MUCKAMORE CRICKET
After a brilliant hot sunny week it seemed as winter had returned to Moylena on
Saturday. In a morning that contained heavy squally rain including thunder,
lightning and even a prolonged torrential hail shower, Muckamore’s Gallagher
Senior Cup semi final against near neighbours looked as if it would have to be
postponed for the second week in a row. However after a delay of an hour the
skies cleared and the match got underway at 1pm. Muckamore’s captain Neil
Gill won the toss and with the time lost reducing the game to a 47 over contest
he chose to bat first. A last minute Jamie Rodgers cry off saw teenager Jamie
Jackson get a sudden call up into the limelight to take his place. Francis Collins
and David Miller opened the Muckamore batting against Templepatrick’s pace
bowlers R Bryans and C Weir. They took the score to 16 runs before Bryans
bowled Miller with the first delivery of his third over, his only scoring shot
being a six hit over the long on boundary. Aditya Adey was the new batsman
and with Collins the score slowly progressed against the very accurate bowling
to 59 runs into the 18 th over before the former mistimed his shot from a Weir
delivery to be caught by ‘point’ fielder M Stewart after scoring 25 runs. Club
professional Fahad Iqbal joined Collins and they struggled to increase the run
rate, adding just 19 runs in the next 7 overs. Then new bowler M Stewart was
introduced and off the first delivery of his second over the ball flew high off the
edge of Iqbal’s bat into the safe hands of ‘gully’ fielder N Kelly’s hands to
dismiss him for only 8 runs. Sam Gordon was the new batsman but he could
only watch as Collins edged the first delivery of Stewart’s next over into
wicketkeeper M Thompson’s gloves to send him back to the pavilion with his
hard earned 18 runs from the 88 deliveries he had faced. Steve Lazars was
Gordon’s next partner, but not for long as 4 deliveries later he was given out
lbw off a Stewart delivery before he had even scored. Now on 85 runs for 5
wickets the Muckamore alarm bells were ringing as Neil Gill came to the
wicket to join Gordon. In the next 5 overs only another 13 runs were added until
Gordon swung and missed a Stewart delivery to be bowled out after scoring
only 9 runs. Karthik Rajavelu was next and with Gill they took the score to 110
runs into the 38 th over before the latter was bowled for 10 runs by the first
delivery of J Busby’s last over, a reward for his very tidy spell of bowling 9
overs for only 14 runs. Shane Henderson was Rajavelu’s new partner and at last
the Muckamore batting sparked into life and this pair added 67 runs in the next
8 overs taking the score to 167 runs into the final over of the innings. Then off
the third delivery Shane, going for a big hit, was caught on the long on
boundary by R Bryans off an E Wilson delivery to end his fine aggressive 31
run innings. Pavan Karthik was the penultimate batsman and they took the score
to 171 runs, with Rajavelu finishing with 26 runs not out, before the innings
ended. Best of the Templepatrick bowlers was M Stewart who took 4 wickets
for 37 runs. M Thompson and N Kelly opened the batting for Templepatrick
against Muckamore pacemen Neil Gill and Shane Henderson and they scored
briskly, taking the score to 34 runs into the 7 th over. Then off the first delivery of
his fourth over Thompson edged a Gill delivery and the ball was well caught by
wicketkeeper Miller after he had scored 11 runs. A Smith was the new batsman
but he only survived until the next over. Bowler Aditya Adey had replaced
Henderson and off the first delivery of only his second over Smith’s deflected
shot fell into the safe hands of ‘gully fielder’ Henderson to bring his brief visit
to the wicket to an end. R Bryans was Kelly’s next partner and the score
progressed to 44 runs into the 10 th over before Gill struck again when the former
edged an unplayable delivery into the safe hands of wicketkeeper Miller to be
dismissed after scoring just 7 runs. D McFadden was Kelly’s new partner and
they added seven more runs before the latter’s 20 run innings came to an end
when he edged another Gill delivery to be well caught by slip fielder Collins, to
leave Templepatrick on 51 runs for 4 wickets in the 13 th over. The new batsman
was E Wilson and with McFadden they took the score to 67 runs. Then Pavan
Karthik replaced Adey and off the fifth delivery of his very first over Wilson
edged the ball and was caught by wicketkeeper Miller to be out before he had
even scored. M Stewart was the Templepatrick number seven batsman and it
was now obvious that they were struggling against the pace of the Muckamore
bowlers. McFadden was Gill’s next victim when he clean bowled him in the 17 th
over after he had scored 18 runs. C Styles joined Stewart and they took the
score to 79 runs until the former edged a Gill delivery to be well caught by
‘point’ fielder Gordon in the 19 th over. J Busby was next in and with Stewart
they took the score to 88 runs into the 23 rd over before the latter mistimed new
bowler Rajavelu’s delivery to be caught by ‘mid on’ fielder Iqbal. The
penultimate Templepatrick batsman was C Weir and with Stewart they took the
score to 98 runs until the former edged a Karthik delivery to give wicketkeeper
Miller his fourth catch of the day. Last man in was R Greer but he could only
watch as his partner Stewart top edge a Karthik delivery to be well caught by
‘backward point’ fielder Gill to end their innings to give Muckamore a place in
the semi final with this 72 run victory. Best of the Muckamore bowlers were
Neil Gill who took 5 wickets for 30 runs and Pavan Karthik who took 3 wickets
for 21 runs. Adjudicated by NCU President Richard Johnston the Man of the
Match Award was presented to Neil Gill by Peter Ritchie from the Cup
Sponsors Gallagher Ltd for his magnificent bowling performance in this match.
On Sunday it was back to the serious bread and butter issue of trying to win
their first league match of the season against Carrickfergus at Moylena.
Muckamore captain Neil Gill won the toss and asked the visitors to bat first.
They sent M Gilmour and H Warke in to open their innings against
Muckamore’s fast bowlers Neil Gill and Aditya Adey and they slowly
scored 22 runs into the 8 th over before Addy bowled the former for 16 runs. The
first of three overseas players J Snyman was next to the wicket and with a
record of high scoring he was quickly into his stride scoring freely to every part
of the ground. The score progressed to 52 runs into the 17 th over before Pavan
Karthik who had replace Gill had Warke caught by slip fielder Fahad Iqbal for
22 runs. The next overseas batsman J Holmes joined Snyman and they quickly
added 23 runs which included four successive boundary hits off the unfortunate
Karthik’s bowling. Iqbal replaced Karthik and off his very first deliver Snyman
edged the ball into wicketkeeper David Miller’s gloves much to the delight of
his team mates to be dismissed for 34 runs. The last of the overseas
Carrickfergus players, CJ Van Der Walt came to the wicket and with Holmes
they added 37 runs in the next 11 overs until the latter top edge a delivery from
the returning Adey to give wicketkeeper Miller an easy catch after he had
scored 18 runs. The next batsman was A Haggan and with Van Der Walt they
took the score to 134 runs into the 37 th over before the former was bowled by
Iqbal for only 3 runs. M McCord was the new batsman but in Iqbal’s next over
Gordon took a magnificent diving catch on the ‘backward square’ boundary to
send him back to the pavilion with just one run to his name. R Eagleson was
Van Der Walt’s new partner and they took the score to 159 runs into the 45 th
over before Steve Lazars got his just rewards when he bowled the latter after he
had scored 51 runs. Karthik Rajavelu took over from Adey to bowl from the
River End and he had new batsman R Hood caught behind by wicketkeeper
Miller in the very next over. He was quickly followed in the next over by
Eagleson when he too deflected a Karthik delivery to give wicketkeeper Miller
his fourth catch of the day to dismiss him for 13 runs. A Shetty and L Johnston
were the last two Carrickfergus batsmen and they took the score to 174 runs into
the 48 th over before the former was well caught by ‘long off’ fielder Gordon
from a Rajavelu delivery to bring their innings to an end. Best of the
Muckamore bowlers were Fahad Iqbal who took 3 wickets for 28 runs, Karthik
Rajavelu who took 2 wickets for 29 runs, Aditya Adey who took 2 wickets for
33 runs and Pavan Karthik who took 2 wickets for 35 runs. As usual Francis
Collins and David Miller opened the batting for Muckamore against
Carrickfergus pace bowlers A Shetty and M McCord and they steadily took the
score to 25 runs into the 8 th over. Then Collins mistimed his shot off a delivery
from McCord to be caught by ‘backward square’ fielder Warke to end his 5 run
innings. Aditya Adey joined Miller and against very tight bowling they slowly
added another 16 runs in the next 8 overs before the former was bowled by
Eagleson, who had replaced Shetty two overs earlier, for only 7 runs. Fahad
Iqbal was Miller’s next partner and in a little spurt of runs they took the score
79 runs into the 25 th over to break for drinks. Then Miller’s concentration must
have strayed for off bowler A Haggan’s second delivery after the restart he
struck the ball straight to ‘mid off’ fielder Snyman to end his 46 run innings.
Sam Gordon was the new batsman and another 20 runs were added taking the
score to 103 runs into the 32 nd over before he mistimed his shot off a Haggan
delivery to be caught by ‘mid on’ fielder Hood to be dismissed for only 3 runs.
Jamie Rodgers came to the wicket to join Iqbal to take the score to 115 runs
before the latter was trapped lbw by a Snyman delivery to end his useful 31 run
innings. Steve Lazars joined the procession of batsmen and three overs later
Rodgers was bowled by Snyman to leave the scene with only 8 runs to his
credit. Karthik Rajavelu followed suit and he survived for four overs before he
lobbed the ball straight back into bowler Snyman’s hands to be out for a duck.
With the score now on 128 runs for 7 wickets in the 41 st over, things were not
looking good for Muckamore. Shane Henderson was the new batsman and at
last the late fight back began and with Lazars they added 33 runs in the next 6
overs taking the score to 161 runs before the former, trying to place his shot,
played the ball straight into ‘gully’ fielder Shetty’s hands from a McCord
delivery to end his valuable 18 run innings. Fifteen runs to win off three overs
as Neil Gill, the penultimate batsman, came to the wicket to join Lazars and
calmly they edged nearer to the total needed and with just five deliveries
remaining Neil drove the ball to the boundary to clinch this very important 2
wicket victory. Best of the Carrickfergus bowlers were J Snyman who took 3
wickets for 19 runs, M McCord who took 2 wickets for 22 runs and A Haggan
who took 2 wickets for 37 runs. This Saturday they travel to Belmont to take on
league leaders CIYMS in their next league game.
The Seconds travelled to play Carrickfergus Seconds on Saturday for their
Junior League match. The home team batted first and scored 190 runs for the
loss of 4 wickets in their allocated overs. Their top batsmen were I Walker who
scored 77 runs, A Clark who scored 32 runs and R Moffett who scored 27 runs.
Muckamore replied with 171 runs to lose the game by 19 runs. Their top
batsmen were Richard Keates who scored 42 runs and Shakeel Shaikh who
scored 27 runs. Carrickfergus’s best bowler was A Martin who took 5 wickets
for 42 runs, three of which came in the last over when the Muckamore batsmen
tried in vain to score the runs needed to snatch the victory. This Saturday the
Seconds have CSNI Seconds at home in the semi final of the NCU Junior Cup.
The Fifths entertained CIYMS Fourths at Moylena in the quarter final of the
Minor Cup and batting first scored 154 runs for 6 wickets in their allocated
overs. Their top scorers were J Hall with 51 runs and C Rane with 43 runs.
CIYMS replied to easily pass the Muckamore score to win the game by 9
wickets. Their top scorers were C Maskery who was on 60 runs not out and C
McCullough who was on 56 runs not out. This Sunday the Fifths are at home to
BISC Thirds in their next league match.
The Sixths travelled to play Cregagh Seconds on Sunday for their next league
match and batting first could only score 49 runs. Best of the Cregagh bowlers
were A Nelson who took 5 wickets for 16 runs, N Kirsch who took 2 wickets
for 8 runs and N Pinkerton who took 2 wickets for 13 runs. Cregagh replied to
easily pass the Muckamore score to win the game by 8 wickets. Their top
batsman was S Karrer who was not out with 25 runs. Best of the Muckamore
bowlers was Terry McCloskey who took 2 wickets for 7 runs.
Midweek League cricket resumes this Wednesday evening with the A team
playing away to BISC and the B team entertaining Cooke Collegians at
Moylena
It was Premier League Cup semi finals day for the Muckamore Bluebelles who
travelled to Shaw’s Bridge on Sunday to take on Instonians Ladies. The
Bluebelles batted first and scored 123 runs for 3 wickets in their allocated 20
overs. Their top scorers were Amy Caulfield with 41 runs, Susie Morrison-
Keates with 26 runs and Lynn Lyness who was not out with 19 runs. Best of the
Instonians bowlers was C Dickson who took 2 wickets for 26 runs. Instonians
could only score 55 runs in reply to give Muckamore the 68 run victory and a
place in the final against Lurgan or CSNI Ladies on the 11 th of August.
Instonians top batswoman was F Watson who scored 20 runs. Best of the
Muckamore bowlers were Joanne Davis who took 4 wickets for 9 runs and
Nikki Niblock who took 2 wickets for 17 runs.
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