‘Moe-d’ Over
A superb all round performance from Ballymena on Saturday against Lurgan saw them pick up their second Premier League win in as many weeks.
Despite the early losses of Robert (2) and David Kennedy (0) Carl Williams and Aphale got stuck into the Lurgan attack. Williams was particularly hard on any width that he was given and for the 2nd week in a row got Ballymena off to a fantastic start. Williams who fell only 2 runs short of his half century last week at CSNI was not going to make the same mistake twice. He eventually fell to an excellent catch on the long on boundary for 78 from only 72 deliveries, which included 8 boundaries and one ‘maximum’. He was given good support during his innings from Aphale (32) and skipper James Kennedy (35), although both were not at their destructive best they kept the scoreboard ‘ticking over’ at a run a ball. However when both were eventually dismissed it was left to Ballymena’s most recent signing, Andy Kirkpatrick, to prove just how strong Ballymena’s batting line up. He scored his first half century for his new club and was eventually out to the last ball of teh innings for a very well made 60 from only 57 balls, scoring particularly strongly in the midwicket area. Ballymena’s innings closed on what looked like a well over par score of 236, particularly as during the innings, Lurgan’s professional Niranjan Godbole dislocated his shoulder while attempting to take a diving catch and would be unable to bat.
It was Michael Glass who destroyed the CSNI top order last week. This week it was the turn of debutant Moe Verjee, (4-33). He opened the bowling with pace, accuracy and bounce ripping through the heart of Lurgan’s strong top order, dismissing Lurgan’s three main batsmen, Hunter, Viljoen and Irwin in double quick time. Michael Glass (1-6) added excellent support from the other end and between them they reduced Lurgan to 25 for 5. The home sides fielding was excellent once again, Carl Williams in particular, took an outstanding catch to dismiss Cameron Grieve.
Ballymena rotated their spin bowlers from either end to great effect and each picked up a wicket as Lurgan were eventually bowled out for 144, falling 92 runs short of their target.
Ballymena captain, James Kennedy was not surprisingly delighted with his team’s performance. ‘’We played well in all 3 aspects of the game today, Carl played positively from the outset which built us a great platform and for Moe (Verjee) to turn out a performance like that in his first appearance was superb.’’
Ballymena would like to thank everyone who came to support them on Saturday and contributed to the annual duck race and BBQ. This week Ballymena will play Lisburn on Friday (18th) at Eaton Park. The match will start at 2.30pm and will be 43 overs per side.
Scorecards below
Scorecards
Ballymena 1st XI
How Out Bowler
R Kennedy Bowled Guy 2
C Williams Ct Hunter Maxwell 78
D Kennedy Ct McKnight Guy 0
K Aphale Ct Viljoen Cam Grieve 32
J Kennedy Bowled Cal Grieve 35
A Kirkpatrick Ct McKnight Cal Grieve 60
G Fisher Ct Chambers Guy 11
M Glass Ct Johnston Cal Grieve 0
M Verjee Not Out 0
Extras 18
Total 236 for 8 off 50 overs
J Guy 10-1-50-3 Cal Grieve 7-0-48-3 B McKnight 3-0-15-0
Cam Grieve 10-0-32-1 P Maxwell 10-1-43-1 N Godbole 10-0-36-0
Instonians 1st XI
How Out Bowler
G Hunter Ct Kirkpatrick Verjee 1
Cam Grieve Ct Williams Glass 2
F Viljoen Bowled Verjee 12
S Chambers Ct D Kennedy Verjee 0
C Irwin Bowled Verjee 3
S Johnston Ct J Kennedy Aphale 30
B McKnight Ct A Kirkpatrick McDowell 38
J Guy Bowled Taylor 14
P Maxwell Bowled J Kennedy 29
Cal Grieve Not Out 10
N Godbole Absent Hurt
Extras 5
Total 144 all out in 43 overs
M Glass 4-2-6-1 M Verjee 10-0-33-4 M Taylor 10.3-28-1
K Aphale 8-2-32-1 S McDowell 6-1-24-1 C Williams 5-2-8-0
J Kennedy 1-0-10-1
