Bangor on the back of their T20 Trophy success returned to league duty and were looking to return to winning ways against Cregagh, the same opposition from the cup final. The squad made the short journey to East Belfast and with the pitch in decent condition, Bangor were happy to field first unsure of what a good score was. Pacers Connor Brown & Michael Skelly opened up for Bangor and were straight away on the money with the batters having very little to work with. Skelly in just his second ball got the lads up and running removing Kareer for a duck.
Cregagh to their credit were able to get some boundaries away in the next few overs before Skelly returned to remove Watt for 14. Cregagh again managed to keep the score moving forward as the experienced Moore & Burns were able to navigate the pace of Skelly and the skill of Brown but Skelly with the last ball of the 10th over removed Burns with a sumptuous delivery. Cregagh were now 41-3 and Bangor knew they had an opportunity to limit the hosts further.
Skelly had picked up all 3 wickets to this point but Brown on another day would have had three of his own as well troubling the batters relentlessly, banging away at an A4 page on a line & length that was even frightening Mark Hutchinson who was at a safe distance. Skelly then picked up the next wicket once again bowled in his next over as he was starting to take a liking to the slope at Cregagh and nipping the ball back like a fast off spinning delivery.
Skelly then came back for more fun in his 7th over and grabbed his 5th wicket once again bowled and Cregagh in trouble at 57-5 in the 14th over.
Skelly soon took a well-deserved break but Brown continued to charge in seeking that elusive wicket on the day. Sometimes in life when it’s not meant to be its not meant to be as Brown somehow finished wicketless. His efforts though were hugely significant, bowling his 10 overs straight through and only conceding 22 runs with two of his overs being maidens. Skipper Johnny Parker continued with seam with bowlers George Prince & Sam McMillan now into the attack and it was Prince to pick up the next wicket finding the edge of the dangerous Ravikrishnan for 24 and keeper Kirkpatrick doing the rest.
Prince would pick up the next wicket removing O. Fleetham who was there for a fleeting moment before he had to depart with an excellently taken catch by Brown at short cover. The next two wickets would fall in quick succession. The first a slight mix up between the batters enabled Parker time to get the ball into Kirkpatrick to enact a run out before McMillan would get in on the act bowling Walker to leave the hosts 100-9 at drinks.
The two young Cregagh batters came together for the final wicket and had a handy partnership as Bangor let their foot of the gas somewhat. 30 runs would follow before Angus Farrell would spin one past the defences of De Silva as Cregagh were bowled out for 130, a well below target set for Bangor to chase.
Man of the Match from last week Sam McMillan & Mark Hutchinson strode out to the middle looking to get off to a confident start. It was Sam who was the typical early aggressor pouncing on anything loose from the Cregagh seamers. Hutchinson played his typical game waiting for the bad ball but survived an early chance edging one behind that wasn’t taken by the home side. The class of Hutchinson won out though as he started to find the middle of the bat more regularly as he started contributing to the combined score of the opening partnership.
The 50 run partnership came up with a Hutchinson four and things were serenely moving along nicely for Bangor but McMillan fell eventually to a good delivery from Ravikrishnan first up for a quickfire 39. Brown was next in and continued where Sam left off with two early boundaries to keep the scoring rate high. Things would continue to very much go in Bangor’s way as Cregagh had no answer for the batting prowess of the visitors as another 50 run partnership would come up for the 2nd wicket. Brown was at his trademark best with the local heartthrob latching on to any width and sweeping the spinners for fun to the fence.
With Bangor needing just 15 more runs to win, Brown was looking to end the contest early doors but was dismissed for 42 off just 29 balls. It was left to skipper Parker & Hutchinson to see the side home to win by 8 Wickets in the 20th over. A brilliant team performance from the side and another important win as Bangor look to remain clear of the bottom two league positions. Next up is bottom side Downpatrick at home this Saturday, all support welcome to cheer the side on as they look for back to back wins in the league.
