Greenock near to full strength

Roger Graham 1551 - 1551 • Published 12 Jun 2009 14:00

GREENOCK return to virtually full strength for tomorrow"s key home match against Watsonians.

Its importance is clear after four defeats in five outings so far this season. Back in action come skipper Craig Wright and all-rounder Richie Berrington, both having been on Scotland duty in the Twenty20 World Championships. Also back are Scotland Under-19 cap Willie Rowan, Jonathan Hempsey and Shailesh Prabhu, leaving the injured Dewald Nel as the only missing first team squad member.

Nel will be out of action for probably another month after which the Scotland games begin again, so he will play very little cricket for his club this year.

Wright has anounced his retirement from international cricket after 194 caps spanning a 12-year period. But he fully intends to continue playing. He said: 'I don"t have any plans to retire from club cricket. I still enjoy playing. My commitments to Cricket Scotland have made it difficult, but I intend to keep playing after this season.'

Asked if tomorrow"s home match against Watsonians came into the must-win category, Wright replied: 'I don"t think we"re quite at that stage. We"re getting players back and hopefully we can start fielding a reasonably settled team and start getting some wins.'

Wright was made captain of the national side in 2003 and led his country on a record 107 occasions. Under his leadership the Scotland team won the 2004 Intercontinental Cup and the 2005 ICC Trophy as well as recording wins against English county sides on numerous occasions. He also led the side to the 2007 World Cup before stepping back from the captaincy.

Wright is the record-holder for wickets taken by a Scottish bowler, with 255 from nearly 1600 overs. He also scored 2626 runs at an average of 20.52, with a highest score of 88 not out, against both Holland in 2004 and Surrey in 2005. Wright also took 59 catches for Scotland, putting him third on the all-time list.

He will continue to play a major role in Scottish Cricket as performance development manager as well as coaching the national U-17 and U-19 squads as they prepare for forthcoming ICC events.

He said: 'It has been an immense privilege to have represented my country in a sport I love over the past 12 years, and I am extremely proud to have had the honour of captaining the side during that period.

'We have experienced several highs and lows over this time, but I am glad to have been involved during a period where the Scotland team took significant strides forward and became the leading associate nation in the mid-2000s.

'It is important now that everyone involved in Scottish Cricket is working extremely hard to ensure we get things moving in the right direction again after a difficult period recently. I believe we have a solid group of young players - such as Berrington, Coetzer, MacLeod and Goudie - around which the next team can be built. They not only have the appropriate skill level, but also the right character to succeed.'

Wright returns to a side which has, frankly, been in disarray, largely due to several players" unavailability, due to international call-ups and other factors.

There should be a vast improvement in performance level from last weekend when Greenock"s limitations in terms of strength in depth were cruelly exposed.

On paper, Greenock ought to win this match against a relatively modest Watsonians. But that was said about the fixture at Aberdeenshire when Greenock were virtually at full strength and went down. Nothing can be taken for granted.

Tomorrow"s start is 1pm.

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This article appeared in Greenock Telegraph 12 Jun 09

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