Triumphant Return to Upritchard Park for the 1XI
3 min read
Bangor continued their fine start to the season with a comfortable victory by 70 runs over a spirited Donaghadee side on Saturday at Uprichard Park. One of the great joys of this shortened season is the opportunity for Bangor to welcome our friends from Donaghadee having not played them in a competitive fixture in many years. The game was played in great spirits and although the Bangor team was always expected to win, Donaghadee can be very proud of their efforts in defeat.
Given the gulf in class between the two sides it was always going to be a tough decision for the visiting skipper, Cunningham, when he won the toss. He took the brave decision to insert especially when the Bangor openers had easily chased 90 against Holywood on the previous weekend. Parker and English were seen to be visibly elated by the opportunity to bat as they took to the middle looking to plunder early runs. It was down to the Dee’s strike bowlers of Martin and Star Man Jordan McCluskey to try to restrict them.
Bangor started steadily, following much the same pattern as the previous week. Jonny Parker proved to be the aggressor scoring quickly all around the ground. English was more watchful, waiting for the bad ball to punish the Dee accordingly. Together the pair put on 46 before Parker fell to a fine catch in the covers by the Donaghadee Skipper of the bowling of W Martin. The platform successfully set, English looked to accelerate and took the score past 70, ably supported by Michael Martin who had himself been signed from the visitors in the close season.
Just as Martin was beginning to find his feet he was dismissed LBW to Fraser for 8. When English fell in the 11th over as he was beginning to power into overdrive it seemed that the Dee may have fought themselves back into the match. The fall of the wickets brought the Bangor Skipper Adam McCusker and Taj Onyekwelu to the crease. They formed a chanceless partnership that ultimately took the game out of Donaghadee’s reach. It was simple cricket executed at it’s very best with fine running between the wickets and the bad ball being punished with supreme skill. This was fantastic to watch from a Bangor perspective and they took the score to 142 before McCusker was run out of the last ball of the innings.
The rate was set at seven per over and Bangor’s bowling attack looking strong, the home side were undeniably favourites going into the second half of the contest. Bangor welcomed back Mike Grossett to the Bangor attack for his first game of the season. It was clear that Donaghadee would need to start quickly to get anywhere near the Bangor score. Sadly, this was not to be the case as some fine bowling from Onyekwelu and Grossett and some lack of adventure from the Donaghadee batsmen saw the score on one after three overs. Even at this early stage the match was over as a contest.
Wickets for Grossett and Walton, another Bangor signing from the Dee, saw Bangor take a stranglehold on the game. After ten overs Donaghadee had only managed to score 16 runs. Fraser tried to bring some attacking intent to the Dee innings adding a quickfire 13 before he was bowled by Prince. As with the Holywood match, Prince followed this up with another quick wicket leaving the score at 28 for four in the thirteenth over. McCluskey played an expansive five ball innings sending the ball to the rope three times before being caught behind from a vicious outswinger from Michael Martin. The match effectively being over allowed McCusker to look at his bowling options and he will have liked what he saw, with Pyper, Bates, Boyd all bowling well. The match concluded with a stunning direct hit run out from Mark English, who was seen to mouth the word ‘standards’ to his awestruck teammates. The remaining Donaghadee opener, Keenan, was left high and dry on 25 as the Dee struggled to 72 for six after their twenty overs. It was a fine performance for McCusker’s men and they will be looking forward to the challenge of playing in Ards this coming Saturday.
Scorebook from the match can be found here
Photos from the match by Joe McEwan can be found here
