Eaton Park cricketers suffer defeat at hands of leaders

Ballymena 1st XI were beaten by five wickets by league leaders Waringstown in a hard-fought Premier League encounter at Eaton Park on Saturday.
Ballymena Yogesh Takewale lines up a big hit during Saturday's NCU Premier League match against Waringstown at Eaton Park. 
Picture: Press Eye.Ballymena Yogesh Takewale lines up a big hit during Saturday's NCU Premier League match against Waringstown at Eaton Park. 
Picture: Press Eye.
Ballymena Yogesh Takewale lines up a big hit during Saturday's NCU Premier League match against Waringstown at Eaton Park. Picture: Press Eye.

After setting a target of 177 Ballymena seemed to have the visitors under a bit of pressure at one stage, only for Waringstown to show their resilience and strength in depth as they eased to victory in the 48th over.

Ballymena were put in to bat and made a reasonable start. James Kennedy hit a quick 24 before he appeared unlucky to be given out caught behind off Gary Kidd’s bowling.

David Kennedy and Yogesh Takawale then both batted positively to take the score to 77 for 2 after 20 overs. At this score Kennedy (21) was bowled by Kidd and the Ballymena innings then seemed to lose momentum against Waringstown’s accurate 4-man spin attack.

Takawale had started quite positively but as wickets began to fall his batting became more watchful and the scoring rate slowed markedly.By the time he was caught in the covers for 63 Ballymena had reached 152 for 7 in 42 overs.

Thanks largely to some positive shots by Jack Gibson (16), Ballymena’s tailenders managed to bring the final total up to a respectable 176. However at 77 for 2 the home side must have been hoping for a score of at least 200 to put real pressure on the visitor’s strong batting line-up.

When Waringstown began their reply, a fine spell of bowling by Michael Glass looked as if it might give Ballymena a real chance of a surprise victory. The experienced seam bowler produced an excellent 10-over spell which brought him 2 wickets for only 16 runs.

This left Waringstown 49 for 3 after 18 overs and the visitors looked to be in real trouble a few overs later when the experienced Kyle McCallan aggravated a calf injury and had to retire hurt. This left Waringstown captain Lee Nelson at the crease with the relatively inexperienced David Dawson at a crucial stage of the game.

Another quick wicket at that point might well have swung the game in Ballymena’s favour, but Dawson played a fine innings of 61 not out which ultimately proved to be the match-winning knock. He received good assistance from both Nelson (30) and Johnny Bushe (25) and fittingly he struck the winning boundary with 2.2 overs to spare.

Steve Lazars picked up 2 wickets for 39 as he and the other Ballymena bowlers battled right to the death. However, in truth, the Ballymena attack seemed to lack the firepower required to pick up the crucial wickets needed at key moments in the game.

Ballymena travel to CSNI on Saturday still looking for that important second victory which should ensure their survival in the Ulster Bank Premier League, However CSNI are a strong side with good batting depth and a useful seam bowling line-up.

THIRDS

Ballymena Thirds recorded their sixth win from eight league games when they beat Instonians by five wickets.

Sam Glass finished with 4 overs 3 for 12 and there were also 2 run outs while he was bowling. Instonians were only able to score 130 in their 30 overs on a good batting surface.

Ballymena’s chase went very smoothly as opener Ricky McNeil played a brilliant knock of 82 not out.