Fahim Dinarkheil helps Greenock to home win over Irvine

Dinarkheil left visitors Irvine floundering at 0 for 2 and put [[Greenock]] on the way to a comfortable six-wicket win over their visitors in Western Premiership 2 at Glenpark, maintaining the home side’s unbeaten July record.

Put in to bat by Greenock’s acting captain Cammy Calder, Irvine were quickly in trouble; firstly, Dylan Neil edged pace bowler Dinarkheil’s second ball and was caught by Callum Henry behind the stumps; and then, with the last ball of the over, new batsman Seraj Khan provided a replay of Neil’s dismissal and made the walk back to the clubhouse.

The two early wickets provided the perfect start for Greenock and it was not long before the visitors were in more trouble. And it was Dinarkheil who was once again involved; opener Shakeel Ahmed had scored just two runs from 19 balls faced when he was trapped LBW in the seventh over with the score on 18.

Calder made a bowling change at the start of the 11th over, bringing on Sehmat Pandher from the Bedford Street end - and it paid off immediately with two more wickets.

Firstly, Cameron Liebenguth tried to pull a short ball from Pandher to the clubhouse boundary, only to loft the ball to Shailesh Prabhu at square leg, who took an easy catch.

And two balls later new batsman Damian Bouwer was bowled to leave Irvine in real trouble on 37 for the loss of five wickets.

A partnership of 23 runs for the sixth wicket was built by Aussie amateur Isaac Craddock and new batsman Josh Conway, but was ended when Craddock was trapped lbw by Sehmat Pandher for 43.

Irvine’s batting woes continued when three more wickets fell with the score in the seventies; Chirag Pandher captured the wickets of Mahmood Alam and Mohammad Khan with the score on 75, and Nikhil Kadyan then had Shaheen Pardes trapped lbw with just three more runs added.

Greenock Cricket Club defeated Irvine by six wickets on Saturday. (Image: alex craig) However, the largest partnership of the visitors’ innings was reserved for the last wicket, as Josh Conway with 40 not out and Gabriella Liebenguth (3) put on 37 runs to take Irvine’s total to 115 all out.

Fahimgul Dinarkheil with three wickets for 38 runs and Sehmat Pandher with 3 for 15 were Greenock’s top bowlers.

In reply, Greenock got off to a brisk start, scoring 32 runs from 5.2 overs before Callum Henry nicked a ball from Craddock and was caught by wicket-keeper Conway for 19.

But runs then flowed as Shailesh Prabhu and Calder stroked their way to a 73-run partnership which took Greenock to within ten runs of the visitors’ total.

Craddock’s return to the Irvine bowling attack quickly paid dividends as he picked up the wickets of Calder and Chirag Pandher in consecutive balls at the end of his first over back.

Calder, who had scored three boundaries and one six in his innings, played a loose shot and was caught behind by Conway for 30, and then the same Craddock-Conway combination picked up the wicket of Pandher.

With just six runs needed to win, Shailesh Prabhu was adjudged lbw to Craddock, having top scored with a patient and well-constructed innings of 47, which included eight boundaries.

But the Greenock win was only delayed by one more over as the Glenpark team passed the Irvine total to take the 25 points with 30 overs to spare.

Craddock was Irvine’s outstanding player with four wickets for 40 runs to add to his 43 runs scored.

Meanwhile, the Cricket Scotland Challenge Cup semi-final between Greenock and Strathmore, which was due to have been played at Glenpark on Sunday, will now take place this Sunday, August 3, after wet weather overnight and into the early morning forced the postponement of the tie.

(Image: ALEX CRAIG) Elsewhere at the weekend, Greenock’s second XI, Glenpark, moved to the top of Western Championship 3 with a comfortable win over Mearns Challengers at Bellahouston Park on Sunday.

The Challengers batted first and reached 169 for 9, with Pradipta Mohanta top scoring with 61 runs; Zabi Dilsoz was the star for Glenpark with six wickets for 28 runs from his 10 overs.

In reply, Glenpark lost just four wickets as the team overtook their Glasgow opponents’ score in relatively comfortable fashion.

Greenock Cricket Club is sponsored by Cleaning Supplies 4U.