GREENOCK return to league cricket on Saturday after the elation of the team’s Cricket Scotland Challenge Cup semi-final win over Strathmore last Sunday.
Third top Stirling County are Greenock’s opponents at Glenpark and will provide a real test for the home team.
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Last Saturday, Greenock performed poorly against East Kilbride and missed an opportunity to overtake Kilmarnock in fourth top spot. A much-improved performance against County just might make a move up the table a possibility for the Glenpark side.
The fixture between the two clubs earlier in the season was abandoned towards the end of the Stirling innings due to an unrelenting heavy downpour of rain which made further play impossible. At that stage Stirling had scored 170 for the loss of five wickets and had another 10 overs available to bat.
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This Saturday’s Greenock team shows a couple of changes from the team which lost to East Kilbride. In come Harry Briggs and Sehmat Pandher, which should bolster the batting line-up, and Pandher will also offer another bowling option for the team.
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The loss to East Kilbride was a big disappointment for the Greenock players and the club supporters. The players know that their individual performances were not good enough last Saturday, and they will be keen to show that lessons have been learned.
Too many wickets were needlessly given away and opening bat Callum Henry was not given the support that his innings deserved.
Only twenty five overs were used out of the fifty available when Greenock were bowled out for just 117, and had wickets not fallen in the manner that they did, the team could have been on course to challenge the East Kilbride total.
One positive from the match was the opening partnership between Callum Henry and Aryan Sanghera. For the fifth time in a league match this season, the opening pair put on a fifty plus run partnership at the top of the batting order. And they did it again on Sunday against Strathmore with a 74-run partnership.
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Good batting partnerships are a feature of the Greenock innings which players must try and create more frequently further down the order, and, if they can, then more high scores can be achieved.
Another positive from Greenock’s recent matches has been the impact of the opening bowling partnership of Fahimgul Dinarkheil and Cammy Calder. The pair have been consistently picking up early wickets in recent matches, putting pressure on the opposition.
Stirling County come to Glenpark in a clear third top position in the Western Premiership Two table. There are just just eight percentage points separating County from Renfrew in second top position, so there remains an opportunity for the county side to gain promotion back to the top division.
Three key players in their batting line-up are team captain Manav Malik, former Arbroath United player Bryce Carnegie and Eliot Bunn, who joined County from North Yorkshire side Rawton.
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Malik, who bats in a top middle order position, is County’s top scorer with over 350 league runs. Carnegie has scored over 330 runs this season, while opening bat Bunn has scored a century against West of Scotland at Hamilton Crescent.
Ali Mubarak will almost certainly open the bowling for County. He has been a consistent wicket-taker for the team this season with 27 wickets to his credit. Bunn is also a useful bowler and has taken 17 wickets at an average of 10.53.
Greenock received a confidence boost last Sunday with the win over Strathmore to reach the CS Challenge Cup final. Once again it was a fine innings of 84 not out from Callum Henry which was the key to the Greenock victory. If he can once again be in top batting form, and be supported by others in the side, then Greenock will certainly provide third top County with a match which will be hard fought.
The Greenock team to play Stirling County at Glenpark on Saturday with a noon start will be:
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A Sanghera (Capt), Mu Ahmadzai, HR Briggs, CS Calder, F Dinarkheil, CJ Henry (Wk), W Jenkins, G McDougall, CS Pandher, SS Pandher, SS Sanghera. 12th Man / Scorer: C Prabhu.
Greenock’s second XI ‘Glenpark’ travel overseas to the Isle of Bute to play Bute County & Cowal on Saturday. With just four matches of the league season remaining, the Glenpark XI are at the top of the Western Championship Three league table and are six percentage points clear of second top Clydesdale Bees.
Bute County & Cowal are at the opposite end of the table with just two wins from eight matches completed. But the Rothesay team can be a very dangerous opponent depending on the side which is able to turn out.
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Bute County & Cowal have had a very inconsistent season due to availability of players. But, if former Greenock first XI player Louis Ware, and former Greenock second XI players Mark and Guy Crichton are available, then, the Glenpark XI will need to be at their best to gain the 25 points and maintain their top of the table position.
The Greenock second XI ‘Glenpark’ team to travel to play Bute County & Cowal at Rothesay on Saturday will be: M Ahmad Capt, M Ahmadzai, M Anwar, PJ Bryceland, Z Dilsoz, K Leema, U Mansoor, A Nair, H Safi, S Safi, M Zeeshan. 12th mam : R Safi.
Greenock Cricket Club is sponsored by Cleaning Supplies 4U
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