GREENOCK 1st XI face a busy weekend with a fixture at Glenpark on Saturday and then a long trip north-east to Aberdeen for a Scottish Cup first round tie against Aberdeenshire at Mannofield on Sunday.

First up is a visit from Hillhead for a Western Premiership Two league match on Saturday.

The Glenpark side had two good friendly matches last weekend which provided useful match practice in advance of this weekend’s opening competitive league and cup fixtures.

Hillhead, who are visitors to Glenpark on Saturday, gained promotion to the Western Premiership Two at the end of the 2023 league season following a summer of consistently good performances. The Glasgow side will provide a good test for Greenock on the opening Saturday of this season’s league matches.

Greenock had the opportunity to ‘run the rule’ over numerous players last weekend thanks to having their two friendly matches able to be played against Kelburne and Renfrew. The Glenpark team posted 200 runs plus in each of the matches, with Connor Nowlan scoring a fine confidence boosting century against Renfrew.

Team captain, Greg McDougall, also gave most of the players who played in the matches an opportunity to bowl a number of overs and was rewarded by seeing many of them picking up wickets.

The club’s two overseas amateurs from the Brisbane area of Australia, Nowlan and Angus Tolhurst, both showed that they will be important players for the team with both bat and ball.

As well as his century, Nowlan displayed pace bowling which produced wickets in both games, while Tolhurst’s accurate left arm slow bowling also picked up wickets and he showed he will be a useful mid-order batsman.

Experienced players Harry Briggs, Shailesh Prabhu, Chirag Pandher and Sam Sanghera are available for Saturday’s match along with younger players Cammy Calder and Usman Mansoor who established themselves in the 1st XI last season with some fine performances during the season in the Premier League.

Greg McDougall, the team captain, will have a number of options in his bowling line-up with Nowlan, Mansoor and Calder all able to provide some early pace bowling.

Tolhurst, Chirag Pandher and McDougall himself will offer a change of pace to follow on from the likely opening pace attack. And, of course, Sam Sanghera can pick up wickets when brought on to bowl.

Last weekend against Renfrew, Nowlan and Shailesh Prabhu opened the batting line-up and built a century stand.

The two batsmen worked well together with Nowlan playing the aggressive, scoring role while Prabhu provided a solid, steady opening batsman role.

Harry Briggs, Cammy Calder and Tolhurst will bat in the top, middle order and each has the ability to score important runs for the team. Calder and Tolhurst both made scores in the forties last weekend and Briggs has played numerous good innings in recent years.

The match with Hillhead will provide a good test for Greenock but the Glenpark team should have the players in their side to win this encounter. There is a real enthusiasm in the group following last weekend’s two friendly fixtures, and if the players can each focus and play their part, then a first league win of the season can be achieved on Saturday.

Greenock’s 1st XI team for the match against Hillhead at Glenpark on Saturday will be: GJ McDougall (capt), H Briggs, C Calder, F Dinarkel, U Mansoor, C Nowlan, C Pandher, S Prabhu, S Sanghera, A Tolhurst, V Yadav.

The match on Saturday at Glenpark will start at noon.

Greenock’s 2nd XI play Clydesdale’s ‘Bees XI’ at Bellahouston Park, Glasgow on Saturday afternoon. The team will be from: E Ahmad (capt), M Ahmadzai, S Chaudhary, S Harsha, I Khan, A Khanzai, R Kumar, K Maroof, , PE Robertson, H Safi, S Safi, E Stewart,

Cricket Scotland Men’s Scottish Cup

On Sunday, Greenock 1st XI begin their 2024 Scottish Cup campaign with an away tie tie against Aberdeenshire. Greenock’s team for the match has yet to be announced.

New players

Any interested new players will be welcome to come along to practice sessions at Glenpark on Tuesday and Thursday evenings from 6 until 8.30pm.

*Greenock Cricket Club is sponsored by Cleaning Supplies 4U