1st XI speed to victory over Irvine

Greenock 1st XI v Irvine
Western Premiership Two
Saturday 26th July 2025

Irvine 115   I Craddock 43, J Conway 40*; SS Pandher 3 for 15, F Dinarkheil 3 for 38
Greenock 1st XI 119 for 4   SS Prabhu 47, CS Calder 30; I Craddock 4 for 40

Greenock 1st XI (25 pts) defeated Irvine (1 pt) by 6 wickets

Scorecard

The 1st XI made a winning start to an important weekend of cricket by comfortably defeating Irvine by six wickets at Glenpark on Saturday and maintained an unbeaten record in July.

Put in to bat by acting captain Cammy Calder, Irvine were quickly in trouble as opening pace bowler Fahim Dinarkheil captured two wickets in the very first over of play without a run having been scored.

Firstly, Dylan Neil edged his second ball and was caught by Callum Henry behind the stumps. And then, with the last ball of the over, new batsman Seraj Khan provided a replay of Neil's dismissal and made the walk back to the Clubhouse.

The two early wickets provided the perfect start for the team and it was not long before the visitors were in more trouble. And it was Dinarkheil who was once again involved. Opener Shakeel Ahmed had scored just two runs from nineteen balls faced when he was trapped LBW in the seventh over with the score on 18.

Calder then made a bowling change at the start of the eleventh over, bringing on Sehmat Pandher from the Bedford Street end and it paid off immediately with two more wickets.

Firstly, Cameron Liebenguth tried to pull a short ball from Pandher to the clubhouse boundary only to loft the ball to Shailesh Prabhu at square leg, who took an easy catch. And two balls later new batsman Damian Bouwer was bowled to leave Irvine in real trouble on 37 for the loss of 5 wickets.

A partnership of 23 runs for the sixth wicket was built by Aussie amateur Isaac Craddock and new batsman Josh Conway, but was ended when Craddock was trapped LBW by Sehmat Pandher for 43.

Irvine's batting woes continued when three more wickets fell with the score in the seventies. Chirag Pandher captured the wickets of Mahmood Alam and Mohammad Khan with the score on 75 and Nikhil Kadyan then had Shaheen Pardes trapped LBW with just three more runs added.

However, the largest partnership of the visitors' innings was reserved for the last wicket, as Josh Conway not out 40 and Gabriella Liebenguth (3) put on 37 runs to take Irvine's total to 115 all out.

Fahimgul Dinarkheil with 3 wickets for38 runs and Sehmat Pandher 3 for 15 were the 1st XI's top bowlers.

In reply, the team got off to a brisk start, scoring 32 runs from 5.2 overs. However, at that point, Callum Henry nicked a ball from Craddock and was caught by wicket-keeper Conway for 19 runs.

But then runs flowed as Shailesh Prabhu and captain Calder stroked their way to a 73 run partnership which took Greenock to within ten runs of the visitors' total.

Then Craddock's return to the Irvine bowling attack quickly paid dividends as he picked up the wickets of Calder and Chirag Pandher in consecutive balls at the end of his first over back.

Calder, who had scored three boundaries and one six in his innings, played a loose shot and was caught behind by Conway for 30. And then the same Craddock and Conway combination picked up the wicket of Pandher.

With just six runs needed to win, Shailesh Prabhu was adjudged LBW to Craddock having top scored with a patient and well-constructed innings of 47, which included eight boundaries.

But the home win was only delayed by one more over as the team passed the Irvine total in the following over to take the 25 points with 30 overs to spare.

Craddock was Irvine's outstanding player with 4 wickets for 40 runs to add to his 43 runs scored.