A Thriller by the Mournes

Saturday witnessed Bangor 1^st XI get their league campaign off and running with a well deserved but very closely contested win away to Dundrum. On what was a picturesque setting in the foothills of the Mourne Mountains and under blue skies and a radiant sun, once again the Bangor skipper lost what looked to be an important toss and his men had to bat first on what looked bowler friend conditions. This proved to be the case with the Dundrum opening bowlers putting together an excellent opening spell and receive an LBW dismissal a piece for their reward. This left the returning Mark Hutchinson and new overseas player Robbie van Harte to rebuild and solidify the innings. This partnership was crucial as they saw out the impressive opening spell of Campbell and Swanepoel without further damage. The 12^th over of the game saw Hutchinson chase a wide delivery from Symington that he unfortunately could only edge behind into the waiting hands of Dundrum keeper Jenkins. This brought together Bangor’s wicketkeeping batsman Kirkpatrick and van Harte to begin what would be a match defining partnership. The pair were able to aggressively put the bowlers under pressure, in particular Dundrum captain McNerlin, who usually bowls his quota economically, was taken for 36 runs off 4 overs before he brought himself out of the attack. Kirkpatrick was adjudged LBW to the first ball of the returning Swanepoel and van Harte found himself a new partner in the form of James Patterson. These two added another vital 32 runs before Patterson found point with a forcing shot off the back foot. As the innings progressed towards it’s closing stages wickets started to fall quickly as the Bangor batsmen attempted to up the scoring rate. Van Harte was dismissed with 5 overs remaining for an excellent 68 off 74 balls. The very impressive Stian Swanepoel went through the lower order, bowling 3 more wickets to finish with figures of 5-19 off his 8 overs. Bangor completed their 40 overs scoring 193-9 and what many present at The Meadow thought was a par score. 

Dundrum openers Hutley and Phillips began their pursuit of 194 and had the duo of van Harte and Prince to contend with. Bangor wicketkeeper Andrew Kirkpatrick was up to the stumps to keep the batting pair in their crease and make already difficult batting conditions more problematic. The Bangor duo bowled with great accuracy and patience and this pressure told as Hutley, eager to rotate strike, misjudged a run to midwicket and the experienced Hutchinson made light work of flicking the ball up to Kirkpatrick to dislodge the bails. This brought Stuart Campbell to the middle and much like many of the batters before him he found timing and fluency difficult and he was the second Dundrum wicket to fall, this time van Harte gathering a straight drive to remove the number 3, caught and bowled. The Dundrum overseas, Swanepoel now joined Phillips in the middle and in his accustomed manner, implemented his aggressive style onto the run chase. Swanepoel quickly got himself to 22 off 16 balls with five boundaries before he received the delivery of the game. It was the beginning of the 18^th over when slow left armer, Will Simpson delivered a ball that drifted into batsman and lured him forward only to spin away and hit the top of off stump. This prompted jubilant celebration from the visiting Seasiders, knowing how crucial a wicket this was. In a great show of sportsmanship, Swanepoel congratulated the young left arm spinner on the delivery on his way off the field. The remainder of Dundrum innings followed a very similar pattern to what had gone before with Bangor building a lot of pressure and picking up regular wickets. The one main stay for the South Down team was that of opening batsman Rhodri Phillips. Bangor had spurred several chances to remove the opener and as the innings came towards it’s finale this was looking like it could back to haunt the visitors. In the 30^th over the Bangor side believed they had Phillips stumped and the batsman looked to turn and walk to the pavilion only to turn on his heels as the square leg umpire remained motionless. The 32^nd over seemed like the game once again swung towards the visitors as George Prince took two wickets in two balls to leave the Dundrum side 144-8. To their great credit Dundrum kept believing and with 2 overs of the contest to be completed they found themselves 179-8 and needing 15 from 12 balls to secure the win. Patterson stepped up to bowl the penultimate over and clean bowled the Dundrum opener and mainstay Phillips for 75. This left numbers 10 and 11 the task of chasing down the remainder of the target. The final over pressure fell to left-armer Chris Walton with the home side requiring 9. They made a good start in pursuit scoring 3 off the first 2 deliveries. Walton then swung the contest back to Bangor with two dot balls. Now requiring 6 off 2 balls and boundaries hard to come by the Bangor side looked favourites but last over pressure saw the next three deliveries go, wide, 2, wide and suddenly the chasing side required 2 off the last ball with 1 securing the tie. Pressure was now back on Walton who delivers full, outside off stump. The Dundrum batter leaves the delivery as it is close to the wide line once again all eyes turn the umpire and once again he remains motionless but this time in favour of the travelling Bangor side as wicketkeeper Kirkpatrick collects the delivery and stumps the batter, securing the 4 points for the men from Upritchard Park. Bangor winning by 1 run and get their season up and running.

This week sees Bangor 1^st XI on the road again, with a rearranged league at Sandy Bay v Larne on Thursday evening and a Junior Cup v Warringstown II’s on Saturday at the Lawn.