Cooke Collegians v Larne - Saturday 21st August 2004 |
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On Saturday 21st August, Larne Second XI, sponsored by Rainey and Gregg, Property and Mortgage Centre, Ballymena, lost to Cooke Collegians II by 38 runs in League Division 2 Section 2. Larne won the toss and opted to bowl first on a soft looking wicket. Eddy Hunter and Stephen McDonald opened the bowling, and both bowled well with no success, and it was left to Johnny Baxter to take the first wicket when he clean bowled Boyd with his quicker ball. Baxter’s off-spin again emerged as the best weapon in Larne’s armoury as he went for only 21 runs in an unbroken spell, which deserved more than a single wicket return. Jonathon King supported Baxter with an excellent spell in which he too was unlucky not to make a further breakthrough, and at the drinks break Cooke were well placed on 71 for 1. After the drinks break, King and McKinley bowled in tandem, and although Larne still found it hard to make inroads into the Cooke batting, accurate bowling allied with the slowness of the pitch meant that the scoring was kept in check. Hunter and McDonald then returned to bowl the last 10 overs taking 2 wickets each, as Cooke finished on 186. 186 was a good total given the conditions but the fact that Cooke always had wickets in hand meant that Larne were reasonably happy with the score. At drinks Larne had advanced to 78 for the loss of openers, Anderson for 5 and Spence for 22, with Baxter well set on 29 and Hamill in decent form at the other end. Unfortunately Baxter failed to add to his score after drinks and when McKinley, Moore and King all went quickly Larne were struggling on 100 for 6 with 87 still needed for victory. Stanton looked in good form from the start of his innings and with Hamill going well at the other end Larne still had a chance of victory. Unfortunately Hamill became the third top order batsman to give his wicket away when well set as he was dismissed for 24. Stanton continued to bat well but with only the bowlers for company, it really was a lost cause and when he was the last man out for 26, Larne had come up 39 runs short. Scorecard:- |
