Carrick reach Challenge Cup quarter-finals

After being asked to bat first by the visitors, Carrick’s young opening batsmen Michael Gilmour and Jamie Holmes got their side off to a great start, taking 72 runs off 11 overs, before Gilmour was caught behind for 34 which included four fours and a six.

Holmes was then joined by his compatriot Mikey Taiaroa, and the pair shared a magnificent partnership of 150 runs during the course of the next 30 overs. Taiaroa, for once, had to play second fiddle as the teenager hammered the ball to all parts of the ground, completing a superb 100 off only 101 balls. Holmes continued on from there and when he was eventually caught at deep mid-off he had scored a career best 141 runs off 124 balls, with 17 boundaries and five huge sixes.

Carrick had, by this time, reached a total of 222 for two with eight overs still remaining. Taiaroa then moved up a gear, and having reached his 50 at a fairly sedate pace, hit a further 49 runs off only 24 balls including six sixes to leave him only one run short of what would have been a deserved hundred when the Carrick innings closed. By this time the Carrick total had reached a formidable 292 for five off 50 overs.

Carrick captain Ross Gelderbloem bowled Bangor’s top three batsmen in as many overs to reduce them to 15 for three. They never recovered from this, and excellent spells from Ryan Eagleson and Matthew Kernohan who also took three wickets each, saw Bangor eventually bowled out in the 37th over for only 118.

Carrick’s 1st XI have two Ulster Bank Premier League matches this weekend. They entertain Instonians at Middle Road on Saturday, and travel to Bangor on Sunday. Both matches begin at 1pm.