MUCKAMORE CRICKET
The final weekend of Muckamore’s season ended in a flurry of three rearranged
20/20 matches as they desperately sought to get those extra points to keep their
Premier League status for next year. On Saturday they entertained Waringstown
who batted first taking their score to 62 runs into the 9 th over before A Dennison
was caught by wicketkeeper David Miller off Steve Lazars second delivery.
Shane Henderson then struck in the next over having L Nelson caught behind
by wicketkeeper Miller and M McClean caught by ‘long on’ fielder Neil Gill to
leave Waringstown on 66 runs for 3 wickets in the 10 th over. G Thompson and
H Azam were the new batsmen and in the next 6 overs they added 58 runs
before the latter was caught by ‘point’ fielder Henderson off an Aditya Adey
delivery. The new batsman was K McCallan and the score progressed to 132
runs before his partner Thompson was caught on the boundary by ‘long on
fielder’ Gill in the 18 th over off a Pavan Karthik delivery after scoring 33 runs.
With just 2 overs remaining Gill returned to have McCallan caught by ‘long off’
fielder Lazars and in Karthik’s last over J Mitchell was caught by the busy ‘long
on’ fielder Gill to end the Waringstown innings on 146 runs in their allocated 20
overs. Best of the Muckamore bowlers were Pavan Karthik who took 2 wickets
for 22 runs and Shane Henderson who took 2 wickets for 27 runs. David Miller
and Jamie Rodgers opened the Muckamore innings and they took the score to
20 runs into the 5 th over before the former’s top edged shot was easily caught by
wicketkeeper Mitchell. Sam Gordon followed and he could only watch Rodgers
being given out lbw to McCallan’s very next delivery. Steve Lazars joined
Gordon and the Muckamore revival began for in the next 9 overs 83 runs were
added before the former was bowled by that man McCallan again to end his
entertaining attacking 56 run innings. Neil Gill was the new batsman and the
score advance to 110 runs into the 15 th over until Gordon hesitated going for a
quick single to be run out by an accurate return throw to the wicket to bring his
promising 25 run innings to an end. Aditya Adey was Gill’s new partner but not
for long as the latter was bowled by Nelson in the very same over. Shane
Henderson was next and with Adey they added 22 runs in the next 4 overs
before the latter was bowled by Nelson. Luke Allen came to the wicket and
Henderson scored 12 more runs taking the score to 145 runs just 2 runs short of
victory. Then in the mounting tension Allen ran himself out leaving Francis
Collins to come in to face the last two deliveries. Nothing off the first one
leaving just one run needed earn the tie that would clinch Muckamore’s place in
the Premier League next season. Collins played the ball and ran but bowler J
Mitchell picked it up and broke the stumps leaving Collins inches short of the
crease to deny Muckamore the points they so desperately wanted. Shocked
disappointment and silence from the Muckamore players and supporters as they
realised what had happened as this great chance had slipped out of their hands.
Best of the Waringstown bowlers were K McCallan who took 3 wickets for 22
runs and L Nelson who took 2 wickets for 30 runs.
The Sunday morning game at Moylena was against fellow strugglers Instonians
who batted first and scored 150 runs in their allocated 20 overs. A spurt of runs
from their top class player M Cumming against what was poor Muckamore
bowling allowed him to score 59 runs before he was stumped by wicketkeeper
David Miller after missing a tempting David Steen delivery. Wicketkeeper
David Miller took a brilliant catch, the best of the season, flinging himself high
to his right, to dismiss teenage batsman B Rose off a Gill delivery in the 19 th
over. Best of the Muckamore bowlers were Neil Gill who took 4 wickets for 17
runs and Steve Lazars who took 2 wickets for 26 runs. David Miller and Jamie
Rodgers opened the batting for Muckamore but in the 3 rd over with the score on
12 runs the latter was very unfortunate to slip when going for a quick run and
was easily run out. Sam Gordon joined Miller but in the very next over he was
bowled by J Manley after scoring only 3 runs. Steve Lazars was the new
batsman and with Miller they attacked the Instonians bowling adding 35 runs in
the next 4 overs until the latter’s 16 run innings ended when he top edged an R
McKinley delivery to be caught by ‘third man’ fielder A White. Aditya Adey
was next and he hit a big six before he and his partner were bamboozled by
deliveries from A White to both be stumped by wicketkeeper J Metcalfe in the
9 th over to leave Muckamore struggling on 60 runs for 5 wickets. Luke Allen
and Neil Gill were now at the wicket and the next two over produced 7 runs
before the latter somehow edged the ball off a White delivery high into the air
to be caught by the onrushing ‘third man’ fielder J Magee after scoring only one
run. Shane Henderson was Allen’s new partner but in the next over the latter
was caught by ‘long on’ fielder J Magee to end his 14 run innings. Now on 76
runs for 7 wickets Francis Collins was the new batsman and the score
progressed to 80 runs into the 13 th over before Henderson top edged the ball
high into the air to give wicketkeeper J Metcalfe the easiest of catches. Pavan
Karthik was the penultimate batsman and two more runs were added until
Collins boundary bound shot was caught by the ‘long off’ fielder O Metcalfe to
allow last man in David Steen to join his fellow bowler at the wicket and they
showed their so called better team batsmen how to score some runs as they
remained unbeaten adding 33 more runs, taking the score to a respectable 115
runs at the end of their allocated 20 overs to lose the game by 35 runs. Pavan
and David were unbeaten with 18 runs and 13 runs respectively. Best of
the Instonians bowlers were J Manley who took 3 wickets for 11 runs, A White
who took 3 wickets for 19 runs and R McKinley who took 2 wickets for 17
runs.
On to Carrickfergus for the second game of the day and the team arrived to
frustratingly wait for the allocated start time to arrive. The skies darkened and
with the home team batting first the game got underway in a light drizzle. Seven
runs were score before Aditya Adey bowled the Carrick batsman but as the rain
got heavier the players were forced from the field. Although information was
coming in that outside a half mile radius there was no rain. But it seemed that
the gods were against Muckamore and as the rain continued the clock was
ticking on the inevitable time lost on overs reduction. As everyone anxiously
waited the umpires calculated that the least allowed five over game must start
not later than 19.10 hrs or it would be abandoned. The rain stopped and with
half an hour to the deadline the umpires carried out an inspection of the playing
surface, but the damage was done and they had no alternative but to abandon
the game, leaving the Muckamore team relegated, regretting the very narrow
defeat by Waringstown the day before.
The already promoted Muckamore Fourths had Bangor Thirds as visitors to
Moylena for their last match of the season on Sunday. Bangor batted first and
in their 30 overs scored a massive 246 runs for the loss of 6 wickets. Their top
batsmen were C Houston with 75 runs not out and M Quinn with 71 runs. Best
of the Muckamore bowlers was Shakeel Shaikh who took 4 wickets for 55 runs.
Muckamore replied with a big score also but their 198 runs for 6 wickets wasn’t
enough on the day and they lost by 48 runs. Their top batsmen were Manu
Mohandas who scored 47 runs and Shakeel Shaikh who scored 43 runs. Best of
the Bangor bowlers were C Cox who took 2 wickets for 20 runs and M Pollen
who took 2 wickets for 38 runs.
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