Lisburn CC suffer heavy defeat in first round of the Ulster Cup

For an hour, Lisburn looked like they would pull off a shock result against one of the competition’s favourites having reduced their early batting to 40 for 4 in the 11th over and later they dismissed their star player Andy McBrine to give themselves a great chance of victory but their lack of penetration allowed Donemana to recover to set the testing total of 189 in their 40 overs.

Lisburn skipper Davey Simpson made the initial breakthrough when he bowled Riddles in the 3rd over and when McClintock was clean bowled by Richard McConkey, Frylinck caught by Aaron McKeown off Darryl Brown, Donemana were struggling at 33 for 3.

More success was to follow when Wallace was run out by Darryl Brown in the 11th over with the score on 40 but gradually Andy McBrine and partner Ricky Dougherty began to score with some ease taking the score to 84 in the 18th over when Lisburn claimed the prize scalp of McBrine for 25; he was caught off a full toss at mid-wicket by Richard McConkey off Aaron McKeown.

The 5th wicket stand had managed to add 44 to the tally in 7 overs but Lisburn were not finished as they grabbed Kee in the 20th over, bowled by McKeown and Keith Doughtery caught behind the wicket by Neil Kilpatrick off Callum Atkinson leaving Donemana 90 for 7 in the 23rd over.

However, Lisburn’s strength and depth of bowling was again found wanting as Ricky Dougherty and Robert McBrine began to punish each of the bowlers in turn. The pair added 42 runs in just 9 overs before McBrine was brilliantly caught by Robert Rankin at long off for a very quick 23.

With only eight overs left in their innings, Donemana turned the screw harder even with the return of Lisburn’s best bowlers, Simpson and Brown. Dougherty was joined by Donemana number 10 McGonigle and they proceeded to take the game away from Lisburn adding 67 off the last 8 overs to total a more than respectable 189 for 8 in their 40 overs.

Having had Donemana reduced to 90 for 7 in the 24th over, Lisburn were well in with a chance of an upset but the visitors reacted typically to add almost a 100 runs for the last two wickets in just 17 overs.

Davey Simpson recorded 1 for 39 in his 8 overs while Darryl Brown had 1 for 33 also in his quota. The rest of the Lisburn attack were slightly more expensive with Richard McConkey having 1 for 44, Callum Atkinson 2 for 34 and Aaron McKeown 2 for 31 but unfortunately they all lacked the penetration to finish off the Donemana late order when they had them ‘on the rack’.

Lisburn’s reply turned out to be extremely inept, never threatening the Donemana total; first to go was Richard Simpson lbw for 1 followed by Glen Halliday for 6 in the 11th over leaving Lisburn without their openers and already well behind the required run rate.

The in-form Robert Rankin looked impressive but was predictably caught for 14 in the 12th over and worse was to follow as Lisburn collapsed completely in the next 30 minutes. Darryl Brown was lbw for a ‘duck’ and Richard McConkey bowled by Andy McBrine also for no score leaving Lisburn reeling at 28 for 5 after 13 overs.

A mini stand of 21 between Graeme Browne and Davey Simpson, halted the fall of wickets but used up 12 overs in the process before Simpson was caught for 9 and Browne almost immediately afterwards for 11 as the home team subsided to 49 for 7 in the 26th over and Donemana going in for the kill.

The last three Lisburn wickets could muster only a further 13 runs as they were bowled out for a paltry 62 in the 32nd over leaving their North West visitors winning by a massive 127 runs.

Lisburn, having been heavily defeated in their last two matches must now regroup and force a win at home to C.I.Y.M.S. in their second Premier League game of the season. Somehow their batsmen have to occupy the crease for longer to give themselves a chance of setting a testing target.

The match was kindly sponsored by Richard Simpson Snr.

Lisburn 4th XI lose

narrowly in Cup

Lisburn 4th XI played CIYMS 4ths in the first round of the Minor Qualifying Cup at Wallace Park on Sunday.

CIYMS chose to bat first, and Lisburn’s young bowling attack again performed extremely well, restricting a strong team to 92. Opening bowlers Jude Postlethwaite (1 for 13) and William Blair (1 for 12) were followed by the star performers Cameron McDowell (4 for 17) and Nathan Doak (3 for 19).

As has been the pattern this season, Lisburn 4ths found batting harder and despite good contributions from Andy Brown (21) and Michael Glass (17) they finished on 82 for 9 to lose by 9 runs. The team can now focus on the league as they try to maintain their 100% winning start on Sunday against Muckamore.