Bangor lost by the agonising margin of one wicket against league leaders, Derriaghy, at Queensway on Saturday. Bangor were the better side for much of the pulsating contest but lost out with two balls to spare as the home side remain unbeaten for the season. Although the result was heart breaking for the young Bangor side, they will have learnt much from this defeat, not least that they can compete with any side in Section One.
Bangor skipper, Adam McCusker won the toss and elected to bat in yet another beautiful day in this wonderful summer. This was a bold move as much of Bangor’s shortcomings this season have been with the bat, but McCusker was resolute and gave his team the confidence to go out and play their game. The successful partnership of Jonny Keenan and Michael Martin took to the wicket determined to see Bangor off to a solid start. After a brief spell of settling in, the Bangor openers began to take the attack to the league leaders.
Martin was beginning to find the boundary with ease, smashing 16 from the sixth over doubling the Bangor score. This early aggression caught Derriaghy by surprise and their attack was showing signs of ill-discipline, firing wides down the legside. Keenan was patient at the other end, happy to punish the bad ball when it came along. The partnership had now reached 53 from only 50 balls and was looking strong. Tragedy struck when Martin was caught behind for a hither to chanceless 27.
This brought Jonny Parker to the crease and offered the travelling support the first chance to see the Bangor talisman this season. Jonny has been living in England until recently and his return will provide this Bangor side with a much needed shot in the arm ahead of the challenges that lie ahead for the rest of the season. He continued the good work with Keenan and took the score to 86 for the loss of only one wicket at the first drink break after 17 overs. It had been an outstanding start to the Bangor innings.
Unfortunately, Parker was dismissed got behind from the first ball after resumption having put on 33 with Keenan. By this stage, Derriaghy had taken the pace off the ball and it had curtailed the free scoring start to the innings. Despite this, Bangor were prepared for the fight and McCusker joined Keenan and resolutely fended away the constant threat from the Derriaghy spinners. Having survived this onslaught, Derriaghy turned to the part time option of Dempsey and this change brought fruit immediately, with Keenan bowled for 30 by the first ball of his spell. Bangor had passed the 100 mark and looked set for the biggest score of the season.
McCusker was joined by Mark Nixon and these two set about building the Bangor innings. Mark Nixon look in imperious form, finding the gaps with ease and playing his most assured innings of the season. Nixon and McCusker took the score to 134 before McCusker was caught when trying to clear to long off boundary. This brought Prince to the crease and his fine form with the bat continued. Bangor will be pleased that each of their wickets formed partnerships this week and didn’t ever look like collapsing as has been the case this season. Prince has turned himself into a reliable all-rounder and his recent performances with the bat have been phenomenal.
Nixon and Prince put on an excellent 69 before Prince was caught on the boundary. This was in the 44th over with the score now over 200. Mark Nixon passed his 50 moments later to the sound of rapturous applause. The Bangor fans have waited quite some time for a half century this season. He was out trying to increase the run rate. That job ultimately fell to Will Simpson and pinch hitter, Chris Walton who bought the score to 247 for the loss of seven wickets after Bangor’s allotted overs. It was the first time that the visitors had batted 50 overs this season.
There was a sense of euphoria in the Bangor changing room at the break. To build such a cultured and impressive innings against the top placed side in the league filled the team with great confidence. The blood was certainly up as Bangor took to the field. It was Walton who struck first, dismantling the stumps of the talented Wade with the score on only 11. At the other end Adam Simmonite was bowling an exceptionally tight line and the Derriaghy batsmen were struggling. Bailey and Dempsey began to fight their way back into the match,batting for the next 15 overs before Chris Pyper took the wicket of Dempsey with an excellent caught and bowled.
Once more it was down to the Derriaghy skipper Bailey to steady the home side. He batted sensibly with Lewis and they began to set up a potentially match winning partnership. The introduction of left arm supremo Will Simpson began to turn the match in Bangor’s favour. In the space of four balls, Simpson got Bailey to hole out to Parker in the covers for a well-crafted 54. When Halliday, who had scored a half century for the Emerging Knights the day before, was caught behind by the excellent Griffin, Bangor had clawed their way back to 128/4. The match was now well and truly on.
Kenny and Lewis were building when the irrepressible Simpson struck again, getting the former to smash one straight back to him. When Nixon bowled Jennings in the 37th score the home side were still 77 runs short. Much would now depend on the wicket of Lewis, if Bangor were able to get him quickly then they would be in the match, if they failed then it was likely that the home side would be victorious. Wickets were still falling at the other end when Prince made a spectacular catch on the square leg boundary to get rid of Kinnon, giving Nixon his second wicket. The vital wicket of Leiws still eluded the Bangor side as Derriaghy passed 200 and Lewis himself passed 50.
With the score on 207, Bangor eventually got their man. Lewis skied the ball to the receptive hands of Jonny Parker at mid-off giving Bangor their eight wicket. Derriaghy were still 41 runs short with only six overs and two wickets remaining. A bit of luck and some hard hitting saw the home side reach the last ball of Walton’s spell which he used to clean bowl Fuzzard. This meant that the equation was 13 required from 12 balls with only one wicket remaining. It a thrilling finale the Derriaghy final wicket pairing of Cardozi and Hughes held their nerve to hit the winning runs with only two balls to spare. Sometimes in life you don’t get what you deserve. This was one of those occasions.
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