Downed by North Down
Ballymena players and supporters have had many dark days in the past but none of those could possibly compare to the humiliation that was handed out to them on Saturday at the home of North Down in the NCU Premier League.
3 weeks ago at Eaton Park, North Down batmen put the Ballymena attack to the sword, hammering 340 runs in a cup match. This time they didn’t just go one better, they went 27 better and ended up with a new NCU Premier League record of 367 for 8 in their 50 overs.
Ryan Haire (158) and Andrew Sutherland (119) were the main contributors to the record total and smashed any loose bowling to all parts of the Comber road ground. Michael Glass as always was the most consistent of the Ballymena bowlers, delivering his 10 overs for only 37 runs. Aphale also bowled well, taking 3 wickets and a cost of 48.
Ballymena captain, James Kennedy was particularly critical of his sides fielding, ‘’over the years we have developed a reputation for fighting hard in the field and making life very difficult for opposing batsmen but today we dropped 5 catches and were guilty of numerous ground fielding errors which at this level is completely unacceptable. It is something that we will be working hard on in practice and I am confident that we will not perform as poorly in the field ever again.’’
If at half time the Ballymena senior players thought their day couldn’t get any worse, they were wrong. Ballymena’s star studded batting line up was ripped apart by North Down’s bowlers and only James Kennedy prolonged the inevitable, scoring a very subdued 37 not out.
All is not lost however, I have been ‘about’ the Ballymena team long enough to know that they are a talented and proud bunch of players. They have a fantastic team spirit and dressing room banter that is better than at any other club in the country. The majority of the team have fought hard for each other over the course of 2 decades and younger players as they have come into the team have also displayed that fighting spirit. I have no doubt that they are experienced and talented enough to be able to bounce back from this defeat.
This Saturday will see another tough test for the Broughshane Road men as they visit Carrick. The match will be played at Middle Road starting at midday.
The team will be selected from the following;
J Kennedy, S McDowell, G Fisher, K Aphale, R Kennedy, D Kennedy, M Glass, C Williams, M Taylor, F Taylor, A Kirkpatrick, M Purse
Scorecards below
Scorecards
North Down 1st XI
How Out Bowler
N Russell bowled Verjee 18
A Sutherland Ct J Kennedy Aphale 119
R Haire Ct & Bowled Aphale 158
T Khan Ct Taylor Williams 13
D Harding ct J Kennedy Williams 5
P Shields Bowled Williams 12
D Graham ct Verjee Aphale 28
A Haire Not Out 2
M Moreland Run Out 1
Extras 11
Total 367for 8 off 50 overs
M Glass 10-2-37-0 M Verjee 3-0-29-1 K Aphale 10-0-48-3
S McDowell 10-0-32-0 C Williams 10-3-93-3 M Purse 2-0-24-0
D Kennedy 4-0-41-0 F Taylor 1-0-13-0
Ballymena 1st XI
How Out Bowler
C Williams Ct Shields Harding 1
M Verjee Ct Khan McKenna 0
D Kennedy Bowled McKenna 11
K Aphale Bowled Harding 0
J Kennedy Not Out 37
A Kirkpatrick bowled Harding 9
G Fisher Ct Shields Khan 11
M Glass bowled Moreland 2
F Taylor LBW Khan 2
S McDowell Run Out 6
M Purse LBW Moreland 6
Extras 11
Total 96 all out off 37 overs
G McKenna 8-2-26-2 D Harding 8-1-25-3 T Khan 5-1-8-2
M Moreland 7-1-10-2 A Haire 5-1-18-0 R Haire 4-2-8-0
