Sublime Season Opener for the Firsts

Bangor romped to a swashbuckling victory by ten wickets over old rivals Holywood at Seapark on Saturday. In what was a scintillating display, new skipper Adam McCusker will be delighted with this start, especially with the disruption that Covid-19 has caused to the season. Bangor can now look forward to their further round robin fixtures against Donaghadee and Ards with renewed vigour, given how dominant they were in every aspect of the game at the weekend.

McCusker won the toss and made the easy decision to field.  After a period of silent reflection to remember those who have lost their lives during the current pandemic, McCusker took his new look side to the field. The Bangor starting XI only contained two players who played in the final game of the 2019 season, so it was difficult to know what to expect from the Bangor side. The tone was set when the returning Taj Onyekwelu clean bowled the hapless Browne with the last ball of the first over.

Anderson joined the remaining opener Best at the wicket and began to rebuild the innings. Steadily, they took the score to 30 after seven overs despite some fine bowling from Onyekwelu and Chris Walton, one of two new recruits from Donaghadee. Although all matches have been reduced to twenty overs per side, this was a crucial point in the match. Bangor kept their discipline and got a deserved breakthrough when Josh Bates was introduced into the attack. He got one to move away and catch the edge which flew to Michael Martin, the other debutant, who took a fine catch diving away to his left to dismiss Anderson.

There was now a definite sense that Bangor were beginning to get on top. George Prince and Chris Pyper bowled exquisitely in tandem with the latter striking first, drawing the Holywood skipper, Hayes, into skying one to the grateful Martin who held the catch expertly. Best and Wilson battled to keep Holywood in the game but it was slow progress. Bangor would have been feeling comfortable as the score reached 59/3 in the 13^th over. In the space of two balls, George Prince effectively ended the match as a contest. Firstly, the dangerous Wilson sent a ball high into orbit and it was deftly taken by the inimitable Bates who had spent the entire lockdown period practicing for such a moment. As the batsmen crossed Best was now on strike but only for one delivery before the stumps were sent cartwheeling backwards. The score had reached 59/5 after 13 overs.

Bangor continued to bowl with accuracy and patience. Holywood struggled to gain any momentum but Marks and Gardner dug in to take the score to 85/5 after 17 overs. Not to be outdone, the two Bangor bowlers who had yet to pick up wickets duly obliged in the last three overs of the innings. Bates struck first, clean bowling Garner for a spirited nine. Finally, Walton claimed a most deserved wicket getting Marks to send a catch to Jonny Parker who did well to take the catch given that he had sustained a nasty injury to his finger earlier in the innings. The Holywood innings closed on 90/7 with the home side only managing five runs in the last three overs. All five of the Bangor bowlers took wickets.

The break in innings brought a period of quiet reflection. It had been a fine fielding performance, undoubtedly that was true, but with it being the first game of the season it was difficult to know just how good it was. The task of opening the Bangor innings fell to the experienced (but injured) Parker and the talisman of all talismen, Mark English. These two took to the middle with happy hearts looking to set up a famous victory for the visiting side. The openers were watchful early on, happy to pick up the odd single and look for the extras.

Of the two, Parker was the aggressor early on in the innings. After six overs Bangor had meandered their way peacefully to 23 with Parker scoring 14 and English only four. They had seen off the dangerous Kennedy but they were still far from home. What happened next is a joyous blur of willow combined with sound of the ball flying to the boundary. In four overs, the two masters of the craft added 35, Parker scoring classically on the off side and English causing a real threat to passing trains on the leg side. In four more overs the match was over. English became the aggressor in the final third of the innings finishing on 45 not out, while Parker finished on 36.

A ten wicket victory certainly did not flatter Bangor as they were utterly dominant in every single area. Huge congratulations most go to Adam McCusker for instilling such belief early on in a season and this only bodes well for the future. The result was what Bangor would have wanted but it was arguably the performance and style of the victory that was most satisfying. Most satisfying indeed.

Match Photos from Joe McEwan available here