Larne v Woodvale - Saturday 31st July 2004 |
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Larne 1st XI, who are sponsored by the Curran Court, entertained Woodvale at a sun kissed Sandy Bay on Saturday but ended up on the losing side as Woodvale won by 5 wickets. Larne’s skipper Trevor Dempsey won the toss and elected to bat first on what looked like a good wicket for batting. In the early overs this seemed like a good decision as openers David Tweed and Gareth Alexander had few alarms putting on 26 together. However the pitch had already started to disintegrate and a few balls were beginning to “pop” on the wicket. McKeown picked up the first two wickets to fall as he had Tweed caught behind and then bowled the consistent Aiston for 0. Nigel Palmer then removed Alexander and Larne were struggling on 28 for 3. Douglas Griebenouw and Jonathan Craig were together now and as usual Griebenouw was taking the attack to the bowlers. Craig had reached 10 when he misjudged an off drive and was well caught by Robinson. The next man in, Ian Hill, didn’t trouble Bobby McFetridge in the scorers hut too long as he recorded his 5 th duck of the season and when Dempsey was caught and bowled by Irons for 3 Larne had slipped to 65 for 5 with 22 overs gone. Graeme Leitch decided to try and stay with Griebenouw, who by now was well into the 20s. Their partnership was the highest of the Larne innings (31) but a lifting delivery down the leg side saw Leitch depart for 6, the score now 96 for 6. Their partnership was the highest of the Larne innings (31). Griebenouw looked set for another fifty when a rush of blood cost him his wicket as he was well stumped by Rutherford, 3 runs short of 50. Larne were now 99 for 8 and in danger of recording their lowest score of the season. Gareth Gaw and Robert McClean batted very responsibly for the 9 th wicket as they stayed together for nearly ten overs and added 20 runs but when Robinson was introduced into the attack he had McClean caught by Rutherford and then clean bowled last man Steven McDonald first ball to wrap up the Larne innings for 119. Larne needed early wickets if they were to pressurize the Woodvale batting line up and with the field set tight and two close catchers on either side of the wicket they hoped the pitch would not improve. Robert McClean and Ian Hill opened the bowling and both bowlers gave nothing away and it was McClean who made the early breakthrough. He had Demptser lbw for 8 and then followed this up in his next over by have Palmer caught behind by Griebenouw for 5 and they had Rutherford caught in close by Alexander for 0. Woodvale were 14 for 3 and Larne had hope. Hill picked up wicket by bowling Johnston for 8, Woodvale 27 for 4. Craig replaced the tiring McClean and he reduced Woodvale to 42 for 5 when he had Kirkpatrick caught by Ian Hill for 7. This was to be the high point of the innings for Larne as sensible batting from Scott and Robinson ensured no more wickets would fall. Dempsey rotated his bowlers searching for the vital 6 th wicket but it was to no avail. A sixth wicket partnership of 78 saw Woodvale home much to the disappointment of the large volume of Larne spectators who were enjoying the warm sunshine. Speaking after the match, skipper Dempsey was in a reflective mood. “I thought we had them when we took their 5 th wicket. The strip didn’t play as well as I thought it would when I won the toss and some of our batting let us down. Fair play to Scott and Robinson, I thought they coped very well with the indifferent bounce and fully deserved the win. Our aim at the start of the season was to pick up five wins and avoid a relegation battle like last season. We have won 7 out of 14 so far and with 3 more home games out of 4 to come I hope we can pick up at least two more wins” This Saturday Ballymena are the visitors to Sandy Bay. Larne had asked Ballymena if they would bring this match forward to the Friday so that the players could go to the Intermediate cup final between Larne 2nds and Laurelvale 2nds but Ballymena were unable to accommodate Larne’s request. Scorecard:- Larne 119 (D Griebenouw 47, M McKenna 3-23, J Irons 3-28) Woodvale won by 5 wickets. |
