Big Victory for the 1XI Over Donacloney

Saturday saw Bangor take on Donacloney Mill in a ‘must-win’ fixture. The fixture played host to Bangor’s corporate lunch, which hosted a number of club legends, current and past to dine and watch cricket in Northern Irelands most spectacular venue, Upritchard Park. Not only that, but the cricket club were also competing for a headline result on a day that saw pop stars storm the newly crowned city.  

Bangor won the toss and elected to bat on a wicket that screamed runs. The very first ball of the day from Kennedy was pushed to the fielder at short cover by McMillan and the score read 0-1 – not the start Bangor would have envisioned. This brought to the crease Bangor’s Cult hero – Samunderu, who along with Keenan put on a 148-run partnership that gripped spectators for hours in the glorious Bangorian sunshine. Whilst Samunderu unleashed his array of expansive and aesthetically pleasing shots, Keenan knuckled down at the other end and provided the glue to Bangors fine innings. Samunderu brought up his century with a cut to the boundary in front of the roaring crowd; a moment that will live long in the memory of spectators for many years to come. Samunderu finally parted for a wonderful 106 runs, with a platform well and truly established for Bangor to accelerate. The fun was not over yet, as the wicket saw the arrival of the King, the King of Bangor. With just over a fifth of the innings to go, King launched an attack on the Donacloney bowlers, which saw him dismiss them to all parts of the ground. Unsurprisingly, his fifty arrived in no time, 26 balls to be precise. During this period, Keenan, passed 50 and decided to join in on Kings’ attack too, with some glorious flurries of the willow. Bangor finished the innings on a mind-blowing 257-4.

With a tough chase ahead of them, Donacloney set about their innings with their talisman Kennedy facing the first over with no trouble. He sneaked a single off the last ball of the over to face the Coventry-express (Bates) at the other end. Bates was able to emulate Kennedy’s antics from the first innings with a wicket off the first ball of his spell, with Kennedy edging a good line-and-length ball to ‘the King’ at first slip.Donacloney’s next partnership was a solid one, and helped them reach 55-1. Until skipper for the day and cult-hero, Samunderu trapped Warren LBW for 27. This opened the floodgates. Young Simmonite, was brought into the attack, where in his fourth over he delivered an over that will never be forgotten. Rumours are the batsmen are still having nightmares. Simmonite delivered a triple-wicket maiden over by cleaning up all three batsmen, with stumps and bails sailing into neighbouring gardens. The next partnership would be crucial and Doncloney had Russell and Darby to thank for that. They were able to stick around for 21 overs with a partnership of 92-runs. That was until Samunderu was able to spin one past a hopeless shot off Darby to clean bowl him. It took until the 44th over for the next wicket, where Bates was able to clean bowl Donacloneys only hope, Russell, for a well-made 55. Bates struck again 2 overs late with a clever catch from Mark Nixon. The final few wickets began to tumble as Donacloney ran out of steam, with David Kennedy polishing off the tail. The final wicket saw the Bangor balcony erupt into ecstasy, with a fantastic days cricket for all involved and a crucial win for the Bangor men. 

This win puts Bangor level on points with Santfield with 16 apiece. Bangors next games sees them travel down to the Mall, Armagh. Go well.

BCC 257-5 50 Overs
K Samunderu 106, J Keenan 69, K King 53

Don 223ao 48.3 Overs
S Warren, 27, R Matthews 23, C Russell 56, P Derby 39
D Kennedy 2-47, J Bates 3-46, A Simmonite 3-24, K Samunderu 2-28

Bangor win by 34 Runs