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MUCKAMORE 1st XI v ARMAGH 1st XI
Following protracted work on ground improvements Muckamore got the green light to return home to Moylena to play their remaining six League matches. On Saturday they entertained bottom of the table Armagh who were asked to bat first by the toss winning Muckamore Captain, Andy McCulloch.
P Doyle and Boyd were their opening batsmen and they comfortably saw off the erratic ten over spell of pace bowlers Neil Gill and Gary Nicholl. Indrajeet Kamtekar replaced Gill and with his very first delivery Doyle drove the ball straight back into his hands and Armagh were 33 runs for 1 wicket.
Bratten was the new batsman and when McCulloch replaced Nicholl the scoring rate dramatically fell, with only 8 runs being added in the next 4 overs. The score had reached 41 runs before the impatient Bratten got a top edge to a Kamtekar delivery and was well caught by cover fielder Nicholl. Three more overs and only three more runs before McCulloch bowled Boyd who had batted 20 overs to score only 10 runs.
Then disaster struck the Armagh batting in the next over as the almost unplayable Kamtekar had Russell caught behind by wicketkeeper Jordan Mairs off his first delivery and with his third and fourth delivery he bowled H Doyle and trapped Whitcroft lbw and they were left reeling at 45 runs for 7 wickets when McCulloch followed up by bowling Steenson in the next over. Armagh were very unhappy when they lost their next two wickets to lbw decisions, one to Kamtekar and one to McCulloch to leave them on 65 runs for 9 wickets in the 26th over.
Stinson and McCarter were the last two batsmen at the wicket and as hard as Muckamore tried the determination of the last pair ensured they batted right into the penultimate over, taking the score to 105 runs before the returning Gill finally bowled the former for a very valuable 26 runs. Stinson had survived one chance when Jason Van Der Merwe just failed to hold on to a running catch off a Ralph Coetzee delivery when the score stood at 78 runs in the 41st over.
Kamy marked another brilliant bowling performance taking 6 wickets for 9 runs off 10 overs. Andy McCulloch finished with 3 wickets for 26 runs with Coetzee finishing with only 8 runs off his 8 over spell.
Wayne Horwood and Kamtekar opened the batting for Muckamore and in 3 overs the score had reached 20 runs before the latter was stumped by McCarter off a Whitcroft delivery. Van Der Merwe was next but he only lasted 6 deliveries before he was brilliantly caught by the wide mid off fielder Stinson off a Hoey delivery. Coetzee joined Horwood but lady luck deserted him when a delivery from Whitcroft in the next over deflected off his bat just hard enough to hit the stumps and dislodge a bail.
Just 28 runs for 3 wickets in the 5th over Craig Drummond was the new batsman and with Horwood they took the score to 53 runs before a flashing drive saw the latter well caught in the covers by a jubilant Stinson. Trevor Neill came to the wicket and with Drummond they nervously added 8 run in 7 overs before the former was trapped lbw by a Hoey delivery. Neil Gill joined Neill and they took the score to 84 runs until the latter’s big hit was confidently caught on the deep mid off boundary by Whitcroft.
Sensing a chance to turn the tables, Armagh’s confidence soared and they put the squeeze on the deflated Muckamore team taking three more wickets in consecutive overs; Nicholl played a Stinson delivery straight into mid on fielder Russell’s hands; Mairs was bowled by Doyle and David Cardwell was bowled by Stinson. With the score now on 95 runs for 9 wickets McCulloch and Gill was now the last pair at the wicket still needing 11 runs to win.
With tension rising all around the ground the batsmen patiently batted for another 36 minutes slowly edging the score forward to 104 runs before McCulloch clinched this hard won 1 wicket victory with a boundary hit through mid off in the 44th over.
MUCKAMORE 1st XI v SAINTFIELD 1st XI
On Sunday Muckamore entertained Saintfield in a League match and as the game had been postponed because of bad weather earlier in the season, the second attempt had to be played as a 20 over match.
Muckamore batted first and their opening batsmen Wayne Horwood and Jason Van Der Merwe quickly took the score to 62 runs into the 10th over before the latter was caught by mid off fielder Owens off a Graham delivery. Indrajeet Kamtekar joined Horwood and in 8 overs they added 57 runs before Horwood, forcing the pace, was caught by Harrison in the covers off a Yeates delivery. Wayne had faced 61 deliveries; hit 5x4s, 2x6s in his 57 run innings.
Ralph Coetzee was the next batsman and they took the score to 127 runs before Kamtekar was bowled by Murray off the last ball of the 19th over. Neill Gill and Coetzee added another 5 runs to set Saintfield a target of 133 runs to win the game.
Gary Nicholl opened the bowling for Muckamore and despite bowling three ‘no balls’ in his first over he bowled opening batsman McGowan for a duck with his third legitimate delivery. The new batsman was McCavery but he was bowled by Kamtekar for a duck off his third delivery of the match to leave Saintfield on 11 runs for 2 wickets in the 2nd over.
Harrison joined opening batsman Ellison at the wicket and in 14 overs they took the score to 88 runs before he was stumped by Jordan Mairs off a Coetzee delivery. Another 8 runs were added before the dangerous Ellison was bowled, after scoring 52 runs, by Gill in the next over. Owens and Boltwood were the batsmen now at the wicket and needing 32 runs off 3 overs, with wickets in hand, chances had to be taken to try and increase the run rate. Boltwood was just run out going for second run and Owens, going for a big hit, was well caught by long on fielder Drummond to leave Saintfield on 107 runs for 6 wickets still needing 26 runs to win off 2 overs.
C Boltwood and Graham were now together and they advanced the score to 121 runs before the former was caught at mid on by Kamtekar off Neill’s bowling, leaving the remaining batsmen to get 12 runs off the last 4 deliveries. The experienced Neill confidently bowled those final deliveries tight enough to allow only four runs to be added to give his team the 8 run victory. This leaves Muckamore tied with Bangor on 52 points from 14 games. Woodvale, who are the only other team with an outside chance of promotion play Bangor on Saturday. If they lose to Bangor and Muckamore beat Dundrum at home then Muckamore and Bangor will both be promoted to the Premier League next year. On Sunday Muckamore travel to the North West to play Bond’s Glen in the Final of the Ulster Shield on the Fox Lodge ground outside Londonderry.
MUCKAMORE 3rd XI v CSNI 4th XI
Muckamore 3rds met CSNI 4ths in a League match at Parkhall College on Saturday. CSNI won the toss and decided to bat first in damp conditions and with a long outfield. CSNI struggled from the outset with some good bowling from the Muckamore bowlers. CSNI ended their innings scoring 110 runs all out, with S.Smyth their top scorer with 43 runs. Muckamore’s best bowlers were, M Kennedy 3 wickets for 11 runs, M Stephenson 2 wickets for 19 runs and J Gordon 2 wickets for 22 runs.
With conditions improving, Muckamore knew that the long outfield would restrict the flow of boundaries, but knew that the total was reachable.
Opening pair P.Clement and J.Gordon settled very quickly and looked comfortable against the CSNI opening bowlers with Gordon in particular looking in good form with Clement giving him as much strike as possible. Clement was the first to fall in the 9th over, bringing Muckamore skipper McCombe to the middle. Skipper McCombe had missed the previous two games and was determined to put some runs on the board. However, after having just faced a handful of deliveries, McCombe nudged one to the on side and inexplicably took off for a single, to the surprise of everyone, despite the call of wait from Gordon at the other end. The ball simply rolled to the short mid wicket fielder who picked and threw under arm at the stumps, hitting and running the skipper out by about 10 yards.
The run out brought M.Kennedy to the middle, however he was only to last a handful of overs. After surviving an appeal for lbw he was then amazingly given out lbw the very next delivery despite clearly edging the ball onto his pads. The loss of these wickets rocked Muckamore slightly, but with Richard van der Merwe joining Gordon, the pair settled the innings and pushed the score past the 70 mark in the 23rd over. Gordon looked in good touch and after hitting a huge six through midwicket, and on 49 runs, the next delivery saw him attempt the same shot, only to be well caught on the boundary.
The new batsmen was D.Irvine and needing 30 runs to win, both he and van der Merwe were happy to see off the final overs of the returning opening bowlers before chasing down the rest of the total. With the change of bowling, Irvine saw an opportunity to end this quickly and in three overs the pair had managed to knock off the remaining runs to give Muckamore a deserved 6 wicket victory. Muckamore’s top scorers were J Gordon with 49 runs and D Irvine with 26 runs not out.
This victory moved Muckamore to 2nd in the league table, but with teams around them having games in hand, they will be required to win their remaining 5 games to stand a chance of being promoted.
DOWNPATRICK 3rd XI v MUCKAMORE 4th XI
Muckamore 4th XI travelled to Strangford Road on Sunday to play Downpatrick 3rd XI in what could turn out to be a potential promotion winning match. Muckamore batted first and struggled against the excellent Downpatrick bowling attack, only managing to score 129 runs all out. J Gordon top scored with 47 runs.
Downpatrick never looked too troubled by the Muckamore bowling attack and managed to score 130 runs for 5 wickets in reply to give them a 5 wicket victory and an even more important 4 points. C Mullan (23 runs), P Bell (25 runs) and R Gill (33 runs) were the home team’s best batsmen.
MIDWEEK TEAM RESULTS
Bangor v Muckamore 28/7/10
Muckamore 66 runs all out 14.1 overs - Campbell Weir rtd 30 runs - Michael Kennedy 15 runs D Kennedy with 3 wickets for 22 runs was Bangor’s best bowler. Bangor replied with 67 for 4 off 13 overs to win by 6 wickets D. Kennedy 20 runs was Bangor’s top scorer and Muckamore’s best bowler was P.Heyburn with 2 wickets for 23 runs
PSNI v Muckamore 2/8/10
Muckamore 178 runs for 3 wickets in 20 overs – Top scorers were :- J Gordon rtd 32 runs – P Bates rtd 32 runs – M Kennedy rtd 31 runs and S McBurney rtd 30 runs. PSNI replied with116 runs for 5 wickets in 20 overs. Top scorers were:- I Smith rtd 31 runs, J Adams 20 runs and U Price 19 runs G Jenkins took 2 wkts for 4 runs off 2 overs to be Muckamore’s best bowler. Muckamore won by 62 runs.
This final game is at home to 120th Old Boys on Wed 11th August at Parkhall College where the League title will almost certainly go to the winner of this game.
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