Pain in the rain as Lisburn are defeated in Irish Cup opener

The home side won the toss and with rain always threatening, asked Lisburn to bat first and soon had the visitors 12 for 2 in the 3rd over. Robert Rankin had started well but was caught behind the wicket for 8 and an over later Adam Berry was also caught for 3.

It was left to Lisburn’s star batsman, Craig Ervine to shore up the innings and he received good support from the in-form Richard Simpson as the pair added 22 for the 3rd wicket. The game was then severely interrupted by heavy rain and the contest was reduced to 36 overs per side.

The Ervine/Simpson partnership was broken in the 10th over when Simpson was brilliantly caught at second slip by Delaney having scored a good 15 and was replaced at the crease by Darryl Brown.

Ervine, by this stage was beginning to play some super shots and with Brown they added 43 in 9 overs until the Lisburn professional was adjudged lbw to spinner Poynter for 15 leaving his team at 77 for 4 in the 19th over.

Glen Halliday came in at number 7 for Lisburn and attempted to support Ervine as the overs were running out but the innings received a severe blow when Craig Ervine was caught for 40 in the 23rd over just when he looked capable of setting Clontarf a challenging total to chase.

Lisburn skipper, Davey Simpson joined Halliday and the pair proceeded to add a very useful 26 for the 6th wicket with Simpson not afraid to strike the ball but in the 26th over with rain again in the air, he was caught for 19 scored off just 14 deliveries.

James Magowan scored only 3 and Richard McConkey did not score as the Lisburn innings came to an end prematurely, again because of a rain delay, in the 30th over with a score of 129 for 8 posted.

Tea was taken during the rain shower and after consultation regarding the Duckworth/Lewis target it was decided that Clontarf would require 101 in 20 overs giving Lisburn a difficult task in restricting the strong batting line up of the Irish Cup holders.

Amazingly, the game was not interrupted again as Clontarf set about their target and Coglan and D’Arcy got them off to a rapid start scoring 31 before Coglan was lbw to James MaGowan in just the 6th over.

Lisburn needed to break the back of the impressive batting formation and did themselves no harm when they had D’Arcy well run out by Craig Ervine just an over later but that was end of their success as the experience and talent of two Irish players, Cusack and Poynter saw the home side through with a stand of 66 in 12 overs.

Davey Simpson tried all his available bowling options during the definitive partnership of the game but could not make the break through leaving Clontarf more than comfortable winners by 8 wickets. Cusack remained 33 not out and his partner Poynter was also undefeated on 30.

James Magowan was the only Lisburn bowler to take a wicket; 1 for 18 off his four overs. Davey Simpson had 0 for 14, Darryl Brown, 0 for 26, and Craig Ervine 0 for 17 as Clontarf proceeded to the second round of the competition without a lot of resistance from a Lisburn team which suffered in the weather affected match and found themselves on the wrong side of the Duckworth/Lewis system on the day.

Lisburn return to the Premier League this Saturday when they entertain Waringstown in the first senior match in the Wallace Park since the new wickets were laid at the end of last season.

Having registered a win and a defeat so far, Lisburn would really like a result over their old rivals but will find things difficult as their opponents are probably one of the favourites to lift the Premier title.

Again the Waringstown side has depth of both batting and bowling and Davey Simpson’s men will have to post a score in access of 200 to put pressure on the visiting team assuming they bat first and if they have to bowl then they must keep the game as tight as possible to restrict their opponents to a gettable score. Every game is crucial in an 8 team league so both teams will be searching for a win. The game starts at 1p.m. in the Park.