GREENOCK travel to Glasgow’s south side on Saturday to play Clydesdale at their Titwood ground which is often home to Scotland internationals.

The 2021 Premier Division champions and three times WDCU Premier champions since 2015 are in an unfamiliar league position this season and currently occupy fourth bottom position.

The Glenpark team’s journey up the M8 will be made with increased confidence after their win over Prestwick last weekend and with the knowledge that Clydesdale are far from invincible this season.

However, it may be that Richie Berrington, who is Scotland Men’s international captain and the country’s most capped cricketer, is available to play for Clydesdale this Saturday.

Berrington has only played four league matches for Clydesdale this season due to his international commitments.

Most recently he captained Scotland’s T20 team in winning the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Europe Qualifier with the team unbeaten in their six matches, and progressing now to the T20 World Cup Finals in the West Indies and USA in 2024.

The Clydesdale and Scotland man is a former Greenock player and still lives in the town close to Glenpark where he began his career as a junior and moved through the age group teams before playing for Greenock 1stXI. 

One of Clydesdale’s four wins came against Greenock at Glenpark at the beginning of June.

While Richie Berrington may return for Clydesdale, international commitments mean that Greenock’s talented young cricketer Lukas Fischer-Keogh will definitely be missing from the Glenpark side on Saturday.

Lukas is selected as a member of the 14-player squad to represent Scotland U19s in the ICC Men’s U-19 World Cup Europe Qualifiers taking place in the Netherlands from Sunday 6 August until Saturday 12 August.

The winning side from the Qualifier competition will play in the U19 Men’s U19 World Cup in Sri Lanka in 2024.

The absence of Fischer-Keogh means Chris Hempsey returns to the team as a direct replacement wicket-keeper/batsman.

The team shows just one other change with Nikhil Kadyan returning in place of Chirag Pandher who is unavailable due to work commitments.

The form of two of Greenock’s top order batsmen, Tom Polkinghorne and Harry Briggs, was a big plus last Saturday at Prestwick. The pair put on 98 runs for the second wicket with Polkinghorne scoring 62 and Briggs 54. Their partnership created a sound platform for the team to make a big score and then go on to win the game.

McDougall will have seven or eight players whom he can call upon to bowl and will most likely open up with some pace bowling from Gregor Chambers and Sam Sanghera. Thereafter, some off spin bowling from pro Rahul Dalal and Nikhil Kadyan may be introduced to provide a different approach.

Greenock’s 1stXI team for the match against Clydesdale at Titwood in Glasgow on Saturday will be: GJ McDougall, HR Briggs, GM Chambers, RR Dalal, CJK Hempsey, N Kadyan, U Mansoor, SS Prabhu, T Polkinghorne, A Sanghera, S Sanghera.

Scorer: R McGregor The match on Saturday at Titwood will start at 12noon

Greenock’s 2ndXI are at home to local rivals Inverclyde. The team for the match will be from : E Ahmad capt., M Ahmadzai, PJ Bryceland, S Chaudhary, A Farooq, J Hutchinson, I Khan, N Nagaraju, DC Sharma, E Stewart, V Yadav. Reserves : C Prabhu, H Safi.

The match on Saturday against Inverclyde at Glenpark will start at 12noon.

On Sunday, Greenock’s “Hillend XI” have a friendly match against a West of Scotland XI at Hamilton Crescent in Glasgow. The team for the match will be: S Chaudhary capt., M Ahmadzai, PJ Bryceland, S Harsha, J Hutchinson, L McCahill, U Mansoor, C Prabhu, H Safi, E Stewart, V Yadav. 12th Man S Safi.

Sunday’s friendly match at Hamilton Crescent will start at 1pm.

Greenock Cricket Club is sponsored by Cleaning Supplies 4U