Batting lets Lisburn down in home defeat

It was fortunate that the game got played after a deluge on Wallace Park on Friday but the teams agreed to start with the pitch damp and a very slow outfield and when Lisburn lost the toss and were asked to bat first CSNI held the advantage and proceeded to execute a very good bowling performance restricting the Lisburn innings to a well under par 143 in 49 overs.

James Magowan was dismissed very early for 0 in the first over and it took Robert Rankin and Craig Ervine to take the score to 30 before Rankin was also out for 16 leaving Ervine and Davey Simpson to battle for runs on the slow wicket and equally slow outfield where every run was hard-earned but in the 21st over the Lisburn captain was caught for 7 with the total on 49 for 3.

Darryl Brown and Craig Ervine added 37 for the 4th wicket as the pair strained to keep the scoreboard ticking round. Unfortunately, Brown was deemed lbw to Nieuwoudt in the 29th over for a valuable 18. However, when Craig Ervine miscued a drive in the 38th over and was caught at wide mid-on for a precious 54, Lisburn were really struggling to set their opponents a decent target. Even the talented Zimbabwean had to graft for his half century which came off 104 deliveries.

Adam Berry was next to go for 12 in the 39th over with the score still on 117 and the final overs were left in the hands of Richard Simpson, Carl Williams and Premier League debutants Daniel Nelson and David Whitten. They managed to scrape a further 26 between them with Simpson scoring 13 but when he was last out Lisburn had totalled just 143 in 49 overs and CSNI more than satisfied with their efforts.

With the pitch and the outfield quickly drying out, Lisburn required a number of early wickets to keep them in the game and professional Darryl Brown did the trick dismissing former Ireland player Regan West, lbw for 7 in the 4th over and another glimmer of hope came in the 5th over when skipper Davey Simpson had Park also lbw as Civil Service/North slumped to 9 for 2.

However, Alec Cowden and Jan van de Merwe made sure there were no more scares for the double chasing CSNI with a dominating stand of 135 in the next 39 overs giving Lisburn very little chance of making the vital break through.

Van de Merwe top scored with a faultless 77 while the stubborn Cowden was also not out on 36 leaving Lisburn devoid of ideas which was proved by their use of lo less than nine bowlers.

Davey Simpson 1 for 13 and Darryl with 1 for 25 were the only wicket takers while Craig Ervine for once failed to strike.

David Whitten, in his first Premier match bowled 2 overs and conceded just 6 runs as CSNI cruised to a more than comfortable 8 wicket win.

This week, Lisburn entertain Instonians in the Park and will be aiming for a more imposing score against the Premier League contenders.

The visitors have some fine results this season and had little difficulty in seeing off Lisburn at Shaws Bridge back in June.