Defeat leaves cricketers still looking anxiously over their shoulders

Ballymena will be disappointed that they allowed the visitors to score 197, because at one stage they had reduced them to 128 for 8 – and this after an opening partnership of 87.

In reply the Eaton Park side were never in the hunt and had slumped to 70 for 9 before a last-wicket stand of 50 did at least bring some respectability to their final total.

Following Ballymena’s fine performance bowling first the previous Saturday, captain James Kennedy decided to field when he won the toss.

At first the indications did not look good as North Down openers Johnny Terrett and Australian Nick Larkin batted sensibly on a dry, slowish wicket. Indeed they had put on 87 when Ballymena had a touch of fortune – Terrett drove the ball back to bowler Robert McKinley, who deflected the ball onto the stumps to leave the impressive Larkin run out.

This wicket seemed to galvanise Ballymena’s bowlers and fielders. McKinley produced a good ball to bowl Terrett and then Simon McDowell had Ali Shields caught behind by Robert Kennedy.

McDowell then stayed in the action when he pulled off a truly superb one-handed diving catch inches off the ground at point to get rid of North Down’s captain Ryan Haire. Then when Kaushik Aphale returned to the attack he picked up wickets off successive balls. Lazars soon picked up his second wicket and when McKinley had Danny Graham caught by William Montgomery North Down had slumped to 128 for 8 after 42 overs.

Ballymena must at this stage have been hoping to face a target of under 150. However an aggressive partnership between Australian professional Tim Ley and the experienced Marty Moreland seemed to take Ballymena by surprise and handed the momentum back to the visitors.

The pair added 69 in the last 8 overs as Ley began to strike the ball as cleanly as any of his top-order team-mates. He hammered 4 fours and a six and his efforts meant that the visitors ended their 50 overs on 197 for 8.

Ballymena certainly did not bowl badly. On the day their best performers were Kaushik Aphale (2 for 21 in 10 overs) and Robert McKinley (2 for 35 in 10 overs).

However when Ballymena reflect on this game they will rue the fact that, not for the first time over the years, their bowlers were unable to produce the “killer instinct” needed to finish off batting sides.

Faced with a difficult chase of 198, Ballymena needed a good start.

However, as has happened far too often this season, Ballymena’s openers were back in the pavilion early on with Peter Eakin removing both William Montgomery and Stephen Colgan in his second over.

A huge amount then depended on David Kennedy and Kaushik Aphale, but neither could get on top of a very accurate North Down attack.

Disaster then struck for Ballymena when Aphale hit a pull shot straight into the hands of square-leg, and when David Kennedy was caught behind Ballymena were 41 for 4 and the writing was on the wall.

At this stage North Down’s spinners Moreland and South African James Cameron-Dow were bowling and were finding a fair bit of turn, with the result that Ballymena’s batsmen were finding it difficult to score runs quickly.

Steve Lazars and James Kennedy battled hard for 18 and 16 respectively but, once they were out, Ballymena collapsed to 70 for 9 in the 35th over.

Ballymena’s last-wicket pair Michael Glass and Simon McDowell then managed to bring the final total up to 120 with an entertaining partnership of 50.

Taking advantage of some slightly less tight bowling by the visitors’ fifth and sixth bowlers, they hammered a total of 6 fours and a six between them before McDowell was caught for 25, leaving Glass 23 not out and North Down convincing winners by 77 runs.

With three wins from eight Premier League games, Ballymena know that they are now in danger of becoming sucked into a relegation dogfight in the last few weeks of the season.

This week they play two important away games. Starting on Wednesday evening (6pm) they play a 2-night fixture against CSNI at Stormont and then on Saturday they travel to Wallace Park to face Lisburn.

Both these sides have shown inconsistency this season, so Ballymena will feel that if their batsmen can get back on track and if their bowlers can reproduce their recent decent performances in both games, then at least one very welcome win should not be beyond them.