MUCKAMORE CRICKET
Saturday was a closed date for the Premier League teams in the Northern
Cricket Union to allow their players to participate in the Interprovincial series
being held in Dublin over the weekend. With the senior team sidelined the
spotlight was on the Seconds Junior Cup quarter final game at Moylena against
Instonians Seconds on Saturday. Arnold Oduvelil and Francis Collins were the
opening batsmen for Muckamore who faced Instonians pace bowlers J Lambert
and M Peake. Almost instant success for bowler Lambert when from the last
delivery of his first over he caught the ball from Oduvelil’s mistimed shot to
give his team the early breakthrough. Luke Allen joined Collins and they took
the score to 18 runs into the 8 th over before the former was caught by mid on
fielder B Rose off a Peake delivery after scoring just 7 runs. Richard Keates was
the new batsman but not for long when in the very next over he top edged a
Lambert delivery to be caught by gully fielder J Dickson to be out without
scoring. Shane Henderson was Collins next partner and at last the innings
steadied and they quickly took control adding 121 runs in the next 21 overs.
Then with the score on 141 runs Henderson was bowled by the last delivery of
S McClarnon’s over for a vital 61 runs which included 9x4s. Then off the very
first delivery of the next over Collins was caught behind by wicketkeeper J
Metcalfe off a Peake delivery to end his solid 54 run innings. The new batsmen
were Benji Cathcart and Johnny Gordon and they took the score to 161 runs
before the latter was caught by square leg boundary fielder M Peake off a J
Rose delivery in the 38 th over. Leslie Allen came to the wicket and the score
progressed to 194 runs into the 45 th over until Cathcart’s 21 run innings ended
when he was bowled by Lambert. Michael Wilson was Allen’s new partner but
in the next over his mistimed shot was caught by backward square fielder Peake
off a J Rose delivery before he had even scored. Pavan Karthik was the
penultimate batsman and with Allen they took the score to 210 runs into the 49 th
over before he skied the ball and was caught by deep cover fielder J Rose off a
Lambert delivery after scoring 6 runs. David Steen was the last man to the
wicket and with his 3 runs and Allen’s 28 runs they remained unbeaten to finish
the Muckamore innings on 216 runs for 9 wickets. Best of the Instonians
bowlers were J Lambert who took 4 wickets for 37 runs, M Peake who took 2
wickets for 32 runs and J Rose who took 2 wickets for 44 runs. Shane
Henderson and Pavan Karthik opened the Muckamore bowling attack against
the Instonians batsmen A Kernohan and M Warke. And as in the previous
innings the first wicket went down in the very first over when Henderson clean
bowled Kernohan for a duck to give his team the good start they needed. J
Metcalfe joined Warke and they stayed together for 19 overs scoring 68 runs
before the former edged a Karthik delivery into wicketkeeper Collins hands
after scoring 24 runs. B Rose was the new batsman and in two overs the score
progressed to 75 runs before he was bowled by Karthik after scoring 5 runs. M
Humphries was Warke’s new partner and they added 36 runs in the next 8 overs
before new bowler Richard Keates made the much needed breakthrough. Off
the fifth delivery of his first over mid off fielder Arnold Oduvelil dropped a
difficult catch from a Humphries shot only to redeem himself by catching the
very next shot from the same batsman to send him back to the pavilion. Keates
struck again in his next over when Warke edged his delivery into wicketkeeper
Collins hands to end his stubborn 51 run innings which contained 1x6 and 8x4s.
Now with that shock Keates breakthrough Instonians were 5 wickets down for
120 run in the 32 nd over. The advantage was pressed and the visitors batting
attack cracked when new batsman J Dixon was caught by mid on fielder Luke
Allen of a delivery from his dad Leslie. Next to go was J Rose when he was
caught by mid off fielder Benji Cathcart off another Keates delivery to leave
Instonians struggling on 123 runs for 7 wickets in the 35 th over. The batsmen at
the wicket were now R White and J Lambert and they took the score to 138 runs
into the 40 th over until the returning Henderson struck twice in the same over
trapping the former lbw off his first delivery and the latter when he edged the
ball into wicketkeeper Collins gloves of his last delivery. Karthik then clinched
the 71 run victory when he bowled M Peake with the first ball of the 41 st over.
Best of the Muckamore bowlers were Richard Keates who took 3 wickets for 19
runs, Shane Henderson who took 3 wickets for 21 runs and Pavan Karthik who
took 3 wickets for 25 runs. The Seconds will now play CIYMS Seconds in the
semi final at Moylena on Saturday 6 th July.
On Sunday the Seconds had Waringstown Thirds as the visitors to Moylena for
their Junior League 1 match and batting first scored 197 runs in their allocated
40 overs. Their top scorers were Francis Collins who scored 64 runs, Arnold
Oduvelil who scored 32 runs and Shane Henderson who scored 25 runs. Best of
the Waringstown bowlers was M Allen who took 3 wickets for 43 runs.
Waringstown could only reply with 143 runs to give Muckamore the 54 run
victory. Their top scorers were P Allen who scored 39 runs, M Allen who
scored 17 runs and S Burke who scored 16 runs. Best of the Muckamore
bowlers were Arnold Oduvelil who took 4 wickets for 46 runs, Shane
Henderson who took 2 wickets for 13 runs and Chinmey Dakhane who took 2
wickets for 30 runs. This Saturday the Seconds are away to Carrickfergus
Seconds in their next league match.
The Thirds had Cregagh Seconds as their visitors to Moylena on Saturday in a
league match. Cregagh batted first and scored 199 runs in their allocated 30
overs. Their top batsmen were S Smyth with 76 runs, M Shannon with 24 runs
and N Kelly with 20 runs. Best of the Muckamore bowlers was David Irvine
who took 2 wickets for 21 runs. In reply Muckamore could only score 177 runs
for 7 wickets to lose the game by 22 runs. Their top scorers were David Irvine
with 55 runs, Chinmey Dakhane with 23 runs and Philip Skillen who was not
out with 20 runs. Best of the Cregagh bowlers were T Dawson who took 3
wickets for 14 runs, N Holmes who took 2 wickets for 33 runs and A Carey
who took 2 wickets for 34 runs. The Thirds have no listed game this week.
The Fifths travelled to Sandy Bay on Sunday to play Larne Seconds in their
next league game. Larne batted first and scored 142 runs for the loss of only 3
wickets. Their top scorer was E Wilson with 32 runs. Terry McCloskey was
Muckamore’s best bowler who took 2 wickets for 35 runs. In reply Muckamore
were skittled out for only 30 runs to lose the game by 112 runs. Best of the
Larne bowlers were A McKinley who took 4 wickets for 10 runs, P Ramsey
who took 2 wickets for 4 runs and J Ramsey who took 2 wickets for 16 runs.
The Fifths have no game this week.
The Muckamore Bluebelles entertained Waringstown Ladies at Moylena on
Sunday in their next Premier League match and batting first scored 140 runs for
the loss of only 2 wickets in their allocated 20 overs. Their top scorers were
Susie Keates with 50 runs not out and Lynn Lyness with 36 runs. In their
allocated 20 overs Waringstown could only reply with 73 runs for 8 wickets to
give Muckamore the 67 run victory. C Murray top scored for Waringstown with
a 43 run not out innings. Muckamore’s best bowler was Sarah Keates who took
3 wickets for 17 runs. The semi final of the Gallagher Senior Ladies Cup is
scheduled for this Sunday but their opponents and venue are not yet known.
The much heralded Midweek game between the two Muckamore teams turned
out to be a very disappointing damp squib. Heavy rain fell for almost the
complete game and the decision to play through it turned out to be the wrong
one. The A team batted first and scored 94 runs in their allocated 20 overs.
Their top scorers were Ricky Wilson with 21 runs and James Hood with16 runs.
Best of the B team bowlers were T McCloskey who took 3 wickets for 26 runs,
Sanu George who took 2 wickets for 12 runs and Pavan Pawar who took 2
wickets for 30 runs. In pouring rain the B team persevered and passed the A
team’s total to win the game by 7 wickets. Their top scorers were Joby George
with 30 runs and Shakeel with 21 runs not out. Mark McNeill took 1 wicket for
28 runs and Aaron Gill took 1 wicket for 30 runs for the A team. On
Wednesday evening the A team will play the PSNI at Moylena and the B team
are listed to play Botanic at a venue not yet decided.
The Fourths game against Lisburn Thirds on Saturday was postponed following
the tragic death in a road accident of the wife of their player Nelson John. All at
Muckamore extend their deepest sympathy to Nelson and his family circle at
this very sad time.
Great blog post, thanks for sharing.