Comprehensive Victory for Cliftonville Academy in the Cup
3 min read
In the first match of a double header weekend, CliftonvilleAcademy played host to Adam McCusker’s young side in the first round of the Challenge Cup at the Castle Grounds on Saturday. The match was to end in a comprehensive victory for the home side by 126, but the Bangor men acquitted themselves well, especially with the ball and will have gained invaluable experience for the rest of the season to come. This weekend also saw the return of 50 over cricket after two years of T20 due to the ongoing pandemic.
Cliftonville Academy won the toss and elected to bat on what looked like a fine pitch. This gave an opportunity for Josh Bates and Chris Pyper to lead the Bangor attack against perhaps the freest scoring openers in the league. It was a day for the Bangor attack to be patient and it was not until the last ball of the 11th over that they gained a breakthrough with the inimitable Bates getting rid of Cahill thanks to a fine catch behind the stumps by James Griffin. The first wicket had put on 57, so it was vital that Bangor made quick inroads to stop the match getting away from them.
The second and third wickets fell quickly. The timeless Terrethit another Bates delivery straight to Michael Martin at backward point. When the dangerous McCord fell to a sublime slip catch by Kris King to give Chris Pyper a well-deserved wicket, Bangor were right back in the match at 71 for the loss of three wickets. The problem lay in that the other opener, Burton, was now set and looking extremely dangerous. He passed his half century from only 38 balls and was looking ominous. He was ably supported by Moffett and together the fourth wicket partnership began to assert their dominance over the young Bangor side.
Burton and Moffett took the score to 157 with the former scoring a destructive and chanceless century in only 58 deliveries. It would have been very easy at this point for the Bangor heads to drop as there were still 29 overs to bowl. This was a time for the young side to step up and they certainly responded to the challenge. First, Ben Escott trapped the assured Moffett in front of his stumps LBW and he departed for 22. Escott struck again just after drinks, getting Kelso to edge to the flawless Griffin behind the stumps. When Burton himself departed next clean bowled, the young Bangor star had three wickets in succession. From 157 for three, Bangor had wrestled the score to 179 for six.
A brief rally from the home side saw the score reach 194 before Bangor struck again. George Prince got the ball to move away from the hapless Roe and he too edged behind to Griffin. At this stage only 36 overs had been bowled so it was vital that Bangor held their nerve and ended the CliftonvilleAcademy innings quickly. The task was left to the young pairing of Will Simpson and Calum McDaid. Simpson has been working tirelessly on his bowling with mentor Mark Nixon in the nets. Many nights at Uprichard you will see the youngster with a bag of balls bowling at a single stump as darkness falls around him. This dedication paid off as Simpson took two of the remaining three wickets for only three runs. Fine catches by Griffin and King abetted the young star’s haul. Young McDaid struck with a beautiful LBW from the other end and an innings that had looked so threatening petered out to a paltry 207 from just short of 37 overs.
Sadly, the chase did not live up to the standards set in the field. Cliftonville Academy are a very fine side and perhaps the exertions that Bangor had given in the field meant that they were mentally exhausted by the time they came to bat. Wickets fell at regular intervals, with only Simpson and Escott making double figures. Bangor battled to 81 and lost the match by 126 runs. In spite of such a heavy defeat, it was impossible to come away from the Castle Grounds feeling nothing but pride for the performance they had put in and excitement for what is to come for the future.
