Saturday saw Bangor make the short trip to Donaghadee, hoping to maintain their lead at the top of the table against neighbours Ards & Donaghadee.
The hosts won the toss and chose to bat on a used pitch, hoping to produce a sufficient total with rain in the forecast. Bangor skipper Johnny Parker threw the ball to Robbie van Harte and Chris Pyper, in the hopes of an early breakthrough. Pyper heard this call and delivered once again, dismissing McNamara in the second over of the match who provided the simplest of catches at gully to Will Simpson. The two openers kept hitting their lengths, building pressure, and causing Aitken to search for a release, giving van Harte his first wicket of the match with Michael Skelly taking the catch at mid off.
Wickets continued to fall quickly, until Savage arrived at the crease, looking to build a partnership with Ards & D’Dee captain Michael Martin. The two batters stuck up a promising partnership and navigated the score to 104-4. Eventually, George Prince broke the partnership in a timely fashion for Bangor, removing Martin to a simple caught and bowled. Minutes later Savage then fell victim to Sam McMillan who found the waiting hands of Michael Skelly on the point boundary for his second catch. This brought two new batsmen to the crease and Bangor seized the moment and continued to pile on the pressure, with wickets shared around, limiting the opposition to 137 all out in the 36th over.
Bangor opening duo Mark Hutchinson and Sam McMillan set out, looking to build on their run-scoring form. McMillan showed intent early on, obviously wanting to get ahead of the rate ahead of any intervention from the rain with darkening skies closing in. Hutchinson decided to follow suit and followed in his young protégé’s footsteps, bringing up the team’s 100 at the magical 15 over mark which meant should the rest of the match be rained of then via the DLS method Bangor would be awarded the win with their brilliant start to the batting innings.
Hutchinson brought up his 50 first, receiving a fine fist bump from his partner. The next ball saw McMillan bring up his 50. The two openers decided it was time to speed things up, with Hutchinson hitting a flurry of boundaries. McMillan saw this, keeping an eye on the scoreboard, determined to one-up his teammate. This led to McMillan hitting three sixes consecutively to finish the match, a fine end to a fine display of batting from the Bangor men. The side are back in action this Saturday at home to Ardent Blues in the league with it being a 12 noon start.
Ards & Donaghadee 137 (35.1 overs, M Martin 45, A Savage 30, R Van Harte 2-7, C Pyper 2-17, G Prince 3-35)
Bangor 139-0 (18.3 overs, S McMillan 69*, M Hutchinson 64*)
Bangor beat Ards & Donaghadee by 10 wickets
