Cup semi-final place is cricketers’ target this weekend

The prospect of a semi-final place must surely be a huge incentive for the Eaton Park players if, for no other reason than the fact that a good cup run is long overdue.

Indeed Ballymena’s last appearance in a cup semi-final would probably now be filed in the “Down Memory Lane” section ! Certainly Ballymena go into this game as many people’s favourites to reach the semi-final.

It was interesting to note that, at last Tuesday’s draw, several of the local cricketing pundits seemed pleased that the sides they felt would be the most attractive and in-form semi-finalists i.e North Down, Waringstown, Instonians and Ballymena had been kept apart and drawn at home.

However the Ballymena players are far too experienced to think that cup results go to form.

Certainly, on paper, Ballymena have greater batting depth and a more varied attack than their Belfast rivals. Indeed very few sides have a batting order strong enough to have a player as good as Robert Kennedy at seven in the order.

CSNI have also clearly suffered from the injury-forced retirement of Irish international left-arm spinner Regan West, which has left them short of experienced slow bowling options.

And they would probably admit themselves that , when it comes their turn to bat, they will depend hugely on Irish international Nigel Jones and Kiwi professional Marc Ellison for the really big match-winning innings.

On the other hand, the Ballymena batsmen will not need reminding that in both the last two seasons at Eaton Park CSNI’s seam attack has bowled them out cheaply.

Jones, John Costain and former Ballymena player Allen Coulter are all capable of troubling the best batsmen , so Simon McDowell will be looking for a repeat of last week’s excellent batting at Comber.

Indeed, if the conditions were right, the Ballymena captain would probably hope to bat first and score big runs, which would put huge pressure on Ellison and Jones to perform with the bat against a useful and varied Ballymena attack.

This tie could end up just as thrilling as Ballymena’s one-wicket win over CIYMS in the previous round. But, in the final analysis, the Ballymena players know that they have already beaten CSNI away from home in a league game in April and have every right to be confident that they can nail down a win which would bring them a step closer to a long-awaited reappearance in a NCU cup final.