Above: Ryan Haire in action for the 2ndXI at Muckamore
Its been a slightly disappointing couple of weeks with the M1s losing the big Premier League game against Waringstown at The Green last week and the M2s defeat in the Ulster Plate semi-final at Muckamore yesterday.
The PL showdown turned out to be a bit of a non-event as the home sides batters didn’t turn up – only Mo Aahil with 42 making a meaningful contribution and to be honest some of the bowling (A Shields 3 for 51 pick of the figures and 6 good overs from young Jacob McC-D aside) and rather unexpectedly the fielding wasn’t up to scratch either.
Beaten by the better side it has to be said. Scorecard HERE
But all is far from lost and this week will sort out the rankings for the first half of the season as we host Woodvale in a 20 over refix (Sunday morning) and then will try again at Castle Grounds on Sunday afternoon v Cliftonville in another shorter format dig, to see where we sit at the ‘split’.
Ryan Galway’s troops came second at Moylena in the UP semi and a distant second in the end, but not before a few ‘what if’ moments.
15 year old Jaxon Dines bowled another tidy spell at the top of the innings and Drew Parker was unlucky not to make the breakthrough early on with a close LBW shout. Ryan Haire (3 for 18) was his usual frugal self and Tim Carson (4 for 45) was amongst the wickets but biggest credit on the day went to another 15 year old, Joel Parker, on debut who bowled 7 overs for just 17 runs.
Chasing 191 at 36 for 3 the run chase was under pressure but at 100 for 3 and Ryan Haire in cruise control things had swung in the visitors favour. Unfortunately his partner Peter Shields had to retire hurt with a quad injury and when Haire (57) departed shortly after, wickets began to tumble. Shields attempted to return at the fall of the sixth wicket but the umpires erroneously said he couldn’t and after that the innings folded pretty quickly, 60 runs the final margin. Scorecard HERE
Disappointing on the day, but the 2s have made really good progress this year under Ryan G’s leadership and the addition of Ryan H as a permanent fixture on the side will ensure stability moving forward.
The ladies teams have had a fairly baren spell of late but the M4s have picked up a couple of wins between the rain showers – remember you can keep up to date with all our teams in the NV Play section on the site.
