1st XI slump to defeat by Helensburgh

Greenock 1st XI v Helensburgh
Western Premiership Two
Saturday 20th June 2026

Helensburgh 153   GM Chambers 32, E Williamson 30
Greenock 1st XI 110   F Parffrey 3 for 29

Greenock 1st XI (3 pts) lost to Helensburgh (25 pts) by 43 runs

Scorecard

Billed as a must win game, the 1st XI's match against Helensburgh at Glenpark on Saturday afternoon failed to work out as hoped by the team and its supporters. Instead, another disappointing performance ended with them losing by 43 runs and stuck in a relegation battle at the lower end of the Western Premiership Two table.

Prolonged heavy rain on Friday across the west of Scotland caused numerous matches to be cancelled, but at Glenpark after much work and a delayed start, a reduced overs match of 40 overs per side enabled the game to go ahead.

Skipper Aryan Sanghera won the toss and elected to field first, gaining an early breakthrough when Duncan Stephens was caught behind the wicket at the start of the fourth over.

Off spinner Toby Matthews then gained two LBW decisions in the tenth and twelfth overs to dismiss Hasan Ahmad (22) and Thomas Burford (1) to leave Helensburgh on 39 for 3.

Helensburgh captain, Caelan Lang, and former Greenock player Gregor Chambers, then put together their team's biggest partnership of 29 runs before Lang (10) was removed LBW by Chirag Pandher.

Wickets fell regularly after that partnership was broken with Chambers (32) and Edward Williamson (30) the main run scorers as Helensburgh moved to 111 for 7 at the start of the 30th over.

The bowlers might have hoped to tidy up the remaining three wickets quickly, but the tail-end batters had other ideas and added a further 42 runs before the last wicket fell at 153 with just one ball of the 40 overs still to be bowled.

Sanghera made use of seven bowlers during the Helensburgh innings with Sean Fischer-Keogh, Chirag Pandher, Toby Matthews and Nikhil Kadyan each capturing two wickets.

The 154 to win target set by Helensburgh seemed a manageable total as the teams took the interval tea break. And when the opening partnership of Usman Mansoor and Shailesh Prabhu put on 40 runs from the first twelve overs of the innings, the team were looking comfortable.

But it was unlucky over number thirteen which began the side's downfall. Firstly, with the second ball of the over bowled by David Wynne, Usman Mansoor (15) was judged LBW. And then with the last ball of the over new batsman Aryan Sanghera suffered the same fate to put Greenock on 43 for the loss of 2 wickets.

By the end of the eighteenth over Helensburgh had picked up a further three wickets to leave Greenock reeling on 53 for 5 and still needing 101 runs to win.

Adam McGuirk and Nikhil Kadyan looked to be in control and taking their team toward their target as they built a good partnership without any alarms. But midway through the twenty fifth over, McGuirk lofted a ball from Rajitha Arachchi and was caught by Caelan Lang having scored 17 runs. The score was then 84 for 6.

As so often happens, with the partnership broken, Helensburgh then picked up another wicket almost immediately. Kadyan was bowled at the start of the twenty sixth over for 15 and the batting had collapsed to 84 for 7 leaving a minor miracle needed to reach their target.

The miracle did not happen, and the last three wickets were duly captured by the Helensburgh bowlers by midway through the thirty first over when the side were all out for 110.

Freddie Parffrey with 3 wickets for 29 runs from 8 overs bowled was Helensburgh's most successful bowler with David Wynne, Thomas Burford and Corey Baker each taking two wickets.