Lisburn Seconds through to Junior Cup semi final

Lisburn IIs travelled to Comber to play North Down IIs in the quarter final of the Junior Cup on Saturday past and came away with an excellent 7 wicket victory.

North Down IIs skipper Billy Adams won the toss and elected to bat on a fairly green looking track.

The opening bowlers of Calum Irvine and Graeme Browne bowled well, Irvine using his pace to trap Arthur LBW and Browne using the overhead conditions to assist his swing.

Browne was unlucky in that 2 chances went down off his bowling.

Young Michael Glass was the first change bowler with his off spin and when he pitched the ball up, he had the batsmen in trouble. Glass finished with the figures of 1-32 in his 7 over spell – again this bodes well for the future.

Veteran campaigners Richard Booth and Carl Williams were introduced and both bowled shrewdly. Booth finished with 2-39 in his 10 overs including former senior cricketer Gavin McKenna for a well played 52 and Williams 2-34 in 8. Mention must be made to Gavin Magill and Jonny Ritchie who showed how to catch, both taking ‘steeplers’ in the outfield proving the old adage still rings true, that catches win matches.

The Lisburn innings began with Ricky Finlay joined by a new opening partner Gavin Magill. Both played some lovely shots and both were content to wait for the bad ball before dispatching.

They put on 52 before Magill mistimed a pull shot and was caught. This brought Glenn Halliday to the wicket and he and Finlay upped the scoring rate. Finlay having cruised to 42 including 6 boundaries was caught and bowled by Irvine.Halliday having stroked 8 boundaries (7 fours and a huge six) was caught by Arthur off the bowling of Sohaill.

No more wickets went down as Graeme Browne (31 not out) and Nathan Cartmill (18 not out) ruthlessly dispatched anything off line.

An excellent victory for the team and the semi final is scheduled for the 16th July. The next fixture is this Sunday at home vs CIYMS IIs.