Larne Cricket Club

On Saturday 29 th May, Larne Second XI, sponsored by Larne Harbour Co, lost their first game of the season, when Ballymena II defeated them by 33 runs in League Division 2 Section 2.

After having a scare the previous week, when defending a large total, Larne's skipper decided to give Ballymena the opportunity to bat first, confident that his side could chase a reasonably large total. Unfortunately the Ballymena opening batsmen got their side off to a flying start and although this was the strongest bowling attack Larne had assembled all season it was never able to wrestle the initiative back.

Stephen McDonald was easily the pick of the bowlers used in the early part of the innings, bowling with good pace and accuracy and only conceding 34 runs in an unbroken spell of 10 overs. However, neither batsmen looked in any real trouble as they raced to 121 for no wicket at the drinks break. Fortunately the break worked its usual magic and Hegarty had Murray caught by McKinley at long off for an excellent 74.

Although Heggarty continued to probe on a decent length and Tony Anderson bowled his off spinners with good control, Ballymena were able to compile another 50 run partnership before the next wicket fell. McKinley and King had been introduced to bowl the last 18 overs of the innings and both bowlers took wickets steadily as Ballymena looked to bat Larne out of the game. McKinley finished with 4 wickets with King unlucky to not to claim more than 3 in his 8 over spell. Ballymena were satisfied with a total of 257 while Larne had just about stayed in the game given the situation at the drinks break.

Larne felt that with a decent start they could at least get themselves into a position where they could challenge the Ballymena total. Unfortunately the early wickets of Anderson and McKee made life difficult and when the skipper went to a good catch at point, Larne were 61 for 3 with 20 overs gone. However, opening batsman Murad Shah was well set and the Ballymena change bowlers were to prove a lot less effective than the opening attack as Larne launched their counter attack. With Shah starting to open his shoulders and McKinley proving an excellent foil Larne started to take the game back to Ballymena.

An 80 run partnership was just starting to give Larne the edge when Shah was stumped for a superb 68. As Higginson entered the game Larne needed 116 with over 17 overs left and 6 wickets in hand. McKinley now stepped up his attack and with good support from Higginson Larne quickly reduced the total to less than a 100 with 14 overs left, and at this point should really have been favorites to win the game. Ballymena fought back with the successive wickets of Higginson, McDonald and King to leave Larne in real trouble, but the score was still moving freely as Stanton and McKinley took Larne over the 200 mark. One big over or another wicket was likely to determine the result and it was the wicket of McKinley for an excellent 66 that really sealed the game for Ballymena. Larne continued to chase the runs but they finished 33 runs short with 20 balls still remaining.

Next week Larne host CIYMS in the Second Round of the Intermediate Cup and will be keen to get back to winning ways.