Weekly Review
MUCKAMORE CRICKET
Muckamore travelled to Shane Park to play Instonians in the semi final of the
Gallagher Senior Cup on Saturday. Heavy overnight rain left the pitch wet
forcing an hour’s delay in getting the 47 over game started. Instonians won the
toss and sent N Smith and O Metcalfe in to open their innings against
Muckamore’s pace bowlers Neil Gill and Aditya Adey. The score quickly
progressed to 20 runs into the 4 th over before Smith was bowled by Adey for
only 4 runs. M Commins joined Metcalfe and 21 runs were added in the next
two overs before Adey had the dangerous Metcalfe caught behind by
wicketkeeper David Miller to end his 13 run innings. The new batsman was A
White and with Commins they took the score to 54 runs into the 11 th over before
the former was trapped lbw by a fiery Gill delivery to be dismissed for only 3
runs. S Getkate was next in and they quickly advanced the score to 118 runs
into the 24 th over before he was caught by ‘mid on’ fielder Fahad Iqbal off a
Steve Lazars delivery to terminate his 27 run innings. Drinks were taken but
Commins concentration must have been disturbed for in the very next over he
was well caught on the long on boundary by Gill off an Iqbal delivery to bring
his 54 run innings to an end. With the score on 123 runs for 5 wickets things
looked as if they were swinging Muckamore’s way but the new batsmen R
McKinley and J Hunter had other ideas and despite Captain Neil Gill trying all
his bowlers these batsmen took the score to 211 runs into the 42 nd over before
the former was caught by ‘long on’ fielder Sam Gordon to end his 41 run
innings off an Iqbal delivery. With just 5 overs remaining B Rose joined Hunter
and they added 17 runs before the former was trapped lbw by an Iqbal delivery.
J Manley was the new batsman and off the remaining 11 deliveries, slack
Muckamore bowling and fielding allowed Instonians to scramble another 21
runs taking their score to 250 runs for 7 wickets at the end of their allocated
overs. Best of the Muckamore bowlers were Fahad Iqbal who took 3 wickets for
40 runs and Aditya Adey who took 2 wickets for 38 runs. James Rodgers and
David Miller opened the Muckamore batting against Instonians pace bowlers J
Manley and S Getkate but off Manley’s third ball Rodgers gloved his
unplayable delivery and it was caught by ‘slip’ fielder Getkate to be out for a
duck. Aditya Adey joined Miller and they took the score to 23 runs into the 7 th
over before the former edged a Manley delivery, sailing harmlessly over the
wicket, into slip fielder Commins hands after scoring only 7 runs. Next in was
Fahad Iqbal and with Miller they took the score to 53 runs into the 12 th over
before the former edged a wide delivery from J Magee to be caught by the
diving wicketkeeper Metcalfe to take his 11 runs back to the pavilion. Steve
Lazars was Miller’s new partner and twenty five runs were added in the next 6
overs until the former, who had scored 12 runs, was given out lbw from a White
delivery. Now on 78 runs for 4 wickets in the 18 th over, Sam Gordon was the
new batsman and three more runs were added until Miller mistimed his shot off
a White delivery to eventually fall into the gloves of Metcalfe to end his
stubborn 43 run innings. Francis Collins was next and with Gordon they
steadied the innings taking the score to 125 runs into the 33 rd over before the
former was given out lbw to a White delivery after he had scored 24 runs. Neil
Gill was the new batsman and in four overs they scored 16 runs before he edged
a high Getkate delivery which was caught by wicketkeeper Metcalfe to end his
9 run innings. With just 10 overs remaining Karthik Rajavelu joined Collins at
the wicket and they quickly added 30 more runs before the latter’s mistimed
shot was caught by mid on fielder Magee to bring his solid 36 run innings to an
end. With the score now on 171 runs with just 4 overs remaining Shane
Henderson was Rajavelu’s new partner and to their credit they had a go at the
Instonians bowling to add a remarkable 51 runs taking the Muckamore finishing
score to 222 runs for the loss of 8 wickets to lose the game by just 28 runs. A
score which could have give Muckamore a chance to win this game had not
some of those 21 runs been given away so easily at the end of the Instonians
innings. Karthik Rajavelu finished with 30 runs not out and Shane Henderson
finished with 27 runs not out. Best of the Instonians bowlers were A White who
took 3 wickets for 26 runs, and J Marley who took 2 wickets for 37 runs. This
week the team travel to Stormont to play CSNI in their next league match.
Muckamore Seconds travelled to play Waringstown Seconds in a league match
on Saturday and batting first scored 189 runs for 5 wickets in their allocated 40
overs. Their top scorers were Richard Keates who scored 96 runs, to be
dismissed just four runs short of his century and Luke Allen with 42 runs.
Waringstown’s best bowlers were M Purse who took 2 wickets for 31 runs and
S Kidd who took 2 wickets for 44 runs. Waringstown replied to score 193 runs
for 4 wickets to win the game by 6 wickets. Their top scorers were L Nelson
with 66 runs, J Hunter with 31 runs and R Dennison with 21 runs. Best of the
Muckamore bowlers was David Steen who took 1 wicket for 20 runs. On
Sunday the Seconds travelled to Belmont to play CIYMS Seconds in a league
match and with bad weather closing in the home team batted first and had
scored 83 runs for 1 wicket before the heavy persistent rain arrived to force the
game to be abandoned. This week the Seconds are at home to CSNI Seconds in
their next league match.
The Thirds travelled to play Laurelvale Seconds on Saturday in their next
league match. Laurelvale batted first and scored 176 runs in their allocated 30
overs. Their top batsmen were D O’Hara who scored 46 runs and R Wheatfield
who scored 40 runs. Best of the Muckamore bowlers were Jude Keates who
took 3 wickets for 33 runs and Simon Thompson who took 2 wickets for 30
runs. Muckamore could only score 111 runs in reply to lose the game by 65
runs. Their top batsmen were David Cardwell with 29 runs and Daryl Service
with 24 runs. Best of the Laurelvale bowlers were S Cadell who took 4 wickets
for 14 runs and J Brady who took 2 wickets for 18 runs. This week the Thirds
travel to Eaton Park to play Ballymena Seconds in their next league match
The Fourths game against Bangor Thirds was washed out on Sunday. This week
they are at home to CSNI Fourths on Saturday and on Sunday they travel to
play Lisburn Thirds. The Sixths travelled to play Donaghcloney Mill Fifths last
Monday and were beaten by 57 runs. Their game against Monaghan Seconds at
Moylena on Sunday was postponed and next Sunday they are at home to Belfast
Superkings Seconds.
A busy week for the midweek teams who are trying to get caught up with the
games that were postponed. The Muckamore A team travel to play
Carrickfergus on Monday evening and then to Woodvale for their next match on
Wednesday evening. The Muckamore B team travel to Mallusk to play BISC on
Monday evening.
The Muckamore Bluebelles travel to Belmont on Sunday to play CSNI Ladies
in their next league match which will be a dress rehearsal of the 11 th August
Senior Cup Final.
Last Monday evening, the U15 team travelled to Ballyclare to play the
Templepatrick U15 team. Although only having 10 players, 6 of whom were
U13 and one of whom was U11 (Alfie Bingham), this young Muckamore team
did themselves and their Club proud. It was a fantastic game of cricket, played
in a great spirit with the result not known until the very last ball of the game
The Muckamore opening bowlers kept it tight meaning Templepatrick were
behind the required run rate at the mid way point of their innings. But a late
rally meant that Templepatrick needed one run from the last ball to tie the
game and two runs to win. Unfortunately Templepatrick managed to take a
second run to win the game by 3 wickets to beat the Muckamore total of 100
runs. Best of the Muckamore bowlers were Callum Stewart who took 2
wickets for 7 runs, Aaron Gill who took 2 wickets for 13 runs and James
Laverty who took 1 wicket for 16 runs.
