GREENOCK play their final Western Premiership One match of the 2023 season at Glenpark on Saturday.

For the season-ending match, the opposition is provided by Lanarkshire side Uddingston, who Greenock lost to earlier in the season and are sitting safely in a mid-table position.

So it will be an end of season match with nothing at stake for either side as Greenock are already confirmed as being relegated along with Dumfries.

But Greenock will wish to finish their season with a good performance and hopefully a win against their Lanarkshire opponents.

However, the local side will be without their professional Rahul Dalal for Saturday’s match. The pro returned to India earlier this week as his own domestic cricket season is now under way.

He will be a significant loss to the side as he was a fine performer with both bat and ball during the season.

In the Premiership matches, Dalal scored 765 runs at an average of 69.55, which placed him second top run-scorer overall across all clubs in the league.

And in the course of the season he scored three centuries. He was also a useful off-spin bowler and took 17 wickets in league matches.

Also missing for the final match will be Lukas Fischer-Keogh who was part of the successful Scottish U19 cricket squad which recently qualified for the ICC U19 Cricket World Cup to be played in Sri Lanka in early 2024.

Fischer-Keogh has been a key player for the team during the season as both wicket-keeper and a top order bat. The experience gained playing at 1stXI level over the past couple of seasons has clearly been of value in assisting his development and achieving his international status.

Greenock will hope that the weather, which has not been kind during the second half of the league programme, will relent and provide good conditions for the season finale.

Remarkably, since the second half of the league programme began at the beginning of July, wet weather has occurred on every Saturday.

Greenock should have played eight games during this time. Instead only one has been able to be played as normal; three completed with reduced overs; and four either abandoned or cancelled.

Greg McDougall, the team captain, will lead a side which shows a good mix of experience and youth.

Shailesh Prabhu and Tom Polkinghorne will likely open the batting and hope to lay a good foundation for the team’s innings.

Chris Hempsey, Gregor Chambers, Chirag Pandher, Sam Sanghera and McDougall himself will provide some further experience in the batting line-up while the younger members of the side will have an opportunity to get some time out in the middle at Premiership level without any pressure.

Cameron Calder, 20, has a 2ndXI century already under his belt and has shown that he is a very capable, hard-hitting batsman who has had several fine 1stXI innings this season. He is also developing well as a powerful pace bowler who has potential to be an opening bowler who will trouble opposition.

Two nineteen-year-old players who have played regularly for the 1stXI this season are Usman Mansoor and Aryan Sanghera. They will both get some overs against Uddingston which will add to the opportunities which they have had during this Premiership season. The experience and confidence gained from these matches will undoubtedly benefit the team in the seasons ahead.

Also in the team for Saturday is 21-year-old Tom Forrest, who is a fine fielder and can bat in the middle order.

Saturday’s visitors, Uddingston, have had a season of two halves. After a poor start in the league which saw them win just one match out of the first eight, the Lanarkshire side have come good in the second half of the season and currently have seven wins to their credit.

Two key batsmen for the Uddingston team are Mo Awais and Imran Mughal. Awais is their top run scorer with 466 runs in the Premiership and over 1100 runs in all matches. Mughal is not far behind with 438 Premiership runs and almost 750 runs in all matches including an unbeaten century.

Left arm orthodox spin bowler Ross Lyons, a former Scotland senior internationalist, is the team’s top bowler with 26 Premiership wickets and on his day a useful bat. Zeeshan Azhar provides pace at the top of the attack and has 21 league wickets to his credit.

It is particularly the form of these players which has helped Uddingston recover in the second part of the season and gain a mid-table position after their poor start.

If the weather plays its part and produces a decent afternoon for cricket, Saturday’s match at Glenpark should provide some good entertainment for supporters.

Sadly for the local side, relegation has already been confirmed and next season Greenock will play in the Western Premiership Two league.

Greenock’s 1stXI team for the match against Uddingston at Glenpark on Saturday will be: GJ McDougall, CS Calder, GM Chambers, T Forrest, CJK Hempsey, U Mansoor, CS Pandher, SS Prabhu, T Polkinghorne, AS Sanghera, SS Sanghera.

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

Greenock’s 2ndXI ‘Glenpark’ have completed their league programme and so have no match on Saturday.

Footnote: Emily Norris, 19, a regular player in Greenock’s 2ndXI who often opens the bowling for the team, also plays for West of Scotland ladies team.

Last Sunday, at the Doo’cot ground in Perth, Emily was a key player as the West of Scotland ladies team won the inaugural ‘Beyond Boundaries’ Scottish Ladies T20 Cup competition.

Emily took three wickets in the semi-final win over Edinburgh side Grange. And in the final Emily took one wicket as the team defeated another Edinburgh side, Watsonians, to become Scottish champions.

Greenock Cricket Club is sponsored by Cleaning Supplies 4U