Derriaghy edge thriller with a narrow victory over Cliftonville

The match had many twists and turns from start to finish with both teams thinking they had won and then lost the game before the final visiting batsman was out LBW within 4 runs of victory in the final over.

On a beautiful batting strip home captain Matty Jennings won the toss and chose to bat first. Inside a couple of overs both Bailey and Cumings were back in the pavilion and it was left to Craig Lewis and Yogesh Takawale to repair the early damage. This they did in style adding 67 in 10 overs before Yogesh was dismissed for 40 followed soon after by the previous days top scorer Andy Kenny. Peter Bell then joined Lewis and together they passed 130 before Lewis was out for a solid 62.

When Peter was needlessly run out for a very useful 39 there were still nearly 18 overs remaining and despite a few big 6s from Jonny Bell (29) Derriaghy were eventually all out for 219 with 6 overs unused.

Some wayward bowling from opener Mark Stinson gave Cliftonville openers easy runs and by the 12 over mark were 74 for 1 and it seemed they were well on their way to victory. A couple of good catches in the deep by J Bell brought the home side briefly back into contention but with 45 needed from 16 and 7 wickets in hand the visitors were again firm favourites. Lewis was then recalled to the attack and almost immediately picked up the vital wicket of the Cliftonville pro for 50. Lewis then got another to finish with 3 for 28 while Wayne Hughes also bowled well to take 2 for 28 as Cliftonville were reduced to 198 for 9 with only 3 overs remaining.

A few risky singles and then 2 x 6s in the 49th saw them begin the final over needing just 4 to win. Scott Hughes was given the responsibility of bowling and after 2 dot balls got 1 to hit the pads and up went the umpires finger for leg before and give the Queensway men a nervy win and book them a semi final place. A lot of credit must go to all involved for not giving up despite looking beaten on a number of occasions in the game. The club would like to thank Gillian Bustard, Sam Brown and Selby Addis for sponsoring the match in aid of Marie Curie Cancer Care.

Saturday’s league match away to Cliftonville was a lot less exciting on what proved to be a slower wicket. Batting first the home side slipped to 23 for 4 and although they managed to bat out all but 1 of their overs for 130 it never looked enough. This was proved to be the case as Ross Bailey (16) and Yogesh Takawale (22) put on 44 for the first wicket.

Three more wickets fell leaving Derriaghy 61 for 4 but then Andy Kenny (38 not out) and Peter Bell had a 5th wicket partnership of 60 and although Bell went for 22 it was enough to see them record a 5 wicket win.

This weekend it is another double for Derriaghy. They travel to Carrick on Saturday and then host Woodvale on Sunday, both games start at 12 noon.

The Seconds recorded a narrow 16 run win over CSNI at home. On a wicket that gave assistance to the bowlers Derriaghy batted first but struggled to get runs. The visitors got off to a quick start racking 23 up in 6 overs before the opener was run out, 1 of 3 such victims in the innings. Two further quick wickets saw Derriaghy gain control as the slow bowlers started to get on top. Kingsley Beckett with 3 for 7 and Robert Cumins 3 for 12 were the pick of the bowlers each completing 8 overs. Surprisingly the game went until the penultimate over before the last man was out giving Derriaghy victory.

This Saturday sees the Thirds back in action at Queensway with Carrick the visitors in a league game that has a 12 noon start.