MUCKAMORE CRICKET
After a enforced bad weather break and a free date for an Interprovincial
Tournament Muckamore hope to resume their season with a very important
Premier League game against fellow strugglers Instonians at Moylena on
Saturday.
Muckamore Seconds travelled to Belmont last Thursday evening to play
CIYMS Seconds in a rearranged 20/20 league match and batting first scored
130 runs for the loss of 8 wickets. Their top batsman was Philip Skillen who
scored 21 runs. Best of the CIYMS bowlers were D Robinson who took 3
wickets for 18 runs and C Robinson who took 2 wickets for 35 runs. The home
team were bowled out for 88 runs to give Muckamore the 42 run victory. Their
top batsmen were J Beattie who scored 22 runs and B Smith who scored 26
runs. Best of the Muckamore bowlers were Leslie Allen who took 2 wickets for
6 runs and A Oduvelil who took 2 wickets for 16 runs. On Saturday
Carrickfergus Seconds were the visitors to Moylena and in bright sunshine they
batted first taking their score to 102 runs for the loss of 4 wickets before the rain
swept in to force the players off the pitch. After a long delay tea was taken but
the rain returned before they could restart and the game had to be reluctantly
abandoned. On Sunday the team completed their busy three match schedule
when they travelled to Comber to play North Down Seconds in a league match.
The home team batted first and scored 141 runs for 3 wickets in the allocated 20
overs. Their top scorers were H Coulter with 57 runs not out and I Arthur with
36 runs. Best of the Muckamore bowlers was David Steen who took 2 wickets
for 16 runs. Muckamore replied to score 124 runs for 7 wickets to lose the game
by 17 runs. Their top batsmen were Michael Wilson with 40 runs, Shane
Henderson with 28 runs and Richard Keates with 22 runs. Best of the North
Down bowlers were S Grant who took 2 wickets for 23 runs and W Adams who
took 2 wickets for 24 runs. This Saturday the Seconds travel to play Instonians
Seconds in their next league match.
Muckamore Thirds travelled to Seapark on Sunday to play Holywood Seconds
and the only detail to hand is that they were beaten by 7 wickets. This Saturday
the Thirds have a home game against Ballymena Seconds. The Sixths will travel
to Ballyclare to play Templepatrick Fourths on Saturday in their next league
match.
Muckamore Fourths had BISC Seconds as their opponents at Moylena on
Saturday. The visitors batted first and despite several stoppages for the heaviest
of the rain they scored 186 runs for the loss of 8 wickets in their allocated 30
overs. Their top scorers were S Sandeep with 34 runs, A Aziz and P Arka with
23 runs each. Best of the Muckamore bowlers was Manu Mohandas who took 2
wickets for 33 runs. The showery conditions persisted during the Muckamore
innings but both teams bravely decided to continue. Muckamore got off to a bad
start and they lost their first three wickets for 30 runs until Manu and Jannet
built a partnership of 62 runs before the former was caught in the slips. With 11
overs remaining and still needing 83 runs to win Dileep was the new batsman
and with Trevor Barnett and then Sanu performing the job of holding up their
end, he aggressively attacked the BISC bowling hitting 3x4s and 6x6s before
clinching his teams 4 wicket victory with a mighty six hit over the square leg
boundary. Best of the BISC bowlers were Praveen who took 2 wickets for 25
runs and Rakish who took 2 wickets for 33 runs. This week the Fourths travel to
Stormont to play CSNI Fourths in their next league match.
Muckamore Fifths travelled to Belmont to play CIYMS Fourths in a league
match on Saturday. The home team batted first and scored 221 runs for 4
wickets in their allocated 25 overs. Their top scorers were C Maskery who was
not out with 101 runs and R Elliott with 29 runs. Muckamore could only reply
with 110 runs to lose the game by 111 runs. Tom Kennedy top scored with 57
runs. Best of the CSNI bowlers were A Carson who took 3 wickets for 13 runs,
C Maskery who took 2 wickets for 3 runs and P Carson who took 2 wickets for
29 runs. On Sunday the Fifths had Larne Seconds as the visitors to Moylena in
their next league game and batting first scored 117 runs for 9 wickets in their
allocated 25 overs. Their top batsmen were C Rane who scored 38 runs and
Marty Kane who scored 24 runs. Best of the Larne bowlers was E Wilson who
took 5 wickets for 16 runs and T Dempsey who took 3 wickets for 20 runs.
Larne replied to keep up with the Muckamore run rate and needing just four
runs off the last over batsman G Moore hit a mighty six off the first ball to
clinch the 6 wicket victory. Their top scorers were D McKinley who batted the
full innings and scored 40 runs not out and G Moore who was not out with 20
runs. Best of the Muckamore bowlers were C Wilson who took 1 wicket for 14
runs and P Pawar who took 1 wicket for 18 runs. The Fifths next game is on
Sunday when Dundrum Seconds will be the visitors to Moylena.
An interesting game took place at Moylena on Friday afternoon between teams
made up of very age’d former top class players who turned out for Muckamore
in the 60s and 70s. Namely, John McCormick, Paddy O’Hara, Freddy Ashton,
Harry McFadden, Benny Craig, Hewitt Law, Philip Dewes, Sinclair Hamilton,
Andy Clement, Stewart McFarland and Trevor Barnett. They were cushioned
in their contributions by Leslie Allen, Neil Gill, Mark McNeill, David Irvine,
Richard Keates, Luke Allen, Jude Keates, David Miller, Philip Skillen, Jamie
Jackson and Jackie Robinson. The brainchild of former Chairman Hewitt Law it
took several months to get this game organised and as he said ‘it fulfilled things
that were on my ‘Bucket List’ for this game. To resurrect and persuade these
gentlemen to come out of retirement to bask in their former glory; To proudly
captain, bowl and lead his team to the narrow victory’. John McCormick
captained the ‘Count McCormick’ team which batted first to score 95 runs in
their allocated 20 overs. John opened the innings and batted confidently for 10
overs before he retired unbeaten after scoring 10 runs. Harry McFadden
followed to score 12 runs followed by Trevor Barnett who scored 10 runs, then
by Philip Dews with 9 runs and the innings ended with the determined Paddy
O’Hara reviving old memories, remaining unbeaten on three runs. Hewitt Law
and Freddie Ashton opened the batting for ‘Lawsie’s’ team and they
unbelievably came and went as their rusty skills were stretched to the limit.
Andy Clement, Sinclair Hamilton briefly appeared before Benny Craig’s
defensive play allowed him to finish unbeaten on 18 runs before Stewart
McFarland was bowled off the penultimate ball, going for the winning hit.
Jackie Robinson faced the last ball and in the confusion she scrambled the runs
needed to clinch the victory. Speaking afterwards John McCormick thanked
Hewitt Law for organising this very enjoyable game and his family for laying
on the beautiful afternoon tea for everyone in attendance. Then on behalf of the
Muckamore Club John presented Hewitt’s daughter Barbara Moiservici with a
donation to the Real Hope Charity who she works for here and in Romania.
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