Greenock’s weekend double header of Premiership Two matches ended with one defeat and one win – with West of Scotland emerging victorious at Glenpark on Saturday before Greenock recorded a fine win at Glasgow Accies 24 hours later.
West of Scotland arrived at Glenpark on Saturday having been relegated from Premiership One at the end of the 2024 season, but having made a two match winning start to their 2025 league season.
And when Greenock won the toss and opted to bat first, it was the West team which made the best start; after just ten overs, Greenock were in some difficulty, having scored only 14 runs and having lost their first three wickets.
However, Will Jenkins (43) and Nikhil Kadyan (36) righted the ship with a fine 83-run partnership before Kadyan was caught by Oliver off the bowling of Dutia.
Greenock were unable to keep West of Scotland at bay at Glenpark on Saturday (Image: alex craig) Jenkins departed soon after when he was trapped LBW by Singh with the score on 114, but the lower order dug in and Greenock’s score continued to rise towards the 200 mark, largely through the efforts of Ewan Stewart (32 not out), Sam Sanghera (23) and Muhibullah Ahmadzai (14 not out).
At the end of their 50 overs, Greenock’s score was a very creditable 213 for 8.
For West, Calum Dutia with 3 wickets for 40 runs from 10 overs and Oscar Shepperson with 2 for 25 were the most successful bowlers while D. McNulty, G. Singh and J. Strachan each picked up one wicket.
West made a tentative start against Greenock’s opening attack, and with the second last ball of the 10th over Greenock made a breakthrough with the score on 26, when opener Clayburn, who had been struggling to find any rhythm, edged a delivery from Will Jenkins and was caught by wicketkeeper Callum Henry with just two runs on his account.
The second followed only four overs later, with another 15 runs added to the West score, when Sam Page was unable to deal with a fast, rising ball and lobbed his shot straight back to bowler Jenkins for 20.
Will Jenkins’ best efforts weren’t quite enough for Greenock on Saturday – but the Aussie bowler turned on the style with a superb hat-trick against Glasgow Accies on Sunday. (Image: alex craig) But that wicket was to be Greenock’s last bit of joy for some time as Joe Carrasco and Larvet Masunda took complete control and West moved steadily towards their target.
Masunda played on having just reached his half-century, with the score on 126, and Carrasco was beaten by Mo Ahmadzai for 39 with the score on 141.
However West’s strength in depth in batting showed as John Oliver (37 not out) and Jesse Mills (39 not out) eased the visitors to a well-deserved win with slightly more than five overs remaining.
Greenock 213 for 8 (50 overs), 2 points; West of Scotland 217 for 4 (43 overs), 25 points.
* Greenock’s wait for a first league win of the season didn’t last too much longer, with top-class performances by Australian amateurs Will Jenkins and Callum Hendry securing a fine win over Glasgow Accies at New Anniesland on Sunday.
Jenkins took four wickets for 44 runs off just 9.5 overs, including a superb hat-trick as he demolished Accies’ tail-end batsmen, with the home side reduced to 197 all out after 49.4 overs.
And Henry batted supremely through the entire Greenock innings, recording a magnificent unbeaten century and ending on 108 not out as the visitors reached and passed the target set of them, requiring just 29.4 of their allotted 50 overs to secure victory.
Glasgow Accies 197 all out (49.4 overs), 2 points; Greenock 198 for 3 (29.4 overs), 25 points.
* Meanwhile, Greenock’s second XI, Glenpark, continued their excellent early season form with a straightforward win away to Ardrossan on Saturday.
All the Glenpark bowlers got involved, with Samim Haidary leading the way on figures of 3 for 20 as Ardrossan were restricted to a total of 109.
Glenpark then proceeded to shrug off the early loss of Yakoob Hayat as Rakesh Kumar (39) and Usman Mansoor (29*), with a partnership of 83, set the team on the road to a fine eight wicket win, the visitors reaching their target for the loss of just two wickets.
Ardrossan 109 all out (1 point); Glenpark 111 for 2 (25 points).
Greenock Cricket Club is sponsored by Cleaning Supplies 4U
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