Mcdougall delighted as Greenock hold nerve to break winless run
Greenock held their nerve to secure their first Western Premier victory of the campaign after a hard-fought encounter with West of Scotland at Glenpark.
One of the dominant forces of clubcricketduringthefirstdecade of this century, Greenock won the national premier title twice and the Scottish Cup no fewer than five times.
They have to make do with more modest achievements these days but Saturday’s success was a significant one in what has been a challenging opening month of the season.
In two of their four defeats to date Greenock failed to chase moderate targets so there may have been some trepidation when they restricted West to 186-9, Neil Flack bowling an excellent spell of 1-17.
Flackthenledthewaywiththe bat, scoring a fine half-century as the home side put on 81 for the first wicket.
However,whentheyslumped to 143-6 – still 38 short of their rain-revisedtarget–alarmbells must have been ringing in the home changing room.
Instead, Chris Hempsey hit a breezy 22 to take them to the cusp of victory before Harry Briggs sealed it with a boundaryfromthepenultimatedelivery of the match.
Briggs, batting at No3, made the decisive contribution, facing 75 balls for his 27 and remaining calm in the face of mounting tension.
Greenock skipper Greg Mcdougallsaid:“neilflackbatted really well for his 50 and in
the first half was really impressive with the ball, only conceding 17 runs from 10 overs.
“Harrymadeanexcellentcontribution – his runs came from a lot of overs but that was what we required. It’s great to get the first win.”
Elsewhere, Riyaad Henry (115 not out) and Taimoor Ahmad (105no) combined for an unbroken 230-run third wicket stand that saw Ferguslie successfully chase 250 at Prestwick. An even bigger individualtally,moawais’sremarkable217inuddingston’s273-3at
Poloc,sadlycountedfornothing as the match was abandoned at the halfway stage, while the games between Langside and Clydesdale and Stirling versus Dumfries were also washedout.
Meanwhile, Dylan Budge and Gordon Goudie earned the plaudits of their coach as Grange stepped-up their Eastern Premier title bid with victory at Arbroath.
After Matthew Parker’s century had helped the home side post213,goudieclaimingthree key wickets, Budge scored a composed 69no when the pressure was on to help secure a 41-run win on DLS.
Player-coach John Blain said: “Goudie was brilliant again - he getsbetterwithage–andbudge managedtherun-chasesuperbly in difficult weather conditions.”
Carlton continue to climb the table, the Grange Loan
men sweeping Meigle aside at Victory Park.
Hugo Southwell hit 79 and Umair Mohammed 77no in a total of 282-6 before Omar Ahmad claimed 4-9 to reduce the home team to 81-7 when the finalraininterruptionoftheday saw Carlton declared winners by 146 on DLS.
Stoneywood-dyce were the day’s other winners, leapfrogging visitors Stewart’s Melville after a 32-run success at People’s Park.