Bangor suffered a heartbreaking defeat by 22 runs at Eaton Park in Ballymena on Saturday. It was a match that Bangor dominated for most of the afternoon but in the final reckoning frailties with the bat again proved the difference between the two sides. Bangor will now be looking to a crunch match with fellow strugglers on Muckamore on Sunday.
Returning skipper Adam McCusker lost the toss and Ballymena elected to field. There have been no problems with recent Bangor fielding performances and Saturday was no exception. Opening partnership of Chris Walton and Adam Simmonite dismissed openers Smith and M Glass for only 12 runs, the former falling to a smart slip catch from George Prince. The third wicket of Colgan and John Glass proceeded to bat Ballymena back into the match. These two batted very sensibly in the difficult conditions taking the score to 53.
Declan Horrox was making his first appearance for the First XI and it was he who got the vital breakthrough when he got Glass to miscue to Adam McCusker who took a fine catch, barely six inches above the ground. This wicket precipitated a Ballymena collapse. George Prince took the vital wicket of Colgan in the very next over, meaning that Bangor had two new batsmen at whom to bowl. When Prince struck again, dismantling the stumps of a hapless Gibson, Bangor had taken three wickets for the paltry sum of three runs. Once more Ballymena staged a recovery with Owen Dick and Michael Caithness taking the score past 100.
It was the debutant Horrox who broke this partnership when he got rid of Dick, caught behind by the evergreen Ricky McLarnon. At this stage, Ballymena were 105 for six with 15 overs still to bat. The Bangor bowlers set to work on the Ballymena tail. Prince grabbed his third wicket for the day posting his best figures for the season with three wickets for only 18 runs. When the resolute Caithness fell to Simmonite, who also got three wickets, the Ballymena innings was effectively over. Pyper took the final wicket meaning that Ballymena finished their innings on 136 all out.
Despite the low score, this was always going to be a difficult chase. The outfield was terrible and Bangor set up for a dour chase. Michael Martin and Jonny Keenan settled in for the long haul. The two Bangor batsmen got the score to 20 before Keenan was tragically bowled around his legs. McCusker and Martin had put on 22 and everything seemed fine, only for McCusker to fall to a fine caught and bowled from Black. Martin and Griffin painstakingly advanced the score to 59 before Martin fell to a quite ridiculous catch at short cover for an excellent 25.
Sadly, this triggered a collapse of epic proportions. Including Martin, Bangor lost five wickets for three runs, meaning that the score went from 59 for two to 62 for seven. Ben Escott and Chris Walton added 13 before both were out with the score now on 76 for nine and only George Prince and Chris Pyper standing between the home side and victory. Game over you might think. Not according to Prince and Pyper. They batted beautifully together and more than restored pride to the Bangor innings, even giving the visitors a very real chance of victory. Sadly, it wasn’t to be as Pyper holed out with only four overs remaining and 22 runs short. It was a sad end to an excruciatingly painful day.
