Larne Cricket Club

RESOUNDING VICTORY FOR THIRDS

Larne' Third eleven visited Eaton Park and recorded a fine 65-run win over Ballymena. With several senior players supporting the Seconds, Larne were led by Fourths captain Michael Lyle, and he brought many of his succesful side with him as Larne recorded a resounding victory. Larne traveled to the ground having been told for the umpteenth year that they would be playing on the main square, and for the umpteenth year they arrived at the ground to find that they had been shunted onto the reserve square. However, the new pavilion and changing areas at Ballymena are a treat, and the pitch and outfield were in excellent condition. There was a veritable plague of insects at the ground though, with the wasps in particular regularly causing players to convulse and flail at their tiny assailants. Larne won the toss and elected to bat first and although Ballymena grabbed three wickets within the opening ten overs, Larne's openers Lyle and Jonathan King put on 30 quick runs to keep the scoring rate ticking over at a fine rate.

Larne were eventually able to post an excellent score of 192 from their forty overs thanks largely to veteran middle order batsman Esler Burke. He scored 65 runs, beating his age and registering the highest score of the season for the Thirds. He gave one half-chance early in his innings to the wicket-keeper, but after that batted perfectly, hitting fours all around the ground. His bat continues to make a horrendous sound every time it hits the ball, but he still managed to hit nine fours to various parts of the ground. His sweep-shot was particularly effective, and he would surely have added another 15 runs with a truer blade in his hands. However, it is understandable that he wishes to stick with a bat that has now brought him over 400 runs this season. His innings was a boon to his team, but it was poison to the writer trying to write a humorous report as Burke was too tired to engage in the short of antics which have enlivened the Fourths' recent matches. He did manage to injure his toe kicking away a stray cricket-ball on his arrival at the ground, and he also conducted several imaginary interviews with the players on behalf of "Radio Larne", but beyond that he contented himself with playing a match-winning innings.

Burke will line up on Saturday for the Fourths in the Minor Cup Qualifying Cup final, when Larne will take on Bangor 4ths at Lurgan. His innings was played in intense heat and oppressive humidity, and was a superb effort against a good attack. Other players who registered good scores ahead of the Final were Andrew King, Simon King and Yorkshire-born wicket-keeper batsman Craig Smith, whose left-handed batting is proving increasingly uselful in the middle-order. Simon King hit one great shot high over mid-wicket, belying his small-stature with a massive pull-shot for six. John Haveron continued his recent good-form with a quick-fire 26 in the last few overs, with his trademark pull-shot causing problems for Ballymena, and although Larne were dismissed in the last over their score of 192 was the highest score they had made this season. William Graham also launched a huge-six in the last over as Larne accelerated perfectly toward the end of their innings, whilst his brother Jonathan amused the crowd by raising his bat repeatedly as he made his way back to the pavilion after registering a duck. It was always going to be difficult for Ballymena to reach such a high total, particularly since they were missing their captain Andrew Lyttle, the ex-Larne left-hander. Accurate and aggressive fast bowling form Jonathon King and William Graham made scoring very difficult as they began batting. King bowled a testing line at a good pace, whilst Graham is another player who turned in a good performance ahead of the impending final, bowling an extremely fast spell and then taking a marvellous diving catch at slip to help McIlhinney dismiss another batsman, as Ballymena slumped to 58-5. Graham took two catches whilst McIlhinney also grabbed a catch in the slips as Larne's attacking policy paid off. Ballymena were simply unable to score quickly enough against the accurate bowling of Larne, and every time they attempted to boost the scoring rate they lost another wicket.

Andrew King now showed what a useful all-rounder he is by dismissing two batsmen in his first over. Larne's catching was superb throughout the match, and Simon King took two exceptional efforts at cover-point to further illustrate his value to the team. Firstly he dived forward to take a mis-timed cut shot, and then he produced a fine over-head effort a few overs later. The star bowler though for Larne was young Darren King, who repeated his semi-final winning performance at this same ground by grabbing three wickects, this time for just 22 runs. Ballymena though rallied from the precarious position of 70 for 7 in the 23rd over, and an eight-wicket parnership of 52 allowed them to reach 127 all-out in the 35th over, leaving Larne victorius by 66 runs. The match was kindly sponsored by the Curran Court.

FOURTHS READY FOR FINAL

Although many of the players in the squad for next weeks final were playing the Thirds, there will be several additions to the squad for the cup final. Most important of these wityh Ryan Hamill, the talented all-rounder who just missed on selection for the Seconds cup final side and who provide a welcome addition to the team's options. Veteran master-batsman Wylie McKinty also seems likely to play and strengthen the middle-order, whilst regular captain Michael Lyle will also return from the team that defeated Ballymena in the semi-final. The junior members of the team will be the prodigiously talented King brothers Simon amd Andrew King, as well as their namesake Darren King, who all star for the under-15' side.

Esler Burke, the club stalwart and President, will be looking forward to winning his first-ever Cup competition after many years of palying for Larne. The Fourths are reigning league champions, but have themselves never won the cup-competiton. They had lost in the final then the semi-final within the last three years, and will be hoping they can go one better this time around. There will still be some difficult decisions for the selection committee on Tuesday night, but anyone who misses out on selection can console themselves that the club is now making the finals of major competitons on a regular basi., and that further opportunites will surely arise in the near-future. The opposition on Saturday will come from Bangor Fourths, with the match being a Fifty-over encounter starting at one o'clock.