Braidmen hope to have new batsman in place

Ballymena First XI have had a tough start to their season and were probably glad of their “free date” last Saturday.
Cricket.Cricket.
Cricket.

However they return to the serious business of Premier League cricket on Saturday with a fixture which is as tough as they come – away to Waringstown.

Waringstown have made an impressive start to their league campaign with three successive victories.

They have a strong squad with seven either current or former Irish international players and a very useful professional, Pakistani Shaheen Khan.

Ballymena have been hit by a string of injuries and unavailabilities and have yet to win a game.

However the encouraging news is that it looks like most of the missing players will return over the next few weeks.

Indeed probably the most significant development is that Ballymena’s professional, Yogesh Takawale, is expected to arrive from India in time to play against Waringstown.

Takawale is a top-class batsman, who made headlines last summer with several very high scores for Section 1 club Derriaghy. He then continued that form when he returned to India.

Indeed he did so well that he was contracted to play in the highly-lucrative Indian Premier League – hence his late arrival at Eaton Park.

Certainly, if Takawale can produce his best form, he will make a huge difference to Ballymena’s batting, which has struggled without the injured David Kennedy and Robert McKinley, who will not return from Loughborough University for another two weeks.

Realistically, however, it would be too much to expect that Takawale’s presence, no matter how well he plays, can spark a Ballymena win – but, after five resounding defeats, the Eaton Park men will go into the game knowing that, even if they do lose, a competitive performance is long overdue.