Firsts Finally get their Season Up & Running
4 min read
Bangor v Cregagh 08/06/19
After a somewhat disappointing double header the weekend previous, Bangor CC 1st XI were hoping to turn things around against Cregagh. With no wins from the first four league matches, it would certainly be needed. Skipper Chris Burns, having hit more than a thousand balls in practice a mere 48 hours before, confidently walked out to bat on a uncharacteristically green Upritchard Park wicket.
Minutes later his opening partner Nicky McCollum fell with the score on just 7 due to a misjudged Leave that ultimately would end in disaster. 52% of those in attendance amazingly disagreed; it’s incredible what a bit of spin can do.
Burns’ ball-striking ability has never been questioned, and on saturday he showed us glimpses of seasons past in which he has dispatched bowlers to all parts. Unfortunately, with the exception of a gritty 22 from Taimur Khan, no one else could stick around and eventually the captain was out for 80, falling to a rather inconspicuous delivery by C. Irvine (not of Zimbabwe and Hampshire fame). Once again we had failed to show our collective ability with the bat. 139 all out after 40.4 overs was by no means a fair reflexion of the standard of the wicket; there were simply too many bad decisions made out in the middle.
At the interval the grey clouds circled, things looked bleak on the meteoric front as well as from the point of view of the humans/canines who had come to give their support. We knew that in order to win this fixture, we would have to rip out the top order and hope that Cregagh’s tail wouldn’t wag. The teas were consumed and following impassioned speeches by Burns, Stewart et al. the ‘party boys’ took to the field hoping that the only Levels echoing from the changing rooms would be Avicii’s and not those of the NIACUS.
Our adversaries put on 38 for the first wicket, in normal situations teams would have given up but the Bangorian bowlers were rampant. Wickets fell at regular intervals and at 130/7 Bangor still firmly believed.
Alas the rain arrived and along with it the dreaded Duckworth-Lewis sheet. Cregagh were ahead by 12 runs. In order to win we would have to pray for an immediate dry spell as the cut off point was fast approaching.
A break in the weather never came, and so despite batting first, we lost by a dozen runs. The points had gone, but it must be mentioned that a crucial member of our squad had returned. Having Josh back from his sabbatical rendered Sunday’s fixture against Armagh even more mouth-watering.
Armagh v Bangor 09/06/19
Following on from a tough defeat at home to Cregagh the day before, Bangor made the long trek to Armagh with renewed optimism following a run of recent games that could have gone either way but ultimately not in Bangor’s favour.
Skipper Burns called incorrectly at the toss and were asked to bat first on a wicket that had seen better days. The first 10-15 overs were going to be crucial for both sides with Armagh looking for wickets and Bangor looking to preserve wickets at the start of the innings. Unfortunately for Bangor no real significant partnerships developed with wickets falling at regular occurrence.
However, there were significant contributions relative to the quality of the pitch from Burns & Khan at the top of the order. Bangor knew at this stage that every run mattered and M. Nixon together with McLarnon put together what proved to be an invaluable partnership at the back end of the innings, scoring 50 runs between them. Wickets began to fall soon after with regularity to leave Bangor at the end of their 50 overs on 155, around a par score.
Bangor knew that their only real chance of a victory was taking all 10 Armagh wickets and after a solid start from Armagh at 56-1, skipper Burns turned to Mike Grossett. What followed was a magical spell of bowling tearing apart the Armagh top order for 5-36 off his 10 overs(his 5th wicket featuring a spectacular catch from McLarnon behind the stumps)including two hat trick balls to ‘swing’ momentum in Bangor’s favour at 74-6.
Armagh to their credit began a mini fightback and had seen off the impressive Grossett and the evergreen Stewart leaving them 107/6needing a further 49 runs to win. Burns turned to Prince and opening bowler Khan needing a breakthrough, Prince then rearranged Lesters’ middle stump leading the way for Khan to mop up the tail with Bangor winning by 44 runs in the end. An impressive victory for a Bangor side that are beginning to hit their stride with their confidence ‘levels’ returning to something seen in last years impressive season.
