Another dismal performance for Larne’s Cricket Club

IT was another disappointing Saturday for Larne Cricket Club’s first team as their performance on the pitch matched the miserable weather and they went down to a five-wicket defeat at home to Portadown.
By The Newsroom
Published 21st Jul 2011, 09:45 BST

A torrential downpour just before the start of the match saw play delayed by 90 minutes and the Portadown skipper had no hesitation in putting Larne in on a wet pitch in a match reduced to 44 overs-a-side. This seemed to have backfired as Larne raced to 45 without loss in the first 11 overs with openers Gareth Alexander and Jonny Baxter looking in complete control. Both were striking the ball superbly and looking set for big scores but, when Baxter mistimed a pull-shot and Alexander got a leading edge to a ball on leg-stump, the collapse began and Larne were soon dismissed for just 109.

Jonathan Craig briefly threatened to swing the match back in Larne’s favour with a flurry of four boundaries in four balls before slicing one to point for 20 while skipper Gareth Gaw was the only other batsman to contribute with 16 not-out. The other seven batsmen managed just 11 runs between them as a succession of poor shots rather than good balls ensured that Larne finished well short of a competitive score.

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After such a dismal performance with the bat the Sandy Bay men were determined to make up for it in the field and got off to the perfect start when Richard Hood trapped the opener leg-before-wicket (lbw) with the first delivery. He bowled an excellent spell and later picked up another wicket thanks to a stumping by Trevor Dempsey. Alexander shared to new ball but, despite having some lbw shouts and finding the edge, he couldn’t pick up any wickets. Gaw took one wicket while Ken McKinley bowled a good spell and was rewarded with a wicket but it was all in vein as Portadown went past the Larne total for the loss of five wickets.

The defeat means that Larne have now won just one of their 10 league games and are joint-bottom of the table. It promises to be a tough six weeks to the end of the season and a big effort will be required by everyone if there is to be any improvement in results. The match ball was kindly sponsored by McKeen Butchers. Larne Cricket Club is sponsored by Curran Court Hotel.

Larne 109 (J Baxter 24, G Alexander 20, J Craig 20)

Portadown 113-5 (R Hood 2-27)

Related topics:PortadownJonathan Craig