West ease home

Roger Graham 1551 - 1551 • Published 8 Jun 2009 14:00

Greenock 214 for 6wkts; West 215 for 4wkts.

Greenock lost their third league match of the season at Hamilton Crescent as leaders West of Scotland consolidated their position at the top of the table.

Frankly it wasn"t a great advert for Scotland"s top division. West fully deserved their win against a much weakened Glenpark side in a game reduced to 94 overs due to a period of heavy rainfall prior to the start.

Greenock"s lack of strength in depth was exposed as all-rounder and Scotland Under-19 cap Willie Rowan joined international trio Craig Wright, Richie Berrington and Dewald Nel on the sidelines as a late withdrawal.

Throw in Tony Judd and Jonathan Hempsey as absentees also and it was a makeshift assembly which took the field.

Greenock never had enough runs on the board given their limited bowling attack and some less than impressive ground fielding.

Professional and skipper Cameron Borgas and former West man Moneeb Iqbal provided an excellent partnership of 94, but when Borgas fell to make it 150 for three with 12 overs to go, Greenock lacked the final surge to give themselves the sort of total they needed.

The Glenpark men, for their part, can forget any title aspirations now. The return of their international players will surely ensure their survival in the Premier elite, but at the moment they are struggling badly, losing also to the Scotland Under-19s on Sunday. West were led to victory by former Scotland opener Dougie Lockhart who played a sensible innings after an early stumble when Sean Weeraratna took the wickets of opener Gregg Watson and professional Andrew Ellis with two excellent deliveries.

The momentum could not be sustained, however, and was not helped by some fielding far removed from what one would expect at this level.

Greenock"s first wicket went down in the fourth over when Shailesh Prabhu edged Smith to slip, Borgas coming in to join Keenan Bowers.

By the 10th over these two had posted the 50 before Bowers fell, greenock lost their third league match of the season at Hamilton Crescent as leaders West of Scotland consolidated their position at the top of the table.

Frankly it wasn"t a great advert for Scotland"s top division. West fully deserved their win against a much weakened Glenpark side in a game reduced to 94 overs due to a period of heavy rainfall prior to the start.

Greenock"s lack of strength in depth was exposed as all-rounder and Scotland Under-19 cap Willie Rowan joined international trio Craig Wright, Richie Berrington and Dewald Nel on the sidelines as a late withdrawal.

Throw in Tony Judd and Jonathan Hempsey as absentees also and it was a makeshift assembly which took the field.

Greenock never had enough runs on the board given their limited bowling attack and some less than impressive ground fielding.

Professional and skipper Cameron Borgas and former West man Moneeb Iqbal provided an excellent partnership of 94, but when Borgas fell to make it 150 for three with 12 overs to go, Greenock lacked the final surge to give themselves the sort of total they needed.

The Glenpark men, for their part, can forget any title aspirations now. The return of their international players will surely ensure their survival in the Premier elite, but at the moment they are struggling badly, losing also to the Scotland Under-19s on Sunday. West were led to victory by former Scotland opener Dougie Lockhart who played a sensible innings after an early stumble when Sean Weeraratna took the wickets of opener Gregg Watson and professional Andrew Ellis with two excellent deliveries.

The momentum could not be sustained, however, and was not helped by some fielding far removed from what one would expect at this level.

Greenock"s first wicket went down in the fourth over when Shailesh Prabhu edged Smith to slip, Borgas coming in to join Keenan Bowers.

By the 10th over these two had posted the 50 before Bowers fell,greenock lost their third league match of the season at Hamilton Crescent as leaders West of Scotland consolidated their position at the top of the table.

Frankly it wasn"t a great advert for Scotland"s top division. West fully deserved their win against a much weakened Glenpark side in a game reduced to 94 overs due to a period of heavy rainfall prior to the start.

Greenock"s lack of strength in depth was exposed as all-rounder and Scotland Under-19 cap Willie Rowan joined international trio Craig Wright, Richie Berrington and Dewald Nel on the sidelines as a late withdrawal.

Throw in Tony Judd and Jonathan Hempsey as absentees also and it was a makeshift assembly which took the field.

Greenock never had enough runs on the board given their limited bowling attack and some less than impressive ground fielding.

Professional and skipper Cameron Borgas and former West man Moneeb Iqbal provided an excellent partnership of 94, but when Borgas fell to make it 150 for three with 12 overs to go, Greenock lacked the final surge to give themselves the sort of total they needed.

The Glenpark men, for their part, can forget any title aspirations now. The return of their international players will surely ensure their survival in the Premier elite, but at the moment they are struggling badly, losing also to the Scotland Under-19s on Sunday. West were led to victory by former Scotland opener Dougie Lockhart who played a sensible innings after an early stumble when Sean Weeraratna took the wickets of opener Gregg Watson and professional Andrew Ellis with two excellent deliveries.

The momentum could not be sustained, however, and was not helped by some fielding far removed from what one would expect at this level.

Greenock"s first wicket went down in the fourth over when Shailesh Prabhu edged Smith to slip, Borgas coming in to join Keenan Bowers.

By the 10th over these two had posted the 50 before Bowers fell, FROM BACK PAGE

being trapped leg before wicket by Gavin Smith, a product of the West youth policy.

It was 56 for two after 10 overs when home professional Andrew Elllis came into the attack and gradually he and slow bowler Mohammud Kashif, a Dutch international, began to peg back the scoring rate.

After 22 overs the score stood at 85 for two, Ellis"s pace proving especially economical.

Niki Snood"s slow bowling featured in the 23rd over and, in his second over he was struck for a big six by an impressive Iqbal to carry the total to 101.

Borgas reached his 50 three overs later only to be dropped at long-on going for another big hit. It was a straightforward catch and there was a sigh in the West ranks.

Ellis was reintroduced to the attack in the 31st over and, with Greenock on 123 for two, it was a crucial apell for both teams.

Just as Borgas was upping the tempo, however, he fell. He had just smashed left arm seamer Cran over long-on for four when he attempted a similar shot, this time on the off-side, from the next delivery off a full toss. He mistimed it and the ballwent straight striahgt to long-off.

It was now 135 for three in 35 overs. Sean Weeraratna had almost spooned Kashif to midwicket and soon after he was out to a simple shot straight back to the bowler.

Iqbal was still in full flow, however, reaching his 50 off Smith before hitting him for a perfectly timed straight drive for four.

Smith had his revenge, though, when he bowled Iqbal off stump after a fine knock of 61.

The Greenock tail produced another 18 before Chris Hempsey, having given himself room to hit Ellis for four, was then bowled attempting the same shot.

Ryan Begley and Dougie Wylie saw the innings out with Greenock on 214, a decent enough total, but one which looked vulnerable given the threadbare nature of the visitors" attack.

Yet it began brightly for Greenock who decided to open the bowling with slow bowler Wylie in partnership with paceman Weeraratna.

Wylie had Watson looking very uncomfortable in the third over, but it was Weeraratna who dismissed him in the next over, skimming his off stump with a perfect delivery which was moving away from the bat.

Six overs later West were in some trouble when Weeraratna pounced again, getting a wicked ball to nip back from off stump and breach the gap between Ellis"s bat and pad.

That was probably as good as it got for Greenock.

Ryan Begley who, in fairness to him, has hardly bowled for the club in recent seasons, was introduced to the attack, being smacked for three fours off his first over. Borgas brought himself on to save Weeraratna for a second spell and he had success when he had Ian Young out leg before wicket, it being 81 for three in the 18th over of the innings.

But, just when Greenock needed to keep taking wickets it was West who dug in to produce what proved to be the match-winning partnership. Ross Brown joined Lockhart at the wicket and the pair put on one short of a century to guide the hosts towards the finish line.

By the time Brown was run out by his partner off the returning Weeraratna, an excellent Borgas throw knocking down the stumps, it was too late for a Greenock comeback at 180 for four, nine overs remaining.

Lockhart steered them to victory with two overs to spare.

On Sunday, a Greenock side missing no fewer than seven players went down by four wickets to the Scotland Under-19 side.

They passed Greenock"s 127 all out in the 41st over of play, leaving the Glenpark men stranded in second bottom place in the table.

GREENOCK

S.S. Prabhu c McCall b Smith.......................10

K. Bowers lbw b Smith..................................17C.A.Borgas c Tulloch b Cran.........................70

M. Iqbal b Smith............................................61

S.D. Weeraratna c & b Kashif..........................7

R.G. Begley not out.......................................17

C.K.J. Hempsey b Ellis..................................12

R.D.G. Wylie not out.......................................4

Extras 16

Total (6wkts) 214

Bowling: I. Cran 9-0-41-0; G. Smith 9-0-50-30; A. Ellis 10-2-26-1; M. Kashif 10-2-40-1; N. Snood 78-0-35-0; C. Tulloch 2-0-10-0.

FOW: 1/14 Prabhu; 2/56 Bowers; 3/150 Borgas; 4/163 Weeraratna; 5/183 Iqbal; 6/201 Hempsey.

WEST

D. Lockhart not out........................................85

G. Watson b Weeraratna...............................12

A. Ellis b Weeraratna.......................................8

I Young lbw b Borgas.....................................23

R. Brown run out...........................................57

D. McCall not out...........................................17

Extras 13

Total (4wkts) 215

Bowling: R.D. G. Wylie 9-0-38-0; S.D. Weeraratna 10-2-40-2; R.G. Begley 6-0-44-0; C.A. Borgas 93-0-31-1; M. Iqbal 10-1-57-0; K.F. Begley .2-0-1-0.

FOW: 1/19 Watson; 2/35 Ellis; 3/81 Young; 4/180 Brown.

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This article appeared in Greenock Telegraph 08 Jun 09

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