Takawale hits brilliant century - but Ballymena come up just short

Thanks primarly to a high-class century fromn Yogesh Takawale, they finished only five runs short of what would have been a very welcome second league win.

After Lisburn decided to bat first, Ballymena bowlers did a reasonable job for a good part of the innings. Simon McDowell and Robert McKinley both took an early wicket and at 25 overs Lisburn had been restricted to 78 for 2. McKinley was particularly impressive, often beating the bat, and his figures of 1 for 35 in 10 overs did him little justice.

In the second half of the innings Lisburn’s run-rate began to accelerate rapidly. Their captain David Simpson and Zimbabwean Test player Craig Ervine put on 144 for the third wicket, at which point McDowell bowled Simpson for 44. However this brought Lisburn professional Darryl Brown to the wicket with 7 overs of the innings left.

Unfortunately for Ballymena, their quicker bowlers McKinley and Michael Glass had completed their permitted overs and Ervine and Brown caused what can only be described as utter carnage against the visitors’ slow bowlers. In the last seven overs of their innings Lisburn scored an almost unbelievable 114 runs.

The persevering Michael Taylor did eventually manage to dismiss both Ervine , who had scored an impressive 147, and Brown, who hammered 51 from only 20 balls, but by that that stage the damage had been done. Lisburn finished on 289 for 5 from 48 overs.

Ballymena did not begin their reply well with both the out-of-form James Kennedy and his brother Robert dismissed cheaply. To make matters worse for Ballymena further showers meant that target was adjusted as the Duckworth/Lewis calculation into play , so that when Yogesh Takawale and David Kennedy resumed at 49 for 2 in the 15th over, Ballymena had been set a much more difficult target of 241 in 35 overs – that meant they needed a further 192 from 20 overs.

To their credit, Ballymena’s batsmen made a magnificent effort in what was at times quite poor light. Takawale started carefully but was soon playing beautifully-timed shots to all parts of the ground. He was well supported by David Kennedy in a 96 run stand for the third wicket. In fact the experienced Kennedy had reached 37 and was looking as if he was on the verge of a really big innings when he hammered an off-drive straight to Rankin at deep mid-off.

Takawale was then joined by the in-form Steve Lzars with 116 still needed in 12 overs. However with Takawale by this stage in full-flow, Ballymena managed to keep pace with the required rate so that suddenly, with 4 overs and 38 required, an unlikely win looked possible.

Then the pendulum swung towards Lisburn when Takawale was caught just short of the square-leg boundary . Ballymena’s professional had scored a magnificent 111 from only 72 balls and had hit 6 sixes and 8 fours. Lazars continued to hit the loose ball hard but with 2 overs left he too was out, caught at long-on for a battling 36.

This left two new batsmen, McKinley and Fergus Taylor, the difficult task of scoring 21 off the last two overs and they came up just short, leaving Lisburn very relieved and somewhat fortunate winners by 4 runs.

With Muckamore losing again on Saturday, Ballymena remain one win ahead of their local rivals in the relegation battle and the feeling is that one more win at this stage should leave Ballymena reasonably sure of Premier League survival.

* On Friday night, Ballymena lost by 51 runs to Waringstown in a 20-over rearranged Premier League game.

Set a nigh impossible target of 223 for victory, Ballymena battled hard, but with the required run-rate increasing all the time, there was only going to be one outcome. Takawale once again top-scored with 63, while Steve Lazars hit a useful 26 and Robert McKinley and Michael Glass both managed to get to 17.

* Ballymena face a tough test this weekend at home to CIYMS.