WITH four sides boasting 100% records something must give when two of them, Prestwick and West of Scotland, clash at Henry Thow Oval this afternoon.
Prestwick, under the new captaincy of Tom Fleet, have already shown glimpses of the form that saw them crowned champions two seasons ago but they will not treat lightly a West team who have ground out three impressive wins of their own and are clearly going to be a force to be reckoned with following the arrival of South African Rory Kleinveldt who made his debut last week.
Fleet and counterpart Ian Young expect a stern examination of their teams’ credentials, the former pointing out: “It’s a great fixture for both clubs to measure where they are at this stage of the season.
“It’s exciting for us to test ourselves against a class player such as Kleinveldt and the boys are looking forward to it. However, we won’t be focusing on just one player because West are a strong team.
“From our point of view we’ll look at ourselves as a group and try to execute our skills and come away with a positive result.”
West skipper Young said: “Prestwick will be a big test for us and it should be a great game with both teams having 100% records.
“We have a bowling attack that could win any game but we need to start doing better with the bat if we are to challenge the top teams and try to stay at the top end of the table.
“I’m looking forward to the team being challenged and I think we can cause an upset.”
Elsewhere fellow high-fliers Uddingston make the short trip to Torrance House to face an East Kilbride team still targeting a first league win following last season’s promotion.
Qasim Sheikh’s men, though, will be in high spirits following a hard-fought McCulloch Cup midweek success against Drumpellier.
The visitors, for whom Ross Lyons and Hari Singh face their old EK team-mates, welcome back Gavin Main to bolster the pace attack.
Clydesdale share top spot with the other three, albeit having completed one game fewer and they start favourites when they head south to face a Greenock side who are anxious to break their duck following a series of batting flops.
Dale, though are without injured Scotland all-rounder Richie Berrington who is denied a return to his former club while the Glenpark side are missing Shailesh Prabhu and have Chris Hempsey facing a late fitness test.
Like Greenock, Poloc are another side aiming to kickstart their season though the unchanged Shawholm team face a tough test when they head to Paisley to face champions Ferguslie.
Similarly, Stirling have the chance to record their first win when they welcome Drumpellier to New Williamfield.
