On-form Paisley cricketers ensure visitors leave empty handed
League leaders Ferguslie Cricket Club continued their solid start to the season with victory at home to Greenock.
In the league’s highest scoring match of the day, Ferguslie produced another victory, much to the delight of the home support last weekend.
Ferguslie’s win was very much thanks to the batting performances of the impressive Michael English and Riyaad Henry.
English scored an eye-catching 119 runs, ably backed up by Henry on 72.
Ferguslie won the toss and opted to make first use of a good wicket.
And, although Greenock made an early breakthrough, with Julian Hulbert dismissing John Allan for six runs with the score on 11 with the first ball of the match’s fifth over, it only served to bring together the inform English and Henry.
Henry immediately took the game to his opponents, hitting the boundary from his first ball faced. And, over the course of the next 25 overs, the duo would gather 143 runs, averaging around a run a ball.
Henry was the man out when the partnership was eventually broken, with Shailesh Prabhu catching from the bowling of Sam Sanghera.
A total of 58 runs from the next nine overs kept up the momentum in favour of Ferguslie as English and new batsman James Holt continued to score. Holt was eventually run out by Greg McDougall for 19, with the score on 199.
Having brought up his century in the 43rd over, English went for it in the next over. Jonathan Hempsey, who had bowled quite well until that point, was the bowler to suffer as English smashed 18 runs from just four balls, before being caught by Aidan Forrest off the fifth ball of the same over.
Ferguslie’s number five batsman, David Stafford, was bowled by Hulbert, with just one more run added, but the Paisley side continued to score well in the last few remaining overs and took the total to an imposing 275 for the loss of eight wickets at the end of their fifty overs.
Facing a big total, Greenock needed to score at a rate of almost six runs an over as they began their innings after the tea interval. And at 25 for no wicket after the first five overs, the Glenparkers looked to be making a good start to the chase.
But two wickets in quick succession put the visitors on to the back foot as firstly Harry Briggs was caught by Henry off the bowling of Jamey Carruthers for 13 and then in-form batsman Neil Flack was run out, having scored just nine runs.
Greenock could only muster a total of 225 runs, following 50 runs short of their required total despite a solid start.
Carruthers was Ferguslie’s most successful bowler, with two wickets for 50 runs from 9 overs, while no fewer than four runouts contributed to Greenock’s inability to chase down the large home total.