Remarkable first win of the season for Lisburn Cricket Club

Their opponents, Glendermott, were beaten by 9 wickets in a match which was interrupted three times for rain showers.

Glendermott, asked to bat first managed a useful 269 in their 50 overs but after a small correction by Duckworth/Lewis, Lisburn due to a brilliant stand of 225 between Robert Rankin and Richard Simpson reached the winning post of 256 with overs to spare. In the process both Lisburn batsmen completed their centuries, Rankin 128 not out and Simpson 103 not out.

The partnership of 225 was the largest since Stephen Hutchinson and Bruce Topping added 280 for the first wicket to beat R.U.C. back in the 90s and will do a lot to boost Lisburn’s confidence.

Lisburn captain, Davey Simpson had no hesitation in asking Glendermott to bat first on a firm wicket and very fast outfield and he made the first breakthrough with the first ball of the innings clean bowling Baggley. He followed this up with a second scalp with the last ball of the same over, this time Robinson caught by Darryl Brown reducing the home side to 4 for 2.

Glendermott recovered well with a 3rd wicket stand of 74 between McDermott and professional Links until McDermott was caught by Carl Williams off the bowling of Richard McConkey in the 22nd over with the score at 78 for 3.

The dangerous Links was out just five balls later, and Lisburn were suddenly well in control of the game.

A lengthy rain shower had the players off the pitch for forty minutes and when they returned, Johnson aided by Lynch began to take advantage of the slippery ball adding 49 in 9 overs until Lynch was clean bowled by Darryl Brown with the score at 171 for 6.

Glendermott were soon all out after another rain break with a final total of 267 in the 49th over leaving Lisburn with more than a difficult task in their innings.

Lisburn began well after another rain break with Glen Halliday and Richard Simpson adding 34 for the opening stand in just 7 overs before Halliday was well caught for a brisk 18.

What followed was quite outstanding as Simpson and number three batsman Robert Rankin who made it very clear from the outset that he was going to strike the ball at every possible opportunity.

He hit a superb boundary off his second ball and hardly looked back as the partnership began to develop. Simpson also was quick to punish the bad ball and the pair received a lot of them as the lesser Glendermott bowlers were brought into play.

When Rankin was 45 he was dropped at long off but he simply grabbed the chance to score heavily which Lisburn batsmen have failed to do recently when set at the crease.

Even another rain break did not disturb the concentration of both batsmen and they continued on to complete their century partnership in the 27nd over and when the winning target was slightly reduced they went on relentlessly for the next 17 overs to finish the job reaching 259 for 1 in the 44th over giving Lisburn a stunning 9 wicket victory and a place in the second round of the Irish Cup.

Rankin completed his first century for the club in the 40th over scoring a brilliant 128 not out with 17 boundaries and 4 sixes. His partner Richard Simpson also scored his highest score for Lisburn with 103 not out with 13 boundaries and one six.

Lisburn now turn their attention to the Challenge Cup with an away tie against North Down at Comber on Saturday.

Glendermott innings: A.Baggley b D.Simpson 0; T.McDermott ct Williams b McConkey 23; R.Robinson ct Brown b D.Simpson 4; E.Links lbw b McConkey 31; A.Johnson ct Rankin b D.Simpson 95; D.Curry ct Magill b McConkey 2; A.Lynch b Brown 15; G.McDonnell ct Brown b D.Simpson 24; C.Ross b Brown 1; T.Moore ct and b Brown 11; S.Cochrane not out 8;

Extras 34;

Total 267 all out in 48.3 overs.

Fall of wkts 1-0 2-4 3-78 4-78 5-122 6-171 7-233 8-235 9-247 10-267. Lisburn bowling D.Simpson 9-0-44-4 D.Brown 9.3-2-52-3 R.McConkey 10-0-52-3 G.Browne 5-0-23-0 C.Williams 7-0-45-0 A.McKeown 8-0-43-0.

Lisburn innings: G.Halliday ct McDermott b Cochrane 18; R.Simpson not out 103; R.Rankin not out 128;

Extras 10.

Total 259 for 1 in 43.1 overs.

Fall of wkt 1-34. Glendermott bowling S.Cochrane 10-1-46-1 D.Curry 3-0-30-0 G.Donnell 10-0-53-0 E.Links 7-0-40-0 A.Johnson 6.1-0-37-0 T.McDermott 2-0-21-0 C.Ross 5-0-30-0.

Result by Duckworth/Lewis Lisburn won by 9 wickets.

Fourths earn dramatic win

On Saturday, Lisburn CC’s youthful 4th XI got their season up and running with a dramatic 2 run win off the penultimate ball against Victoria 3rds at a damp Wallace Park.

Put in to bat, Lisburn were in quickly in trouble at 9 for 3, before Cameron McDowell (30) and Ian Glass (19) managed to steady the ship.

More wickets fell and the team only lasted 21 overs in setting a low target of 89.

The bowlers performed much better than the batsmen with opening bowler William Blair (2 for 10) leading by example. After 13 balls young Jude Postlethwaite had taken 3 wickets without conceding a run, and he went on to end up with 3 for 16 in 4 excellent overs.

Edward Kyle (0 for 6) and Michael Glass (1 for 19) both bowled high quality overs of spin, and Cameron McDowell (1 for 13) took the key wicket of Victoria’s top scorer Boomer.

Opening bowler Adam Glass (2 for 13) returned to bowl Victoria’s last batsman to seal a very unlikely victory.