MUCKAMORE CRICKET
With four games still to play the bad weather again intervened forcing the
postponement of Muckamore’s away game against Carrickfergus on Saturday.
A cancellation of Sunday’s vital, must win, game against Lisburn would have
meant that the fixture would have been declared void, seriously damaging
Muckamore’s chance of survival in the Premier League. Fortunately the
weather improved enough to allow the ground to be made ready for this
rearranged 20/20 game to proceed. With the never ending threat of rain
Muckamore Captain won the toss and asking Lisburn to bat first they sent in R
Strydom and J Waite to open their batting against Muckamore pace bowlers
Neil Gill and Aditya Adey. With the Muckamore fielders dropping at least three
catches the batsmen quickly took their score to 27 runs into the 5 th over before
new bowler Pavin Karthik bowled R Strydom with his fifth delivery after he
had scored 22 runs. After a 20 minute stoppage for rain G Strydom joined Waite
but off the first delivery of his next over Karthik had the latter caught by long
off fielder Steve Lazars to dismiss him for 10 runs. Lazars replaced Gill to bowl
from the River End and off his very first delivery he bowled new batsman D
Stevens for a duck. What a vital wicket to take for Stephens is a veteran
campaigner with over 300 first class matches and 15000 runs under his belt,
brought in from an English County team to bolster Lisburn’s effort to stay in the
Premier League. Now on 41 runs for 3 wickets in the 8 th over the next batsman
was A Berry and with G Strydom they added 14 runs in the next 2 overs before
the former was bowled by Lazars after scoring just 6 runs. N Kilpatrick was G
Strydom’s new partner and when Fahad Iqbal replaced Karthik to bowl from the
Nursery End the run rate dramatically slowed and only 7 runs were added in the
next 3 overs. Then trying to force the pace Kilpatrick was bowled by Iqbal for a
single run and he was quickly followed in the next over by R Simpson who was
bowled by Lazars for a duck to leave Lisburn struggling on 63 runs for 6
wickets with just 6 overs remaining. The batsmen at the wicket were now G
Strydom and G Browne and in the next 3 overs they took the score to 76 runs
before the latter, going for a big hit, was magnificently caught on the long on
boundary by Luke Allen to end his 9 run innings. G Strydom’s next partner was
M Berry and they took the score to 84 runs into the 19 th over before the latter
was caught by wicketkeeper David Miller off a delivery from the returning
bowler Karthik, after he had scored 9 runs. G Halliday joined G Strydom and
they added 8 more runs before Gill returned to deliver the last over and he had
the satisfaction of bowling the latter who had topped the Lisburn batting scoring
32 runs. M Glass was the last man in and with Halliday they took the score to
95 runs at the end of their allocated 20 overs. Best of the Muckamore bowlers
were Pavan Karthik who took 3 wickets for 15 runs, Steve Lazars who took 3
wickets for 17 runs and Fahad Iqbal who took 2 wickets for 6 runs. David
Miller and Jamie Rodgers opened the Muckamore batting innings and they
aggressively set about the Lisburn bowlers taking the score to 67 runs into the
10 th over. Miller in particular chased the Lisburn bowlers, scoring runs to all
parts of the ground. Then Rodgers top edged a delivery from R Strydom and
was caught by wicketkeeper Kilpatrick to bring his 13 run innings to an end.
Fahad Iqbal joined Miller and the score progressed to 76 runs into the next over
before the former gave bowler M Berry a simple return catch after scoring only
one run. Aditya Adey was the new batsman but in the next over Miller who had
scored 52 runs, hitting 5x4s and 3x6s off just 38 deliveries missed a delivery
from R Strydom and was easily stumped by wicketkeeper Kilpatrick to bring his
match winning innings to an end. With the score now on 78 runs for 3 wickets
Neil Gill was Adey’s new partner but in the very next over the latter edged a D
Stevens delivery into slip fielder R Strydom’s hands to be dismissed for just
four runs. Now on 80 runs for 4 wickets in the 13 th over Sam Gordon was next
in and with 7 overs remaining they steadied the ship with both scoring seven
runs to pass the 95 run total to win this vital league match with 6 wickets to
spare. Best of the Lisburn bowlers was R Strydom who took 2 wickets for 18
runs. All at Muckamore say goodbye with their best wishes to their professional
Fahad Iqbal who is returning home this week. This Saturday Muckamore is
listed to play Waringstown at Moylena in their next league 20/20 game.
Muckamore Seconds home game against Carrickfergus Seconds on Saturday
was washed out and has now been declared void. This leaves them one more
game to play away to Waringstown Thirds, the date and start time yet to be
finalised. Muckamore Fourths and Sixths games were also washed out on
Saturday.
Muckamore Thirds travelled to Belmont on Saturday to play CIYMS Thirds in
their final game of the season and batting first scored 117 runs for 8 wickets in
their allocated overs. Their top batsmen were Trevor Barnett who scored 24
runs not out, Peter Heyburn who scored 16 not out, Chaitanya Rane who scored
23 runs and Steve Wilson who scored 16 runs. Best of the CSNI bowlers were E
Biggerstaff who took 2 wickets for 15 runs and S Wadden who took 2 wickets
for 17 runs. CIYMS replied to pass the Muckamore total with 6 wickets to
spare. Their top batsmen were N Carson who scored 50 runs not out and O
Topping who scored 27 runs. Best of the Muckamore bowlers was Peter
Heyburn who took 2 wickets for 36 runs.
Muckamore Bluebelles finished off their season with two matches last week. On
Tuesday evening they travelled to Stormont to play league leaders CSNI and
batting first scored 83 runs for 4 wickets in their allocated 20 overs. Their top
scorer was Amy Caulfield with 38 runs not out. Best of the CSNI bowlers were
C Wood and E Scott who both took 1 wicket for 8 runs. CSNI replied to pass
the Bluebelles total with 9 wickets to spare. Their top scorers were A Cowan
with 24 runs not out and S Thomas with 13 runs not out. Best of the Bluebelles
bowlers was Sarah Keates who took 1 wicket for 32 runs. The Bluebelles
travelled to Comber to play North Down Ladies last Sunday and batting first
scored 106 runs for the loss of 1 wicket in their allocated 20 overs. Their top
scorers were Amy Caulfield with 40 runs not out, Lynn Lynas with 23 runs not
out and Becky Simpson with 23 runs. North Down could only reply to score 94
runs for the loss of 3 wickets in their allocated 20 overs to give the Bluebelles
the 14 run victory. Their top scorers were S Harrison who was not out with 40
runs and R Neild with 31 runs. Best of the Muckamore bowlers were Niki
Niblock who took 1 wicket for 9 runs and Becky Hall who took 1 wicket for 19
runs.
The Muckamore Under 11 team met the Instonians Under 11 team in the Final
of the Charlie Beverland Shield played at Moylena on Monday. Instonians
batting first got off to a bad start when their two opening batsmen were back in
the pavilion with their little ducks before the end of the first over, both bowled
by Muckamore star Luka Bates. The Instonians innings steadied and despite the
devastating bowling of young Luka, who finished his four overs with 5 wickets
for 19 runs, their score progressed to 56 runs for 6 wickets into the 7 th over with
A Boyd thumping 2x4s and 2x6s in his four ball innings of 20 runs. Then a 35
run not out performance from C O’Conner helped Instonians to a respectable
total of 115 runs to complete their innings with Muckamore bowler J Erwin
finishing taking 2 wickets for 20 runs. Muckamore opened their innings slowly
and in comparison they had only scored 26 runs at the end of their 7 th over albeit
for the loss of only 2 wickets. J Murray, C McVicker went cheaply before a bad
misunderstanding saw J Erwin run out. This brought Marko Bates to the wicket
to join his brother Luka and they took the score to 52 runs into the 14 th over
before Lucka’s 20 run innings ended when he was bowled by B Walsh. Two
overs later Marko’s 17 run innings ended when he was also bowled by Walsh to
leave the Muckamore score on 55 runs for 5 wickets leaving them needing 61
runs to win off the remaining 4 overs. This was an impossible task but they took
their score to 74 runs for 6 wickets at the end of their allocated 20 overs to lose
the game by 41 runs. Best of the Instonians bowlers were L Crothers who took 2
wickets for 7 runs and B Walsh who took 2 wickets for 9 runs. Although beaten
in the final this was a great achievement for this Muckamore Under 11 team and
congratulations must go to all the squad and their coaches on their contribution
and dedication in winning five of their six matches on the way.
Muckamore Sixths entertained league leaders Belfast Superkings Seconds at
Moylena last Monday. The visitors batted first and scored 154 runs for 8
wickets in their allocated 25 overs. Their top batsmen were Christy with 44 runs
and Rajesh with 20 runs not out. Best of the Muckamore bowlers were Jude
Keates who took 3 wickets for 21 runs and Kevin Gribben who took 2 wickets
for 41 runs. In reply Muckamore started too slowly, were always behind with
the run rate and despite their efforts the later batsmen found it impossible to
catch up, eventually running out of overs to finish 17 runs short of their target.
Their top scorers were Peter Kane with 33 runs, Philip Skillen with 20 runs and
Bradley Hodge with 19 runs not out. Best of the Superkings bowlers were P
Gokul who took 2 wickets for 17 runs and M Silva who took 2 wickets for 34
runs.
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