Premier Division Cricket: Willie Gavara arrival soothes Chris West blow

INTERNATIONALISTS from Papua New Guinea and Hong Kong will debut for their respective clubs this afternoon as Aberdeenshire and Greenock both go looking for their first win of the season at Mannofield.During Sunday's home reverse to the young Academy players, vice-captain Chris West broke his ankle trying to stop the ball off his own bowling. He is likely to be out for up to three months and given that he took 21 league wickets last season he will be hard to replace in the bowling attack

The SNCL Premier Division season did not get off to a good start for the reigning champions Aberdeenshire last weekend, losing to Dunfermline Knights and then the National Academy.

The consolation for Aberdeenshire is that overseas amateur Willie Gavera, a 21-year-old international from PNG, arrived earlier this week as the club's overseas amateur. He will take West's place in the starting line-up and open the bowling.

Aberdeenshire captain Neil Macrae said: "It is a massive loss for us to be without Chris, but we are pleased that Willie has arrived safely and we look forward to welcoming him into our team.

"We're not panicking after losing two matches last weekend. It's early season and we were a bit rusty, but we are just looking forward to getting out and playing another home match."

Iain Brand returns to the Aberdeenshire line-up after hockey commitments.

Greenock lost last week's opener to Clydesdale, giving away 41 wides in the process, and captain Kevin McLaren knows the bowling will need to be tightened up on today. Batsman Courtney Kruger, who has played for Hong Kong against Pakistan and India, arrived on Thursday and comes into the team along with Shailesh Prabhu and second XI skipper Mark Robertson.

Elsewhere today, early season leaders Forfarshire will be without Matthew Parker, who was this week named in the Saltires squad for the opening CB40 matches, when they take on West of Scotland at Forthill. He is unavailable along with Robert Cannon, Tony Weed and Sam Tilston come in.

McCrea FS West defeated Uddingston last week and head on the road with just one change to the line-up. Jatinder Singh is unavailable and Duncan Williams, who joined over the winter from Helensburgh, comes in.

Dunfermline Knights also got off to a great start last weekend and perhaps unsurprisingly they are unchanged for the trip to the Capital to face Grange. Wayne Sullivan retired hurt while batting last Saturday, but will be fit to play.

For the hosts Cammy Coles misses out through injury with former Warwickshire skipper Mike Powell replacing him. Powell missed last week's win at Carlton and will add further strength to the Grange batting line-up.

Clydesdale's pro Kamran Sajid arrived in Glasgow this week despite the volcanic ash problems and he will be in side to face Carlton at Titwood.

He is joined in the XI by wicketkeeper Craig Smith who returns after illness, and last year's skipper Kasim Farid. Club spokesman Colin Mitchell said: "It is great to have these guys available for what we expect will be a tough test against Carlton."

Carlton will have overseas amateur Blake Dean in their side after the Australian arrived in Edinburgh on Wednesday. He is a top order batsman and medium pacer who plays for the University of New South Wales.

David Bill returns to the Uddingston line-up for the clash with Watsonians with skipper Ricky Bawa hoping home advantage can see them get their first win of the summer.

Watsonians were disappointed with the way that they performed in the loss at Forfarshire last week and they have Euan Stubbs back from injury to keep wicket in place of George Cairns.