Delight for Derriaghy in nail-biting fixture

The visitors made first use of a superb pitch and despite 4 stoppages due to the rain finished with a very respectful 242 for 7 in 48 overs.

Wayne Hughes bowled well in the latter stages recording figures of 3 for 26 of 7 while Peter Bell collected 3 for 37 of 7.

After another short delay at the start of their innings the total required for the home side was adjusted under Duckworth Lewis to 239 in 42 overs.

Apart from Kaushik Aphale with 43 the other top order batsmen struggled and at the 18 over mark were 72 for 5.

However captain Craig Lewis was still in and along with Rob Cumins (34) he began to pepper the boundary hitting no less than 10 x 6s in his innings as the run rate soared.

Cumings departed at 136 and 19 runs later C Moorhead was next to go.

With Lewis still scoring freely the home support still sensed victory but just as another ton was in sight Craig mis-timed a shot and was caught on the boundary for a majestic 84 and at 177 for 8 it looked all over for the Queensway men.

Matthew Jennings and Adam Jamison batting at 9 and 10 had other ideas and together they nudged the 1s and 2s and dispatched the occasional bad ball to the boundary bringing up 200 and getting to 215 before Jennings was stumped for a valuable 32.

Wayne Hughes was last man in with 24 needed in just under 4 overs. After being dropped with his first scoring shot Wayne ran some quick singles along with Adam and got to the last over requiring 9 for victory.

A 4 by Adam of the first ball eased the pressure and then after a few more scurried singles the penultimate ball was sweep to the ropes to give Derriaghy their 8th league win in a row in what was a really pulsating game and a great spectacle for all who stayed to the end.

This week Derriaghy travel to Uprichard Park to face Bangor. The game starts at 11am.

In midweek the Third XI maintained their good league form with a 24 run victory away to Victoria Seconds.

On winning the toss acting skipper Johnny Bell decided to bat first and then opened the innings with himself and Ross Mulholland.

Unfortunately Mulholland fell cheaply and this brought Josh Cardosi to the wicket. This pair seen up 50 before Bell departed for a solid 23.

Josh was then joined by twin Sam and together they increased the run rate to just over 5 as 100 came up in 19 overs.

Josh was caught after striking 37 bringing John Close to the wicket and he continued his good run of form hitting 26. Sam was eventually out after hitting a fine 43.

The remaining batsmen struggled a bit against some accurate bowling and had to settle for a final total of 166 for 6.

Victoria’s reply was based solely around opener Andy Gray who batted really well. He reached 105 before being 5th out at 131 with 6 overs remaining.

The remaining batsmen found run scoring difficult and their innings eventually finished on 142 for 9. Josh Cardosi with 3 for 13 and brother Sam with 3 for 20 were the pick of the visitors bowlers while R Stewart and B Nelson got 1 each.

This win leaves the Thirds with 7 wins from 8 and with just 4 games remaining it looks likely that another 2 victories will see Derriaghy promoted.

This week they are at home to Ballymena IV.