters has achieved an average of more than 20 and not one has totalled 100 runs for the season as yet.

By comparison, Greenock have six batters in the side who are currently averaging over 24 and Callum Henry has himself scored over 150 league runs, including a fine unbeaten century against Glasgow Accies.

And with the ball, East Kilbride have found difficulty in containing their league opponents. West scored over 200 runs and won easily, and in two other matches failure to score enough runs left the bowling unit with too much to do.

Skipper Aryan Sanghera has selected a side which includes numerous players in good form. The two Aussie amateurs, Callum Henry and Will Jenkins, provide strength in the batting line up and Jenkins is also fresh from a 4 wicket haul, including a hat-trick, against Glasgow Accies.

But others in the side have shown ability to score runs and take wickets too. Aryan and Sam Sanghera, Chirag Pandher, Nikhil Kadyan, Ewan Stewart and Mo Ahmadzai have shown good form with the bat in the last couple of weeks.

And Cammy Calder, Faheem Dinarkheil, Mo Ahmadzai and Sam Sanghera have all provided fine support to the side when given the opportunity to bowl at opposition sides.

So, if the weather can allow the weekend match to go ahead against East Kilbride, supporters can feel confident that the team selected will be strong enough to win the match and pick up the 25 points on offer.

The Glenpark XI have no game this weekend due to the uneven number of teams in their league. They did record their first midweek win of the season on Tuesday when they defeated Dean Park, Renfrew's second string, by 31 runs. Sehmat Pandher was the top scorer with 40 in the team's total of 122 for 4 with Zabiullah Dilsoz contributing 32 and Moiz Mansoor 20. Dean Park were bowled out for 91 in reply thanks to a strong performance by all the bowlers.

The Hillend XI play their first competitive fixture of the season when they entertain GHK Crow Road in Division 2 of the Sunday League at Glenpark in a 40 overs per side match starting at 13.00. Under the captaincy of PJ Bryceland, a squad of fourteen has been assembled for the fixture, a squad that contains a good combination of seasoned players and young talent

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