Aussie pair on fire at Glenpark
GREENOCK are back on the road once again this weekend.
Having travelled to Aberdeen for a first round Scottish cup tie last Sunday, the team will make a trip to the opposite end of the country tomorrow to meet Dumfries at their Nunholm ground.
On the opening day of the Western Premiership Two, both Greenock and Dumfries had comfortable wins against Hillhead and Glasgow Accies respectively.
In the two pre-season friendlies against Kelburne and Renfrew, Greenock scored 200-plus runs in each game, and last weekend in the opening competitive matches, 226 runs were scored against Hillhead and 197 against Aberdeenshire.
Much of the credit for these innings’ totals must be given to the club’s two young Australian amateurs, Connor Nowlan and Angus Tolhurst.
If the season is to be a success, then other players in the Greenock side must also work to stay at the crease and develop good run-scoring innings which will make the team dicult to beat.
Last season in the matches between Greenock and Dumfries were honours even, with one win each.
Dumfries will be a dicult side to beat at Nunholm as the team has a good balance of younger and more experienced players.
Greenock have shown that they have a group of bowlers who will present problems for the Dumfries batsmen.
Usman Mansoor is developing into a very useful opening bowler and, along with Cammy Calder, Greenock have a good pace attack to trouble the Nunholm team’s top order.
Connor Nowlan and Angus Tolhurst may be the key to breaking through any resistance from the home team’s batters. Both have shown a real quality since their arrival at the start of the season and picked up a number of wickets.
The match at Nunholm has the makings of being a very interesting encounter and if Greenock can emerge with a win it will be a huge confidence booster at this early stage of the season.