The 2021 season has seen the return of the fourth XI at Bangor and all new things can take time to bear fruit. After four matches the side were rewarded for their training effortson some glorious evenings at Upritchard Park over the last number of weeks with a fantastic victory at The Mall against Armagh IV. At the sight of a seam bowler’s green paradise, Bangor didn’t hesitate to bowl first on muggy, overcast afternoon. Jack Irwin opened the attack and was rewarded with an early wicket, bowling Courtney without scoring. The overcast conditions were a definite sign of the storm to come from the other end, as Morgan Paulin produced a spell of furiously fast bowling, dismissing captain K. Wilson, Nicholson and Monaghan in quick succession, all bowled without scoring by pace that would trouble most. Paulin finished with the superb figures of 5 overs, 1 maiden, 3 wickets for 5 runs and will live long in the nightmares of some batsmen. Some could even say there were flashes of Darren Gough in the spell. Credit must go to Tom Irwin for his splendid keeping to such pace. Armagh although in trouble didn’t go quietly into the night. Brownlee dug in and as the changes came looked to turn the tables with several lusty blows onto the Mall streets. The evergreen Cumper kept his end quiet (in one respect at least) with 3 wickets for a miserly 16 runs, and Hare one at the other before receiving some treatment from Brownlee’s clean hitting. Owen Aicken entered the attack late on and battled a hand injury after a fine stop off Brownlee. Carter McCormack came on to finish things off and did just that, having B. Wilson caught (Paulin) and cleaning up the big hitting Brownlee for 93 to close the innings on 158 all out. Mention must go to senior debutant Oliver Stephenson, taking a smart catch behind square off Cumper.
In reply Aicken and J. Irwin began the chase positively, finding gaps and ticking the score on before Gardiner got one through Aicken’s defences for 5. Goldthorpe and Irwin were busy between the wickets, making life tough for the Armagh bowlers, before Irwin fell to Gardiner for 18. Enter the senior ‘pro’ of Houstoun to take the helm with Goldthorpe (20) and later Paulin (22 n.o.) to steer Bangor to a tremendous win on the road. Fine stroke play and excellent running between the wickets were the order of the day for Bangor with Houstoun in particular showing his class with some beautifully stuck boundaries to finish with a supreme 61 n.o. Bangor home with 7 wickets and two overs to spare. More to come from the returning fourth XI, onwards and upwards!
