Shortage of runs again costs Ballymena dearly in defeat

Even though the middle-order batting managed to give a level of respectability to the final total, a target of 150 was never going be enough to extend the Comber side’s strong batting line-up.

With Simon McDowell unavailable, Fergus Taylor took over the captaincy.

When he won the toss and decided to bat, Ballymena’s batsmen struggled against good bowling from Muir and Khan.

After 16 overs, William Montgomery, James Kennedy, Yogesh Takawale and David Kennedy were all back in the pavilion and, with the score on 32 for 4, all Ballymena could realistically hope for was damage limitation.

Certainly some respectability was restored by a decent partnership of 65 for the fifth wicket between Steve Lazars and Robert McKinley.

Indeed with the score at 97 for 4 in the 33rd over, the home team must have had hopes of a total approaching 200.

Then the game changed completely when McKinley and Lazars were out in quick succession, both probably a touch unfortunate to pick out fieldsmen as they played attacking shots off Shields.

Lazars, who has done well with the bat all summer, hit 5 fours in his 34, and McKinley, whose organised technique suggests Ballymena might be well advised to have him opening the batting, struck a six and 2 fours in scoring 32.

With Ballymena at 100 for 6 after 35 overs, it looked likely that the team would once again be all out well inside 50 overs.

However the innings did last until the final over thanks largely to a fine innings from veteran Robert Kennedy.

Kennedy, playing his first game of the season after recovering from a long-term injury, showed he still has a lot to offer with his judicious shot selection and intelligent running between the wickets.

Kennedy had scored 33, including 2 well-struck straight sixes, when he was stumped in the final over.

By this stage Ballymena had managed to bring their score up to 149, more than had looked likely at 32 for 4 but not enough to give their bowlers a realistic chance against North Down’s strong batting.

It must be said that Ballymena’s bowlers cannot be blamed if they are starting to feel discouraged by having to defend under-par totals every week, so it is hardly surprising that they never looked like causing an upset.

The visitors’ openers Terrett and Larkin put on 44 before Terrett was out to a smart low catch by James Kennedy off Michael Taylor’s bowling. Larkin and Haire, helped by not being under any real run-rate pressure, were then able to bat through to the drinks break without any major alarms although Ballymena will be disappointed that they failed to hold onto a couple of half-chances.

With the score at 96 for 1 after 25 overs, heavy drizzle brought the game to an early conclusion.

This meant that the Duckworth/Lewis calculation was used to obtain a result and this left North Down winners by 46 runs. While this is never the most satisfactory way for a game to be decided,

Ballymena will have few complaints for it had never looked likely that they would dismiss the visitors for less than 149.

PREVIEW

Ballymena face two games this week-end.

They travel to Waringstown on Friday evening for a 20-over rearranged fixture and then are on the road again on Saturday for another tough game against Lisburn.

After numerous batting collapses this season, the Ballymena players will go into these games well aware that it will need a huge improvement from their top-order batting for them to have a realistic chance of winning either game.