THE heavy rain which was forecast to deluge various parts of the UK over the weekend, including the west of Scotland during Saturday, eventually did arrive and led to the abandonment of both Greenock’s 1st XI and 2nd XI matches against Renfrewshire rivals Ferguslie.

Yesterday, however, in fine conditions, Greenock’s Hillend XI maintained their unbeaten record in the Sunday League with a six wicket win over Clydesdale Cavaliers at Glenpark.

Greenock 1st XI ...........ABANDONED Ferguslie 1st XI ..244 for 6 (42 overs) THE 1st XI match at Glenpark on Saturday afternoon almost made it through to the end of the Ferguslie innings before the umpires and players gave in to the increasingly wet conditions.

Greenock won the toss and inserted Ferguslie, and with just the sixth ball of the match, pace bowler Tom Batters gave the Glenparkers the best possible start when Gregor Preston-Jones edged the ball and was well held by 1st XI captain Shailesh Prabhu standing in as wicketkeeper for the afternoon.

The delight at this early wicket was short-lived as Zimbabwean professional Keith Dabengwa and Scotland U19 international Michael English then put on a stand of 140 runs before English was caught by Dwight Thomas off the bowling of Guy Crichton, having scored a very fine 61.

Greenock’s opening bowlers Tom Batters and Jonathan Hempsey had done well in the opening ten overs, restricting Ferguslie’s two danger men, Dabengwa and English, to just 24 runs. However in the persistent, light rain conditions, the ball became increasingly difficult for bowlers and fielders and the two class batsmen gradually gained the initiative.

Dabengwa was joined by 19-year-old Namibian amateur Malan Kruger when English departed and the two batsmen from the southern part of Africa continued to push the visitors score along at just above six runs an over.

Dabengwa (93) was out just seven runs short of his century when Greg McDougall had him caught by Prabhu behind the stumps with the score on 205 in the 36th over.

McDougall then captured a further three wickets in fairly quick order as firstly Stafford (2) was bowled, then Warden was LBW first ball and thirdly Carruthers (3) was bowled having faced just six balls.

When the rain became torrential in the 42nd over, the umpires took the players off the field with Ferguslie on 244 for the loss of six wickets. Kruger was unbeaten on 59.

Greg McDougall took 4 wickets for 64 runs.

A short time afterwards, with the heavy rain having flooded various parts of the ground, and with the forecast indicating a long period of torrential rain, a decision was taken to abandon the match.

Ferguslie 2nd XI...........ABANDONED Greenock 2nd XI.....22 for 1 (9 overs) THE Reserve League fixture at Meikleriggs lasted just nine overs before the rain led to the end of play.

Greenock, having won the toss, had opted to bat and were on 22 for the loss of just one wicket when the umpires decided that conditions had deteriorated to a point where play could not continue.

Clydesdale Cavaliers...... 123 for 9 (35 overs) Greenock Hillend XI ......124 for 4 (27 0vers) GREENOCK’S Hillend XI maintained their unbeaten run in this season’s Sunday League with a fine six wicket win over second placed Clydesdale Cavaliers at Glenpark.

It was the team’s second win over the Glasgow side this season.

Batting first in a match reduced to 35 overs per side due to the very wet weather on Saturday, which led to a delayed start to this Sunday League match, Clydesdale Cavaliers scored just 123 for the loss of nine wickets at the end of their innings.

Neil Fulton, who came in at number three in the visiting team line-up, was top scorer with 59 with Raphael Selby, batting at number ten, contributing a very useful 20 not out.

Greenock used eight different bowlers with Rod Mountford top wicket-taker with 4 for 36 from 5.4 overs bowled.

Young U13 player Jamie Nowell had a fine three over spell, taking two wickets for just five runs.

U15 player Ewan Stewart also had a useful five over spell and picked up one wicket for just fifteen runs.

In reply, Greenock opened their innings with U15 player Harry Briggs and overseas player Tom Batters.

The Aussie is the 1st XI opening pace bowler (does not bowl in the Sunday League side) and rarely gets an opportunity to bat to build an innings, but he took his chance and scored a fine 50 before being run out.

His wicket was the first to fall — and by that time Greenock were very much closing in on their target.

Clydesdale did pick up three quite cheap wickets thereafter, just before Greenock passed their total in the 27th over with Briggs — who had just celebrated his 15th birthday just over a week ago — unbeaten on 59.

Raphael Selby took 2 for 24 from 3.4 overs and Yahya Soofi 1 for 13 from 3 overs.