Larne v CIYMS - Saturday 1st May 2004 |
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Larne Cricket Club 1st XI, who are sponsored by the Curran Court, entertained CIYMS in the first round of the Senior Cup on Saturday and it was the home team who progressed to the second round when they won by 29 runs. Larne's skipper, Trevor Dempsey, won the toss and decided to bat first. Openers Aiston and Murad had taken the score to 14 when the first wicket fell, Murad caught by Adams for 2. Graeme Leitch, promoted in the batting order to number 3 joined Aiston and both players looked comfortable at the crease against CI’s opening bowlers. The introduction of Flanagan and Hughes however slowed the scoring rate and at one stage only 15 runs were scored in 11 overs as the tight bowling of the bowlers restricted run scoring opportunities. Leitch finally lost patience and in attempting to up the scoring rate he was caught at long on off the bowling of Hughes. Greg Hill was then caught and bowled by Flanagan and Aiston’s patient innings of 29 was brought to and end when he was caught at mid off. Steven Gorman was then adjudged LBW for 2 and at this stage Larne were struggling on 56 for 5 in the 33 over – a total of 100 seemed a long way off. Enter Jonathan Craig, playing the only way he knows - attacking the bowling from the start. With the field set back he picked up numerous ones and twos and together with skipper Dempsey increased the tempo of the Larne innings. When Dempsey went for 7, Craig decided that he needed to score some boundaries if Larne were to post a defendable total. He smashed Barnes and Heasley to the boundary and then lofted Heasley over the sightscreen for six but his enthusiasm got the better of him as next ball in attempting to repeat the shot he was well caught off a skier at cover for 39. At this stage Larne were 97 for 7 in the 43rd over but intelligent batting from Ian Hill and Gareth Gaw saw Larne over the hundred mark with both players picking up ones and twos. They put together the highest partnership of the innings (25) before, attempting a quick single, Gaw was run out for 14. Robert McClean joined Hill and they took the score along to 131 after 50 overs, Hill finishing 15 not out. Some observers at the ground were sceptical whether this was enough runs to win the match but the pitch was playing low and slow and if Larne could take a few early wickets then Larne were in with a chance. Craig and McClean opened the bowling and in Craig’s first over he bowled McIlwaine for 4, a ball after having a very close LBW decision turned down. McClean then responded in his second over by clean bowling the dangerous Lucas for a duck – CIYMS 7 for 2. Sleith and the new batsman McCullough responded by defending stoutly for a few overs but just as McCullough was getting into his stride Craig ripped out his off stump and in the same over he had Heasley LBW for 0. In his next over he bowled Tate for another duck and in the next over he again clean bowled Barnes for 7. At this stage Craig had the remarkable figures for 5 for 12 and was causing all sorts of problems for the CI batsmen. Paul Ramsay had by this stage replaced McClean and started off with two tidy maiden overs – in fact he would bowl 7 overs and only concede 14 runs. CI had slumped to 35 for 6 in the 12th over and Larne had a real chance of winning the match. Sleith and the new batsman Adams settled in and as the ball got older and softer batting conditions eased a little and both of them played sensible innings. Adams in particular played very well for someone coming in at number 8. After taking his time getting in he then crashed Gaw over the boundary for six runs and hit ten runs, including 2 fours off a returning McClean as Larne searched for a way to break this partnership. As they more than doubled the score there was some unease amongst the Larne spectators. Gaw then picked up the wicket of Sleith caught behind by Dempsey for 19 but Adams and Heasley continued the momentum and took the score to 99 in the 36th over before Ian Hill removed Heasley caught by his brother Greg for 12. Skipper Dempsey recalled Craig to the attack in a final attempt to dismiss Adams. In his last over Craig bowled a beautiful slower ball that Adams didn’t pick up and knocked over his middle stump much to the relief of the watching crowd. Hill then finished the innings off when he bowled number 11 Flanagan and Larne had won by 29 runs. Hill finished with 2 for 23 in 9.2 overs but it was Craig who took the honours finishing with 6 for 18 in 10 overs. Man of the match adjudicator David Steward had an easy task in naming Craig as the man of the match for his 39 runs and 6 wickets. Larne’s reward for winning this game is a second round trip to Shaw’s Bridge to play Section One side Instonians on the 15th May. Match Summary:- |
