Larne Cricket Club

Larne Cricket Club 1st XI, who are sponsored by the Curran Court , travelled to Osborne Park in Belfast on Saturday to play Instonians in the second round of the Senior Cup. It was always going to be a difficult encounter taking on a team that contains current Irish international (and man of the match in Ireland's recent C & G win over Surrey) Andrew White as well as one or two NCU Interpro players. And so it was to turn out as Instonians won by 90 runs.

Larne's skipper Trevor Dempsey called incorrectly at the toss and was forced to take the field with a team that had several key players missing due to injury and non-availability. Veteran all-rounder, Tony Anderson, and under 15 captain Eddie Hunter were drafted in from the unbeaten Second XI whilst Robert McClean was recalled to the Firsts to play as a batsman. White and Stevenson opened the batting and displayed fine technique against Larne's opening bowlers Craig and Hunter. Unusually Craig was having problems with his direction and conceded 8 wides in his first 3 overs, whilst a nervous Hunter took a while to settle in. It didn't take long though and the first two maidens of the match were bowled in consecutive overs by Hunter and in his first spell he only conceded 25 runs in 6 overs.

To the surprise of the watching spectators Craig was removed from the attack to be replaced by McClean, who had been brought into the team primarily as a batsmen due to a recurring back injury. McClean bowled well, despite being hampered by a toe injury caused by wearing new boots and would finish with one for 28 from 8 overs. The introduction of Gaw and Ian Hill proved expensive as both bowlers failed to contain the opening batsmen and the hundred partnership for the first wicket was brought up in the 20 th over. The opening partnership was finally broken in the 25 th over when Craig returned to the attack and had Stevenson brilliantly caught at point one handed by Greg Hill. He then followed that up in the next over when he deceived White with a slower ball and had him caught at mid off by McClean.

Carson and Wells played themselves in and the scoring rate slowed and Hunter picked up his first wicket for the firsts when he took a caught and bowled chance to dismiss NCU squad member Wells for 11. Dean Hodge was brought on in the 40 th over and in an excellent spell of 5 overs he dismissed four batsmen and conceded only 21 runs – one of them a catch one handed by Anderson that nearly knocked him out. At the end of the 50 th over Instonians had scored 235 for 8.

After tea Larne's openers Alexander and Leitch strode to the wicket but against the tight bowling of Carson and veteran seamer Billy Dale they found scoring opportunities were at a premium and in the 8 th over Leitch was lbw to Dale. Alexander followed shortly after for 11 when he was bowled by Dale and Greg Hill was caught trying to hit White over the infield for 3. Ian Hill, who after his excellent knock last week against Muckamore, was promoted to number 3 in the batting line up and showed great technique in seeing off the opening bowlers and scored freely all round the wicket. Robert McClean had joined him and although he too showed a sound defensive technique he found scoring runs a difficult task. McClean lasted 40 balls but could only manage to score 2 runs and it was a bit of a relief for the watching crowd when he was run out. Hill looked to be heading for his first 50 for the club but when he had reached 49 he was well stumped down the leg side by Stevenson off the bowling of Dale (who would finish with figures of
6-19)

Craig looked in good form once again with the bat and it took a tremendous caught and bowled from Haggarty to dismiss him. Hodge and Gaw did not trouble the scorers as both were dismissed for ducks and when Tony Anderson was bowled by Dale for 2 Larne were 115 for 9. However, sensible batting from skipper Dempsey (20 no) and Eddie Hunter (15) saw Larne's total reach a respectable 145 with Dempsey giving some cheer to the Larne supporters when he slogged swept Wells over mid wicket for the only six of the match.

So in the end Larne lost by 90 runs but considering the standard of the opposition they were playing against they didn't disgrace themselves and can now look forward to league action for the rest of the season.

This Saturday the Firsts travel to Ballygomartin Road to take on last seasons relegated team Woodvale and this will be the first time a Larne First XI will have played Woodvale Firsts.

Match Summary:-
Instonians 235-8 (A White 61, J Stevenson 54, J Craig 2-37, E Hunter 1-38, D Hodge 4-21)
Larne 145 all out (I Hill 49, T Dempsey 20no, W Dale 6-19)
Instonians won by 90 runs