Bangor vs Cregagh – LVS T20 Trophy – Thursday 7th May
Bangor headed to East Belfast to begin their LVS T20 Trophy defence against Cregagh. The two sides had enjoyed very different starts to the competitive season, but no doubt the home team would offer a significant challenge to the Bangor playing eleven.
Cregagh won the toss and elected to bat first. Pyper and Prince once again opened the bowling, as the home side wasted no time making use of the short boundaries and flat deck to put pressure on the bowlers, finding early boundaries at will.
In the third over, Pyper found the first wicket, removing Cooper for 12 as he chipped a short ball to Gideon Wilson at short fine leg.
Through the next few overs, opener Davison was dominant, hitting boundaries at will as Seb Yeates and Brodie Harrison joined the attack in an attempt to stem the flow of runs. Harrison found a breakthrough, removing Moore, bowled with the final ball of the eighth over.
The batting onslaught continued as young Gideon Wilson entered the attack and battled hard to put the batsmen, who far outweighed him in experience, under pressure. Pyper re-entered the attack and drew Johnston into an inside edge that found its way into the welcoming gloves of Kirkpatrick. At this stage, Cregagh were 148-3 and absolutely on top, with the dangerous Davison still at the crease.
A few balls later, however, the prodigious Wilson got the prized wicket, as Kirkpatrick ran to claim the high catch and end Davison’s reign of terror. This was a terrific wicket for Gideon, who bowled with an application and tenacity far beyond his years, and it is undoubtedly the first of many competitive first-team wickets.
With wickets in hand and the pitch seemingly getting flatter, the remaining Cregagh batsmen continued to swing for the fences. George Prince would finish admirably, removing Beattie and Shannon to earn himself a brace, as Cregagh finished on 210 at the end of their twenty overs.
A dark cloud came over the ground. Travelling fans were seen in huddles, concerned about what they had just witnessed. Had their heroes been vanquished? Was hope all but gone? Was the T20 streak dead?
As these discussions swirled on, there was a break in the clouds and a beam of light shone down at the Memorial Ground. It landed like a spotlight upon the two Bangor openers, Yeates and McMillan, as they headed out to do battle. Was this just superstition, or was Bangorian folklore about to be written?
The first over yielded ten runs, some semblance of hope. The second brought nine runs, under pace but not a disaster. The third over produced twenty runs. The game was on.
Yeates and McMillan set about producing some of the most rambunctious, implacable strokeplay the local cricket scene has ever seen. Boundaries upon boundaries upon boundaries rained down as the total climbed and the boys kept pace.
One could feel a rise around the boundary as belief sprang forth from previously dry wells of hope. Yeates brought up his fifty in just thirty-two balls, and McMillan followed suit in twenty-eight. The stars seemed to have aligned; two of Bangor’s most promising sons were proving to be promising no more. In fact, they had arrived.
The 150 partnership came up after 82 balls, the kind of stand that can break a team’s back. However, seventy runs were still required from six overs. There was no sure thing; the boys had to remain on their game.
At the end of the fifteenth over, all seemed well until McMillan, trying once again to clear the rope, was caught on the boundary off the bowling of Davison. Sam scored seventy runs from thirty-eight balls and struck a resplendent seven fours and two sixes. This wicket brought the bruiser from the bay, Brodie Harrison, to the crease.
Harrison wasted no time, moving to nineteen from just his first seven deliveries and maintaining the allegro tempo of his predecessor. Bangor crossed the 200 mark in the eighteenth over, with the lustiest of blows from Harrison to the long boundary. The hit seemed to still be rising as it decimated the window of a poor neighbouring house. Glass was sent everywhere, yet Harrison showed no regard for the physical damage he had caused; he only had eyes for the emotional damage he could inflict upon opposing bowlers by way of his trademark bludgeoning swipes.
Finally, with ten balls to spare, Harrison hit the winning runs. Bangor had done it. The impossible had been achieved, and a chase that will be enshrined in the annals of Bangor Cricket Club history had taken place before a crowd scratching their eyes, scarcely believing what they had just witnessed.
Yeates left the field unbeaten on eighty-three. There was no panic in the young man’s expression, no fear of failure and, most impressively, he did it all with a class founded upon timing, technique and panache that an eighteen-year-old simply should not possess.
Bangor have started their defence in dreamlike fashion, showing off the guts to chase down a formidable total. What is next for this team? What heights can they soar to? Only time will tell. The only thing that is certain is that this one was special.
Cregagh 210-6 (20 overs, P Davison 84, A Johnston 30, A Beattie 34, C Pyper 2-54, G Prince 2-39)
Bangor 211-1 (18.3 overs, S McMillan 70, S Yeates 83*, B Harrison 35*)
Bangor beat Cregagh by 9 wickets
Bangor vs Adamstown – Irish National Cup – Saturday 9th May
A resplendent Upritchard Park was the setting for a round one Irish National Cup draw between Bangor and Adamstown.
The visitors to UP had a reputation for a great standard of cricket, having been featured on Cricket Ireland’s social media during the week and having recorded a victory in a competitive Leinster league to start the year. It would be no easy task to send them back to Dublin with a defeat. However, Bangor, being in good form, trusted their skills and fancied their chances against the visitors.
Bangor won the toss and elected to bat on what looked to be a vintage UP track, offering desirable conditions for the home batters to post a total.
The innings began with the shakiest of starts as the first ball of the innings jagged in from outside off stump to remove the off stump from the ground. “Goosebumps” was the word used by one fan to describe the feeling of the immediate impact and removal of Bangor’s talisman. However, with a batting line-up of great depth, the Bangor boys trusted their skills in spite of the early hiccup.
Harrison and Yeates set about building the early foundation after the scary beginning. Great discipline was apparent to all watching as the two high-quality batsmen put away the bad ball and defended the good ball, while running well in the interim. Harrison began to accelerate the innings, crunching balls to the rope with no regard for human life. In the fifteenth over, Harrison once again looked to advance the score with reckless abandon. In doing so, he sent the ball up like an SOS signal and it was cleanly taken by the opposition, removing Harrison for 32 and leaving Bangor at 83-2 and rebuilding well.
Seb Yeates seemed dead set on his second half-century of the week, cruising with his trademark ravenous hunger for runs. Attempting to bring up his fifty with a boundary, Yeates nicked off to the frustratingly slow opposition bowling for 47, tantalisingly close to kicking on for a big score.
This meant that Ian Butler and Andrew Kirkpatrick were at the crease, two senior statesmen of the squad looking to use all their know-how to regain the momentum in the innings. However, when Butler picked up an injury after his first breezy single, the pair changed tact. What would typically have been twos now turned into ones. Butler, realising this would not be the way to build an innings, decided that route one would be the most natural option.
Powerful ball striking was on display as spectators were put on high alert on account of Butler’s dispatching of the ball anywhere in front of square. This led to a most enthralling cameo of 43 runs off a measly 24 deliveries until he was caught on the boundary. Meanwhile, at the other end, Kirkpatrick was punctilious in his rotation of strike and punishment of the bad ball.
He was joined by young Felix McMillan at the crease, as the youth international proved his mettle by creating a few boundaries of his own and running as if to dare the fielders to run him out. His youthful exuberance would lead to his demise in the end, as he found himself run out for 29 at just over a run a ball, a most promising innings that included some thundering haymakers to the rope.
Kirkpatrick took the lead in two short partnerships with Farrell and Rayner, who entered the fray and left all too briefly. Kirkpatrick brought up an admirable fifty and would have been forgiven for thinking he would need to control the strike with Prince joining him in the middle.
Alas, to the surprise of many throughout the ground, Prince was to put on a display of classical yet fast-moving lower-order batting. A gentle caress for a single here was followed by a gracefully daring drive over mid-off there. Fielders, spectators and Kirkpatrick could only watch on as Prince brought Bangor forward to a more formidable total than they would at one point have anticipated.
He and Kirkpatrick both ended with red-inkers on 25 and 70 respectively, as Bangor finished on 271, with Kirkpatrick’s search for an average still ongoing.
With the visitors requiring just over seven runs an over, you would expect they may have wanted to take advantage of the powerplay overs. In fact, this was not the case. The two openers were largely contained throughout the early stages by the pace-and-spin combination of Pyper and Farrell. Calls for the cage to be brought out to the middle were heard as the pairing seemingly treated it like a net session.
After the first ten overs, they attempted to re-establish themselves and tried to take the attack to the change bowlers Wilson and Prince, who stared down the advances of the visitors, unflinching in their determination for the first breakthrough.
A mix-up occurred where a yes, no and maybe call left both batsmen stranded at the same end. Farrell was able to find Kirkpatrick, who gladly removed the stumps. Those who witnessed Angus’ effort at Derriaghy last year will notice the marked improvement in his choice of ends. With confusion over which batsman was out, it seemed to be dealer’s choice, with Bawa, who had a strike rate of around fifty, heading pavilionward after being chosen as tribute.
Prince’s dream day continued when he bowled opener Biju for 51, leaving Adamstown 90-2 after 17 overs. Shaky running between the wickets governed the next few overs as spin entered the attack in the form of Harrison and Yeates, who, in reprising their rebuilding batting partnership, sought to continue turning the screw on Adamstown.
Yeates gained the breakthrough, bowling guilefully and tempting David into a loose shot, while a second run out occurred only a few overs later as Damodran looked to maintain strike, sending one of his teammates for an early shower. Adamstown were now 130-4 after 25 overs, with the rate moving above nine an over.
Damodran would meet his own end off the bowling of Brodie Harrison. The wrong ’un turned sufficiently into him as he landed a glancing blow that spun back and took the bails off the stumps in spite of his best efforts to kick the ball away.
It was clinical from there on out. Prince claimed another wicket, caught by Brodie Harrison, who enjoyed a standout day in the field. Even the wounded soldier, Ian Butler, buoyed by the toil of his brethren, circled round to take a great catch, as the rest of the ground prayed he would simply stop the boundary.
A late flourish by Adamstown may have had some players feeling nervous, but resolve was shown as Bangor cantered to a 16-run victory, a margin that did not reflect their control and dominance on the day.
Onto the next round and a home tie versus County Kerry, saving the travel for our heroes once again. Teams are on watch now. Bangor have shown a huge level of determination in the middle, dealt with sporadic adversity admirably and found the elusive habit of victory. Now eyes turn to the league campaign kicking fully into effect and a team heading into it with all the confidence in the world. Come join us. There will be serious cricket that you will not want to miss.
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