Derriaghy vs Bangor – Saturday 15th August
Bangor travelled to Derriaghy on Saturday with spirits high despite two narrow defeats that has made things tight at the top of the Section One table. A dry used wicket greeted the side as they began their warmup’s with a common consensus amongst the squad that should skipper Johnny Parker call correctly at the toss then he should bat first. Skipper Parker duly delivered and the side would look to make a competitive total.
The reasons became apparent early doors as a ball reared up on a length and caught opening batter Seb Yeates in the collarbone which required the magic sponge. Unsurprisingly it would knock Seb out of his rhythm which he struggled to regain and he departed with the score 20-1. A great 2nd wicket partnership between Sam McMillan and Brodie Harrison established a platform for the side. They navigated the score to 94-1 before cluster of wickets left Bangor reeling slightly at 122-4, Sam scoring 48 and Brodie scoring 45 both very helpful scores.
Bangor though needed another big partnership to navigate the side towards a competitive score. Enter the experienced heads of Mark Hutchinson and Andrew Kirkpatrick as they combined together for a crucial 49 run partnership. Hutchinson was next to depart bowled and when Parker was ran out in unfortunate circumstances, Bangor again needed to make sure they batted time with the score 183-6 in the 32nd over.
This was when Kirkpatrick came to the fore, he took the game to the hosts with any loose bowling finding the boundary as he racked up 6 fours and 2 sixes on his way to a crucial 61 which was Bangor’s top score on what was a difficult pitch to bat on. Kirkpatrick fell in unlucky fashion trying to guide the ball to third man and caught the edge of the bat through to the keeper. Angus Farrell batting at 8 supported Kirkpatrick well with a near run a ball 24 and the final three batters added a very handy 26 runs as Bangor were bowled out in the 48th over for a very competitive 268.
Bangor would need to bowl well though even with the bowler friendly pitch as Derriaghy has some of the smallest boundaries on the NCU circuit and the hosts are a difficult team to beat at home.
Like last week, Mark Best and Michael Skelly were tasked with opening the bowling and it was Best who got Bangor on their way with the first wicket and the score 9-1 in the 3rd over. A frustrating period though for Bangor would entail as the hosts survived numerous tight LBW shouts and near misses with the stumps as Best & Skelly continued to plug away. Best struck again in the 9th over to remove the opposition skipper again bowled.
A 3rd wicket partnership of substance was starting to develop though for the hosts with the score on 78-2 in the 18th over. Skelly had toiled away all afternoon long with great accuracy and pace but had nothing to show for it despite numerous close calls. His patience though was finally rewarded in his 9th over in a row as he broke up the developing partnership with a bail trimming delivery that saw the ball almost fly all the way to the boundary!
That brought Derriaghy’s talisman Craig Lewis to the crease who joined oversea’s Scoble and this was the crucial partnership Bangor had to break. Skelly completed his marathon 10 over spell to end with highly respectable figures of 1-41 and on another day would have walked away with a few more wickets. It feels like Skelly is on the precipice of running through a batting order some day!
Farrell was already 3 overs into his spell when Harrison joined him and the two combined well to increase pressure on the two batters as the rate required rose. Bangor were rewarded just before drinks as Scoble was bowled by Farrell with a ball that went through the batters defences.
The drinks break then brought another wicket as Harrison’s wrong’un got the better of Scott but Lewis remained and while he was there Derriaghy had hope. With 20 overs to go the score was 129-5 and the hosts required 140, Bangor were on top but the game was not won yet.
The pressure though was starting to rise and something had to give and as Lewis was looking to up the ante he was removed by Harrison for his second wicket and Bangor were now heavy favourites.
Harrison & Farrell kept bowling tight lines and making use of the spin friendly pitch to limit the run rate. Harrison then would pick up two quick wickets as Bangor closed in on victory. Farrell finished his 10 over spell with great figures of 1-33. Prince then would take over from Farrell’s end and got in on the act with a yorker getting through the defences of the batter and in his next over he would rearrange the off stump to close Derriaghy’s innings on 157 as Bangor won by 111 Runs. Harrison the pick of the bowlers with 4-23 from 9 overs.
An impressive performance all around with bat and ball which has been there the last few weeks without the results to back it up. With the side back on the winning side of things, they now face a huge 3 weeks of cricket to come as the season reaches an exciting conclusion. Next up is the biggest game of the season as the side hosts fellow promotion candidates Lurgan at Upitchard Park. A victory for either side would likely see them go top of the table with just two games to go. All support welcome this Saturday for a huge encounter.
Bangor 268 (47.4 overs, S McMillan 48, B Harrison 45, A Kirkpatrick 61, A Farrell 24, M Scoble 2-53, R Glover 2-55, R Bailey 2-46, C Lewis 2-55)
Derriaghy 157 (38.1 overs, R Bailey 26, R Glover 23, M Scoble 21, M Best 2-19, B Harrison 4-23, G Prince 2-5)
Bangor beat Derriaghy by 111 runs
Bangor 2s v Instonians 2s – Saturday 15th August
Following on from last weeks victory away to BISC Bangor 2’s we’re back at home for the penultimate game of the season and what a game it turned out to be.
The visitors, chasing a return to JL1 stacked their team clearly wary of the home side’s potential to inflict a defeat.
As is now the norm Bangor lost the toss and Instonians opted to bat. The visitors hopes of putting on a big total were dashed early as Gideon Wilson struck twice in the second over, firstly removing the dangerous Inst Skipper Chris Taylor for 0 and then the equally explosive Geddamn first ball.
A partnership between the Craigan brothers developed before the impressive Andy Pyper removed Robert for 18 to leave the score at 38-3.
Wickets continued to fall with Bates & Pyper getting 2 more in quick succession and with Inst now 46-5 the home sides tails were up.
Will Simpson chipped in with 2 wickets including an outstanding caught & bowled while Bangor Captain McCullough kept it tight at the other end however, Inst dug in and a last wicket partnership of 50 saw them get to a total of 176 before the last wicket fell in the 40th over.
After Tea Felix McMillan and Jonathon Keenan took to the middle to set about the home sides run chase. Inst bowled well at the start and kept the run rate around the 3 per over mark, McMillan (40) was the bright spark who then opened up and played some wonderful shots before finally being run out at the non strikers end in unfortunate circumstances. The visitors put the squeeze to n and Bangor found it tough to score quickly and when Keenan (11) was bowled in the 15th over with the core at 55 it was clear this one would need to be taken deep.
Oliver Campbell (2) was next to go and he was quickly followed by Daniel Rayner (1) and Simpson (5) leaving the score at 86-5 with 15 overs to go.
A partnership then developed between Adam McCusker & Jacob Campbell and the chase was back on track before McCusker was out caught & bowled.
At 6 wickets down Bangor still needed 50 of 7 overs and with McCullough joining Campbell at the wicket this game was still there to win.
Campbell playing only his second game for the 2’s was outstanding, finding gaps in the field and in conjunction with McCullough being the total required down to a more manageable level before and good bit of fielding saw Campbell (36)run out chasing a quick single.
So it all came down to the last 6 balls with Bangor still needing 7 to win but unfortunately Bangor just couldn’t get it over the line and eventually the game was lost by 3 runs after McCullough (25) was caught off the last ball with 3 runs needed.
In the end it was a debating loss, the Team were fantastic and this was probably one of our best fielding displays of the season. Lots of positives to take forward though and the future is very bright at Bangor CC. So as the season draws to a close with the final league game away to Cregagh next Saturday we can reflect on a good season and look forward to stepping up the challenge next year.
Instonians 2 176 (39.2 overs, G Craigan 21, M Willmott 25, G Robinson 42*, F Robinson 22, J Bates 3-20, G Wilson 2-42, A Pyper 2-17, W Simpson 2-43)
Bangor 2 174-8 (40 overs, F McMillan 40, A McCusker 37, J Campbell 36, G McCullough 25, R Craigan 3-17, H Salian 3-37)
Instonians 2 beat Bangor 2 by 2 runs
