Thirds edge closer to safety

DESPITE their fine victory in the Minor Cup final over Bangor, Ballymena 3rd XI had relegation fears very much on their mind as they played host to Lisburn on Wednesday.

Defeat for either side would almost certainly mean the drop from the top league and so there was relief all round for Ballymena as they scraped home by 8 runs in a tense encounter.

The main contributions with the bat came from Andy Lytle (31), Dean Gordon (27) and Brian McGookin (16) and in their 20 overs the home side made 110 for 7.

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Half way through their reply Lisburn looked well on course to win but the turning point came when Richard McNeill, who has been a model of commitment and dedication this summer, ran out the Lisburn opening bat with a direct hit.

The Ballymena bowlers soon started to find their range and with 16 needed off 2 overs, Trevor McBurney and Andy Craig mopped up the tail, claiming 4 wickets in 12 balls for 7 runs.

On Saturday the 3rds travelled to North Down with a very young team and they came away empty handed following an 18 run defeat.

North Down’s no.3 batsman did all the damage as he clubbed his way to 90 in little over 10 overs. Having been dropped twice, he was finally bowled by McBurney, and Ballymena fought back to restrict the home side to 180 for 7 off 30 overs.

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Once again, Trevor McBurney was the pick of the bowlers but there were very positive performances by the younger medium pacers, Matthew Bell, Murray Caithness and under 13 star Dean Reynolds who bowled with great maturity under a lot of pressure.

In reply Ballymena got off to a solid start but the inexperience of the batting began to show as wickets fell regularly. With Andy Lytle and McBurney together at the crease the target looked achievable but when Lytle was finally caught for 53 and McBurney followed 3 balls later the writing was on the wall for the Braid men. The tail-enders chipped in with some enthusiastic hitting but the North Down attack was too strong.

This leaves Ballymena two places above the relegation zone with possibly one more game to play if needed.

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