Firsts Claim Convincing Win Away at Ards

Bangor put in another sparkling performance as the swept away Ards, by the massive margin of 129 runs, at Londonderry Park on Saturday. As with the previous week’s fixture against Donaghadee, this was a match that Bangor would have expected to win but it is the level of performance that will have pleased Skipper Adam McCusker who has made a flawless start to the captaincy of the side.

Bangor won the toss and elected to bat on an overcast day with a greenish wicket prepared. In a pre-meditated move, it was decided that the batting order would be altered to allow those who haven’t had much time at the crease a chance to bat. One of the downside of T20 matches is that the games can be dominated by one or two players. Wary of next week’s crunch match against Holywood, McCusker was happy to see a few options. Mike Grossett and Mark English strode purposely to the middle.

The openers looked comfortable knocking the ball around confidently before Grossett got a shooter with the score on 17. Ben Escott joined English in the middle and also looked very accomplished before he also suffered the same fate. It became apparent that the ball was going to stay low throughout the day, a fact that had not gone unnoticed by the Bangor attack and they were already paying very close attention. When young debutant Callum McDaid was unfortunately run out and English was caught on the mid-wicket boundary, just has he looked to be getting going, Bangor found themselves in a spot of bother at 34 for four in only the sixth over.

Ards’ delight at their excellent start was short lived. The flurry of wickets brought Jonny Parker and McCusker to the wicket and they began to arrest the slide very quickly. Both these batsmen had been in form, with Parker dominating in the first match against Holwood and McCusker last week against the Dee. After they had stabilised the innings, knocking the ball safely in space and running fiercely, they both began to open up and it was a joy to behold. Both batsmen began to flay the ball to the boundary at will, hitting three maximums each. In the blinking of an eye, they had put on 109, taking the score to 143, a score that was probably beyond what Ards could muster.

McCusker was out, trying to accelerate further, for a beautiful 55 from only 36 balls. Parker was joined by Chris Pyper who ran excellently while adding a few lusty blows of his own. Pyper fell for 13 with only two balls of the innings remaining. This meant that Parker carried his bat for an excellent 61 from only 38 deliveries. This outstanding partnership had led Bangor to a huge total of 172, which was made even more impressive by the peril they had found themselves in during the innings.

Bangor showed no mercy with the ball when they took to the field. Taj Onyekwelu has done a great job of spearheading the Bangor attack this summer and Saturday was no exception. He cleaned up the opener Khan with a fine catch from Pyper, before getting Crawford caught behind by McCusker. The Ards players were the first to admit that Taj, in particular, was a step above anything they had seen before. The first and second change bowlers of Bates and Prince brought immediate and then relentless success as they quickly picked up five wickets between them, four of them bowled.

Ards struggled manfully on but Bangor’s attack showed no sense of slowing down as Bates and Prince were replaced by Grossett and Walton who took the final three wickets between them (two for Grossett, one for Walton) and the innings was over with Ards all our for a paltry 44 runs in only 13.4 overs. It was a simply devastating performance with the ball and stands Bangor in excellent stead for their key match with Holywood on Saturday.

Match Scorecard available here