Armagh v Larne - Saturday 15th May 2004 |
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On Saturday 15 th May, Larne Second XI, sponsored by Alan Dorman & Son, beat Armagh II by 39 runs in League Division 2 Section 2. On winning the toss Armagh's skipper asked Larne to bat first on a slow looking wicket. Veteran Esler Burke and young Wullie Graham were asked to open the batting for Larne, however Graham went early on when he played round a fullish delivery from Armagh's best bowler. Burke was looking solid but was struggling to find any fluency against some accurate bowling and new batsman Hamill played a couple of delightful drives before he mis-timed a pull, to leave Larne on 35 for 2 after 17 overs. At this stage Larne's skipper came to the crease with the intention of pushing the scoring rate as he knew Armagh's batting line-up would have no problems chasing a small target. Fortunately Moore was quickly into his stride as he rattled boundaries all round the wicket. This onslaught seemed to relax Burke at the other end and he started to play more much aggressively as Larne wrestled the early initiative back from Armagh. Moore was out for 33 when he was ‘suckered' into losing his patience against the ‘very' slow bowling of Williamson. Burke went on to 43 before he too befell the same fate. With McKinley being adjudged LBW for 8, Vice Captain Stanton and Higginson were brought together with 120 on the board and 13 overs still remaining. Both players quickly found their rhythm with superb running being combined with excellent hitting. The pair put on 57 runs for the 6th wicket before being out for 33 and 36 respectively. Jonathon King joined in at the end to allow Larne to post a more than respectable 212. Although a decent total Larne were fully aware that they would still need to bowl well to win the match. Johnny McIlhenny and Jonathon King shared the new ball and it was the pacy McIlhenny who made the first breakthrough bowling Auld in his fourth over. Although King had been struggling with his line and length against Armagh's left hander he managed to have the final say when he clean bowled him for 21. Paddy Heggarty and Kenny McKinley were then introduced in consecutive overs and it was McKinley who provided an immediate dividend with the first of two superb catchs by Stanton on the mid-wicket boundary. Both bowlers bowled an excellent line and length but this week it was McKinley who grabbed the honours with 4 for 29. Armagh, however, were still very much in the game and it was Stanton who was suffering as they looked to exploit the short boundaries against anything that was short or overpitched. A couple of big overs had Larne just starting to get nervous, however, Stanton had the pleasure of removing the dangerman and McIlhenny and King followed up with a further wicket a piece to leave Armagh short by 39 runs with 5 overs remaining. Scorecard |
