Lisburn throw away chance of Ulster Cup place

When chasing 209, they had reached the comfortable position of 141 for 3 but the loss of three quick wickets saw them eventually lose by 18 runs.

The match played on the picturesque ground at Bready was interesting throughout with some top class cricket and some moments of disappointment.

Lisburn won the toss and for the second Saturday running, decided to ask the home side to bat following some early morning rain and to some degree they were justified as they had Beady 49 for 3 after 12 overs.

Austin and Wallace were both caught off the aggressive bowling of Davey Simpson while Hamilton was clean bowled by Richard McConkey but key man for Bready, David Rankin, brother of Lisburn’s Robert, was ever present, batting for most of the Bready innings and scoring a century which was to make the difference at the end of the day.

Rankin and number five batsman, Dougherty steadied the Bready ship with a stand of 63 in 15 overs before, shortly after Rankin had been dropped when he was 43, Dougherty was clean bowled by Stevie Lazars for a very useful 26 with the Bready score on 112 for 4 after 21 overs.

The resistance continued with another good partnership of 75 in quick time between Rankin and Crumley during which Rankin was badly dropped twice more as he made his way to a very good century in 37 overs with eight boundaries and four sixes.

He was caught by Davey Simpson off Callum Atkinson for 104 and Crumley was bowled by Mark Berry in the 38th over for 28 leaving Bready well placed at 189 for 6.

Barr and Scanlon added a further 20 off the remaining couple of overs to give Bready the more than challenging final tally of 209 in the 40 overs.

Rankin had been the star of the Bready innings but had he been caught off any of the three chances he gave, Lisburn would have been much better placed and they again bowled 17 wides in their rather mixed bowling performance.

Lisburn’s openers, Richard Simpson and Robert Rankin, needed a good start but Robert was clean bowled for a ‘duck’ in the 3rd over and with 18 on the superb automatic scorer board, Richard Simpson was caught and bowled by Kelly for 8 as Lisburn were 18 for 2 after 6 overs.

Lisburn began a fine come back with a very good stand between skipper Adam Berry and professional Cody Chetty which lasted for 20 overs and added 88 runs putting Lisburn in a very good position.

At this point, Cody Chetty who had been batting with great authority was given out lbw and he had to leave the crease very reluctantly as he thought he had got a touch on the ball. However, he had scored a very good 50 with five boundaries and two sixes.

Stevie Lazars joined Berry at the wicket and again the pair looked to be in control for the next 8 overs adding a further 35 before Lazars was caught off a loose shot for 17 as Lisburn found themselves at 141 for 4 with 13 overs remaining in their innings and 68 still required.

The crucial point of the Lisburn innings came just a few balls later when Adam Berry was caught in the deep for a very good 57 off 80 balls including six fours and a six and again it was left to the Lisburn latter order batsmen to provide the runs needed for victory.

Davey Simpson and Simon Olphert made good contributions with 19 and 12 respectively but it was not enough to put their team into a winning position.

Simpson was caught, attempting to raise the scoring rate but when Olphert with 12 was lbw Lisburn still required 30 to win off 4 overs and the remaining batsmen could not come up with the runs.

With a one delivery left, Callum Atkinson was caught and bowled by David Rankin and Bready had won by 18 runs.

Once again, Lisburn found themselves disappointed with their response to the challenge having been in position to threaten the Bready score on two occasions but again falling short.

Scorecard

Bready innings

D.Rankin ct D.Simpson b Atkinson 104

A.Austin ct and b D.Simpson 9

G.Wallace ct Olphert b D.Simpson 0

K.Hamilton b McConkey 0

R.Dougherty b Lazars 26

B.Crumley b M.Berry 28

R.Barr not out 16

D.Scanlon not out 2

Extras 24

Total 209 for 6 in 40 overs.

Fall of wkts 1-42 2-42 3-49 4-112 5-187 6-189

Lisburn bowling D.Simpson 8-2-14-2 M.Berry 7-0-61-1 R.McConkey 8-0-38-1 S.Lazars 8-0-29-1 C.Atkinson 6-0-36-1 C.Chetty 3-0-24-0

Lisburn innings

R.Simpson ct and b Kelly 8

R.Rankin b Kelly 0

A.Berry ct Austin b Olphert 57

C.Chetty lbw b Scanlon 50

S.Lazars ct Crumley b Kelly 17

D.Simpson ct Rankin b Olphert 19

S.Olphert lbw b Scanlon 12

G.Browne st Lucas b Rankin 4

M.Berry st Lucas b Rankin 6

R.McConkey not out 4

C.Atkinson ct and b Rankin 0

Extras 14

Total 191 all out in 39.5 overs

Fall of wkts 1-7 2-18 3-106 4-141 5-142 6-164 7-176 8-180 9-191 10-191

Bready bowling D.Scanlon 8-0-39-2 R.Kelly 8-1-19-3 R.Barr 2-0-23-0 G.Wallace 7-1-26-0 A.Lucas 4-0-28-0 D.Rankin 1.5-0-10-3

Result Bready won by 18 runs.