A nail biting match at Sandy Bay on Sunday saw Larne record their 2nd win in section 2 of the Ulster Bank league when they squeezed home by 2 wickets against Armagh. Chasing only 81 to win the Curran Court sponsored team slumped to 43 for 7 but managed to limp over the line in a match which had everyone on the edge of their seats.

Armagh called correctly at the toss and elected to bat first after having scored 260 the previous day. The story would be very different today as firstly they were reduced to 28-6 and were finally dismissed for 80. The damage was done by the new ball pairing of Robert McClean and Jonathan Craig. Both bowled with great pace and aggression and the Armagh batsmen had no answer against them. All 3 of Craig’s wickets were bowled and included the opposition professional Ahmed for 1, while McClean claimed 2 victims thanks to catches by Trevor Dempsey and Conrad Du Toit.

Gareth Gaw and Du Toit were then introduced to the attack and Gaw struck immediately with a wicket in his first over. Du Toit bowled his 10 overs and had no luck whatsoever as he finished wicketless but conceded only 18 runs. Dean Hodge replaced Gaw and collected 2 wickets including the important one of Cairns who was caught by Aiston for 35. It was left to McClean to wrap up the tail and finish with figures of 4-16.

With a true pitch and fast outfield Larne were confident of chasing 81 for victory and things looked comfortable as Gareth Alexander and Steven Gorman made a solid start. The score was already over 20 when Gorman was caught behind and shortly after Ahmed was introduced to the attack and confirmed that the rumours about his skills as a spin bowler were fully justified. 5 fielders immediately surrounded the bat and he began to rip through the Larne batting line up.

Alexander and Alan McKee were both bowled, David Tweed was caught at slip and Trevor Dempsey LBW as he had figures of 4-5 off his first 4 overs. When the other bowler removed Craig and Du Toit Larne were 43-7 and seemingly heading to defeat as Ahmed had 6 overs remaining. However, Dean Hodge and Keith Aiston were able to play out his next 5 overs and were able to pick off runs from the other end as the total began to edge its way towards 80.

Hodge was then dismissed for 13 with 18 still required and Ahmed returned for his final over but when McClean played it out with no alarms the match swung back in Larne’s favour. Aiston had showed great discipline and was picking up the occasional run and when McClean got a late cut away for 3 and followed it up with a straight drive for 4 Larne were on the brink of victory. This was achieved when Aiston drove through the covers for 4 and Larne had snatched what had looked like an unlikely victory.

The match ball was sponsored by Owen Donnelly.