Round three of the WDCU First Division saw Glasgow Accies travel to Glenpark hoping to bounce back from a narrow one-run loss to Irvine in round two. Accies were however to leave disappointed after yet another close game.
The match was badly rain affected, beginning at 2pm and reduced to 42-overs per side, with Accies asked to bat first on a slightly damp pitch.
The innings started brightly, with four coming from the first over and Neil Dowers striking two boundaries from McIntosh’s second over. Greenock overseas amateur Blake Taylor then dried up the runs, hitting an excellent length and delivering four consecutive maidens. Boundaries flowed fairly freely at the other end, but Taylor’s tight control kept the score from getting out of hand, and change bowler Walker reaped the rewards for his hard work, Habib Malik mistiming the left-armer’s first delivery and popping a catch to extra cover with the score on 28.
Dowers and Dave Holloway batted with determination to ensure Accies built a platform from which to build a late assault. The pair respected the bowling, but took on anything short to push Accies’ total to 68-1. Dowers in particular was quick to seise on anything that missed a good and dangerous length, and had taken 10 from a Hempsey over before the Greenock seamer brought one back to trap the opener in front for a well-made 41.
A rain delay reduced the innings to 41 overs, and Holloway and Nirvik Ganapthi began to accelerate before Holloway bottom-edged a pull to be caught behind for 21.
Sandeep Dhayade joined Ganapathi at the crease, and the pair made scoring look easy as they amassed 32 at over a run a ball in a fashion that put the top-order’s circumspect approach into sharp relief. Their burgeoning partnership was cut prematurely short when Ganapathi ambled the first run after mishitting the returning Taylor over mid-on; Dhayade called him back for a second, and not even Nirvik’s lightning pace was enough to beat a direct hit at the striker’s end from the energetic Walker.
Dhruv Satpute came to the crease fresh from an excellent innings in vain against Irvine, but did not manage to recover his composure of the previous week, succeeding only in edging a Taylor in-ducker onto his stumps.
Rain intervened to trim three further overs from the innings immediately after the dismissal, and in a tight game, Accies ended up ruing the loss of Duckworth/Lewis runs more than the loss of the wickets themselves.
When the clouds cleared, skipper Richard Andrew joined Dhayade, and the pair began to hit out for the remaining ten overs. Andrew in particular struck some crisp boundaries, though saw Dhayade dismissed LBW and Sheraz Chohan chip a catch at the other end.
John Cherry added some late energy to the innings, thrashing 11 from 7 balls, while Andrew top-edged McIntosh to be dismissed trying to repeat his productive pull shot.
The Accies innings closed on 153-9, and was disappointing for the number of batsmen and partnerships that got started without going on to take the game away from the hosts. That said, the pitch and the rain interruptions may have been partly responsible for the steady fall of wickets, and with further showers forecast for the second innings, Accies would have thought themselves well in contention.
In fact, the rains did intervene before Greenock could start their chase, reducing their innings to 36 overs and adjusting their target to 155.
As so often this season, Accies started slightly loosely with the ball, and Greenock raced to 39 for no loss after eight overs. Satpute began Accies’ fightback with an excellent wicket-maiden in the 9th over, though ironically in a dangerous spell it was a misdirected ball down the leg-side that strangled out Greenock opener Neil Flack caught behind. Malik was introduced and kept it tight for an over at the other end, before Satpute claimed a second victim when Greenock skipper Prabhu cut loosely to Malik at gully.
Gilmore and Hempsey fought back, and the latter trusted his instincts to counter-attack, powerfully hitting boundaries from Malik to ensure that Greenock would be ahead of the Duckworth-Lewis par score when the required 20 overs were completed. He would not see his side to that stage himself, however, as he powerfully struck a Malik full-toss to be sharply caught by Dhayade at extra cover off the final ball of the 20th over. The heavens opened, and the teams left the field with the score at 87-3 and Greenock comfortably in the lead.
Two further overs were lost, and the Glenpark side were set a target of a further 62 to win from 14 overs. With two new batsmen at the crease, and Malik and Chohan bowling economically, the game hung in the balance. It may even have swung to Accies when Andrew dived to stop a thunderous drive from Taylor; Satpute swooped on the ball, unleashed a powerful throw, and Holloway whipped off the bails to leave number three Gilmore well short of his ground. At this point, Greenock were 93-4, still well short of their 149 target.
Chohan exercised control from one end, but Taylor and Mountford batted very sensibly, putting on 53 without major alarm, and savaging one Malik over for 15 runs to come within touching distance of their target.
With four runs required, Accies brought in the field for a Satpute over, and Taylor took the bait, skying a steepling catch into the safe hands of Ganapathi at mid-on. When Mountford edged Satpute behind without adding to the score, Accies’ hopes momentarily raised. Satpute's phenomenal four-for was enough to earn Accies a slim chance at victory.
The economical Chohan bowled the last over, but Forrest and McIntosh calmly met the challenge, scoring the three required runs with three balls to spare.
Accies will reflect on sloppy moments between the wickets and in the field that influenced the outcome of the match. The team will have to work hard to improve and hope that the close games start breaking in their favour sooner rather than later. The club welcomes Stirling County to New Anniesland next Saturday as it attempts to turn its luck around.