GREENOCK travel through to Stirling on Saturday for their penultimate match in the 2023 Western Premiership One season.

Had results worked out for them last weekend it would have been a hugely important fixture, as both teams would have been battling to stay in the top league and to avoid relegation.

However, the results did not go as hoped.

Greenock’s match against Stenhousemuir was abandoned after a start-stop day due to regular heavy rain showers and Stirling won against Prestwick.

The upshot of the outcomes of the two matches is that Greenock will now be relegated from the Premiership at the end of the season.

So it will only be pride at stake for Greenock as they take on County at their New Williamfield ground this weekend.

Matches between the sides in the past have often been keenly contested. One such occasion was just prior to the pandemic at the very end of the 2018 season and it was at New Williamfield. Greenock needed to win to avoid relegation from the Premier Division and did so in fine style.

Stirling County batted first and scored 178 but Greenock made 179 for the loss of just 3 wickets and so retained their Premier League status.

Last weekend Stirling captain Matthew Tweedie led his team from the front to gain the win at Prestwick which should be enough for County to be safe from relegation. Only Dumfries CC now have the very slimmest of chances of overtaking the Stirlingshire side.

Tweedie, who is County’s regular opening batsman scored 62 not, and shared an unbeaten 87 run third wicket partnership with Manav Malik 53 not out, to pull off the win for his side.

The County skipper is the club’s top scorer in the Premiership with 365 runs and an average of 30.4 while next highest scorer Amir Shahzad (218 runs) has not played since mid-July and may not be available on Saturday.

Manav Malik is the team’s regular wicket-keeper and he is also a useful batsman. His highest score this season was 81 against In the second half of the season he has scored Stirling’s two South African amateurs, Rowan Bailey and Mornay Kohl, have also made some impression in terms of run-scoring.

But County’s batting has relied heavily on Tweedie, Shahzad and Malik this season when they have been available. Therefore if Greenock can find a way to remove these players early in their innings, the stats suggest that there are few other batsmen who will provide much danger.

County’s bowling has shown that it has potential to do damage to opposition batting. Mubarak Ali and Zeeshan Sami are the regular opening bowlers and have almost 30 Premiership wickets between them.

However it is team captain and all-rounder Matthew Tweedie who as a change bowler is the team’s leading wicket-taker with 23 Premiership wickets this season.

Greenock will field a team which shows only one change from last Saturday. Gregor Chambers is unavailable and Inam Khan comes into the side in his place.

Lukas Fischer-Keogh who was part of the Scotland U19 team which last weekend won the Europe qualifying section and will now head to Sri Lanka in 2024 to play in the ICC U19 Cricket World Cup is not available this weekend and so Chris Hempsey will keep wicket once again.

Chambers will be a significant loss for Greenock as he is the team’s regular opening bowler and is also a player who can usually be relied upon to score runs when he bats in the middle order.

Team captain Greg McDougall will have a number of bowling options at his disposal despite the loss of Chambers from the side to face County. Sam Sanghera, Nikhil Kadyan, Rahul Dalal, Inam Khan and McDougall himself are all experienced bowlers who will form part of the bowling attack.

And with relegation now decided there is an opportunity to give a number of the younger players in the side a chance to show what they can do.

Cammy Calder, Usman Mansoor and Aryan Sanghera have become regular 1stXI players this season but have had limited opportunities to be part of the bowling attack. They will almost certainly be given a chance to show what they can do on Saturday.

To win games runs have to be scored as well as wickets taken and being able to score enough runs has been an issue for Greenock during the season.

With the pressure off perhaps runs will flow at New Williamfield on Saturday and Greenock can get the better of Stirling County and gain a little pride as a disappointing season moves towards conclusion.

Greenock’s 1st XI team for the match against Stirling County at New Williamfield on Saturday will be: GJ McDougall, C Calder, RR Dalal, CJK Hempsey, N Kadyan, I Khan, U Mansoor, SS Prabhu, T Polkinghorne, A Sanghera, S Sanghera.

The match on Saturday against Stirling County at New Williamfield will start at 12 noon. 

Greenock’s 2nd XI ‘Glenpark’ play their final league match of the season on Saturday when Milngavie 2nd XI provide the opposition at Glenpark.

The team for the match will be: E Ahmad capt., A Afzal, M Ahmadzai, PJ Bryceland, S Chaudhary , N Nagaraju, E Norris, H Safi, D Sharma, U Varma, V Yadav. Reserves : S Safi. C Prabhu.

The match on Saturday against Milngavie 2nd XI at Glenpark will start at 12 noon.

Greenock Cricket Club is sponsored by Cleaning Supplies 4U.